Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School (novel)

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Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School
Bunter.jpg
Book cover from the first edition
Author Charles Hamilton writing as Frank Richards
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre Children, Comedy
PublishedSeptember 1947, Charles Skilton Ltd
Media typePrint (Hardback)
Preceded byNone 
Followed by Billy Bunter's Banknote  

Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School is a school story by Charles Hamilton writing as Frank Richards, using the characters and settings of the Greyfriars School stories published from 1908 to 1940 in The Magnet . The book's retail price was 7s 6d.

Contents

The novel was an immediate success, with sales of 25,000 copies within a few weeks. This was the maximum allowed during post-war paper shortages. The novel was reprinted by the original publisher in 1947, 1948 and 1950. Subsequently, it was republished by Armada in August 1968 and by Hawk in January 1991. [1] The illustrator was R. J. Macdonald.

Origins

After the closure of The Magnet in May 1940 due to wartime paper shortages, author Charles Hamilton was contractually barred by the publisher, Amalgamated Press, from continuing to write Greyfriars stories. However in 1946 publisher Charles Skilton negotiated the rights to publish new stories in book form. Hamilton, delighted, suggested a payment rate of £90 per book; but Skilton, short of capital, asked Hamilton to accept royalties instead. This proved to be greatly in Hamilton's favour: he received £1,000 instead of £90 for the first book. [2] [3]

Synopsis

Bunter is his usual self: untruthful, shirking on prep, avoiding games, and stealing food from the studies of others, but for Mr Quelch the final straw comes when Bunter falls asleep in a History lesson. He warns Bunter that unless he improves in every way as a student in the few remaining weeks of the term then he will write to Mr Bunter advising him that he is wasting his money in sending Billy to Greyfriars School. Mr Bunter will take his son out of school, which will result in - work! Billy will have to start working in his father's stockbroking firm. Billy Bunter is determined to turn things around at school and become a model student - but, while the spirit is willing the flesh is weak! But after Quelch's encounter with a violent footpad will things come right for Bunter? [4]

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Greyfriars School is a fictional English public school used as a setting in the long-running series of stories by the writer Charles Hamilton, who wrote under the pen-name of Frank Richards. Although the stories are focused on the Remove, whose most famous pupil was Billy Bunter, other characters also featured on a regular basis.

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Charles Harold St. John Hamilton was an English writer, specialising in writing long-running series of stories for weekly magazines about recurrent casts of characters, his most frequent and famous genre being boys' public school stories, though he also wrote in other genres. He used a variety of pen-names, generally using a different name for each set of characters he wrote about, the most famous being Frank Richards for the Greyfriars School stories featuring Billy Bunter. Other important pen-names included Martin Clifford, Owen Conquest and Ralph Redway. He also wrote hundreds of stories under his real name such as the Ken King stories for The Modern Boy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Bunter</span> Fictional schoolboy created by Frank Richards

William George Bunter is a fictional schoolboy created by Charles Hamilton using the pen name Frank Richards. He features in stories set at Greyfriars School, a fictional English public school in Kent, originally published in the boys' weekly story paper The Magnet from 1908 to 1940. The character has appeared in novels, on television, in stage plays and in comic strips.

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Charles Henry Chapman (1879–1972), who signed his work as C. H. Chapman, was a British illustrator and cartoonist best known for his work in boys' story papers such as The Magnet where the character Billy Bunter appeared. He later illustrated Bunter cartoon strips and several Bunter books published in the 1950s and 1960s.

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Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School may refer to:

<i>Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School</i> (TV series) British TV series or programme

Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School is a BBC Television show broadcast from 1952 to 1961. It was based on the Greyfriars School stories, written by author Charles Hamilton under the pen name Frank Richards. Hamilton wrote all of the scripts for the television show.

<i>Billy Bunters Banknote</i>

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<i>Billy Bunters Barring-Out</i>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">R. J. Macdonald</span>

Reginald James Macdonald, who signed his work as R. J. Macdonald, was a Scottish illustrator and cartoonist best known for his work in the boys' school stories in The Gem written by Charles Hamilton writing as Martin Clifford. After World War II from 1947 to his death in 1954 he provided colour and black and white illustrations for the Billy Bunter novels by the same author.

<i>Billy Bunter in Brazil</i>

Billy Bunter in Brazil is a school story by Charles Hamilton writing as Frank Richards, using the characters and settings of the Greyfriars School stories published from 1908 to 1940 in The Magnet. The book's retail price was 7s 6d.

References

  1. "Cassell".
  2. "Cassell".
  3. Hamilton Wright P223
  4. Richards, Frank. Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School, Charles Skilton Ltd, London (1947)