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Martin Clifford (pen name of Charles Hamilton) for the Greyfriars and Highcliffe School Stories |
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About this book: Suitable for early teenage readers and above and those who love classic school stories, then this is fits comfortably into the classic category, having been published in 1915 in The Gem magazine. Martin Clifford is merely a pen-name for the author Charles Harold St. John Hamilton, who is probably best known for the St. Jims stories to be found in Gem at the start of the 20th Century. Hamilton wrote the St. Jim's stories under the pen name of Martin Clifford and starring Tom Merry as the main character. Of all the many characters drawn by Charles Hamilton, it is unquestionably true that the introduction of Talbot into St. Jim's provided the young reader of half a century ago with a series of stories of a dramatic intensity that was something entirely new in the history of the school. In the seven years that had elapsed since the birth of the Gem, Hamilton had covered his canvas with a variety of interesting types, most of whom had taken up their respective roles in the weekly narrative with steady reliance. Talbot, on the other hand, made no such dignified entry into the school - rather, it could be said, that he "burst upon the scene" with an effect, and an impact that brought a new element into the quiet stream of japes, smoky rotters, bumpings, ink, treacle and soot, that made up the weekly dose of Gem stories. Of course, Talbot belongs to his period and many have expressed the view that it would have been better if he had finally deparated from the pages of the Gem at an early date, and so have avoided those tiresome resurrections of the old ghosts that were wont to give Talbot the glumps, and the reader an even worse attack. The story of the Housemaster's homecoming also belongs to its period. German bands were a chronic joke of the time; wounded war heroes back from WW1 were much in the news and an irascible colonel, complete with a Haig-type moustache could scarcely fail to thrill and interest the boys of the day and modern readers alike. On the civilian front, "gentlemen cracksmen" of the Raffles variety had been in vogue for some years and the introduction of these somewhat doubtful social activities directly into schoolboy life, created a stir that dominated the scene at St. Jim's during the years 1914 and 15 Contents: |
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