NEW FINDS - Frank Bellamy the Daily Record again!

New Garth? Read on!

There were many printing strikes in the 1970s. I remember it well when my regular weekly comic didn't turn up! This article will make you think I'm obsessive but bear with me and I'll show you some newly discovered Frank Bellamy artwork! And for fans of 'Garth' the daily newspaper strip, stick around! And if you were a Scottish reader of the Daily Record, well, you'll learn a few things too. And if you're not interested in industrial relations in the 1970s, well....

REVIEW of what's gone before

Firstly I have written about the numbering system on the Jim Edgar authored, Frank Bellamy drawn and John Allard lettered 'Garth' strip before.  It was in 2019 I discovered a previously undiscovered Bellamy 'Garth' strip in the Scottish Daily Record. I then did further research and listed all the Christmas Daily Record differences to what was published in the Daily Mirror in England. 

Well, I was just checking facts on when the 'Garth' strips were published in England and had so many days where printing strikes and public holidays occurred, it made me dig deeper. I've added all the data to the main page listing all Bellamy's 'Garth' strips but discovered, in comparing Daily Record strips with these gaps, that Bellamy drew some more 'Garth' strips not seen by me - and I suspect a lot of you, before!

Let's take each story by story and add notes

GARTH STRIP ANOMALIES

SUNDANCE

E221 was published in England and Scotland on Saturday 18 September 1971 and then from Monday 20 - Thursday 23 September there was no Daily Mirror printed in England and because of this, none of the usual 'imported' strips appeared in Scotland's Daily Record. A notice appeared under the Scottish strip "Angus Og" by Ewen Bain on 20 September:

Due to the industrial dispute in Fleet Street, we are unable to bring you the adventures of Garth and The Perishers. Both strips will be continued as soon as possible.

Variations of this appeared each day until the 23 September when it was announced Garth would "return tomorrow" - and it did, continuing the numbering with no gaps.

CLOUD OF BALTHUS

Over Christmas and New Year things deviated, but caught up, with Scotland, there was a fill-in strip but drawn by John Allard - see this post - and as it's not numbered I called it  "E300.5". And the Scots saw F301 before England - published on 27 December - Boxing day in England! 

THE ORB OF TRIMANDIAS

Nothing was published on Good Friday (31 March 1972) in England....BUT... and I really need a drum roll....there was a Garth strip illustrated by Bellamy in the Daily Record!

**NEW** 'Garth' DR. GF. 72 or  F77.5

If you are following the English numbering it should be placed after F77 and before F78. The Scots named it DRGF72 = Daily Record Good Friday 1972. Imagine my excitement! Now it's shared.

THE WOLFMAN of AUSENSEE

Between Tuesday 25 July - Thursday  27 July 1972 there were no Daily Mirror published in England and the Daily Record stated on 27 July:

SORRY
As most readers know, production of the Daily Record was stopped on Monday and Tuesday nights by industrial action in support of the dockers. Sorry you missed your favourite paper. It's nice to be back.

This doesn't explain the lack of Wednesday's Scottish paper and I couldn't find a reason! On 29 July Garth was missing from the Daily Record with an announcement that he would return next week, thus allowing the Scots to catch up and in the Mirror of Friday 28 July, F175 was reprinted together with the new episode F176 with the explanation

"As southern editions of the Daily Mirror did not appear last Monday, two editions of the strip cartoons appear today."

PEOPLE OF THE ABYSS

**NEW** F303.5 or DR.CH.72

There were no discrepancies in this story's run. However, in Scotland, as stated previously on this blog, we see an extra episode - "F303.5" which I suppose should be called DR.CH.72 but it is not numbered in any way and just rounds off the story before the Scots began the next story on 26 December 1972. 

On the 19 December 1972, there were two of all the cartoon strips printed:

"As southern editions of the Daily Mirror did not appear yesterday double helping of your favourite strip cartoons is printed today."

WOMEN OF GALBA

So Scotland saw the start of this story on 26 December when England was not publishing on Boxing Day and after a week, caught up and was back in sync. There were no other discrepancies except on Thursday 22 March 1973, two strips were printed G70 (+G69) - the latter being a reprint with the following:

"Southern editions of the Daily Mirror did not appear yesterday because of industrial action. Here's a double ration of strips."

GHOST TOWN

Good Friday fell on 20 April in 1973 so there was no Garth strip as the Mirror didn't used to publish on that key Christian date. But....here 's the next drum roll....the Daily Record was published and had a single panel Garth strip

**NEW** Garth: Ghost Town G94a

Helpfully someone at the Record used the same numbering sequence and called this (instead of my 94.5) 94a. A brand new Garth to most of Britain! And of course there is no interruption to the story as Garth merely stares out at the town!
A strike predicted on 26 April took place on May Day which meant neither the Record or the Mirror were published on 1 May 1973 so Garth merely carried on the next day in both papers.

The MASK OF ATACAMA

There were no discrepancies in this story's run. 

THE WRECKERS

I have no idea why on Tuesday 6 November 1973 an announcement was made at the top of the day's cartoon strips "Here's a double ration of your favourite strips" - no explanation why, as there was no industrial action!   Monday 5 November 1973 had the Garth strip G263 and on Tuesday 6 November 1973 G263 with G264 appeared (along with "The Fosdyke Saga" and "The Larks" doubled up)! 

But more excitedly and as previously mentioned on this blog, the fact the Scots published a Daily Record on 26 December 1973, meant they got a new Bellamy Garth which I've shown before, but to make sure we are clear I've included it here as 'new'.

Garth: The Wreckers - G305.5 or DR.CH.73

Neither the Mirror nor the Record published on New Year's Day 1974

 THE BEAST OF ULTOR

I'm not sure you can contain your excitement...but here's the drum roll again....on Friday 12 April 1974, Good Friday, the Daily Mirror did not publish. But the Daily Record did!
 

**NEW** Garth: The Beast of Ultor H86.5 or DR.GF.74

We have another new Garth which inserted in the arena scene fits perfectly. But the story doesn't need it! Clever. Finally Wednesday 8 May 1974 there was no Daily Mirror but there was a Daily Record and they merely moved an episode ahead of England.

The other interesting thing  is that H120 (23 May 1974) has a caption printed above the Garth strip which says "What kind of music relaxes Garth when he's not whizzing around Space? See this week's Disc, on sale now!" which I've written about before.

FREAK OUT TO FEAR!

Interestingly this story was completely omitted in the Daily Record - perhaps as it deals with drugs? - and John Burns 'Danielle' strip (from the Evening News) was used instead. 

In the Daily Mirror, H144 appeared twice - once on the scheduled date Thursday 20 June 1974, and as Friday wasn't published at all, the Saturday edition reprinted H144 before the Monday resuming normal service.

THE BRIDE OF JENGHIZ KHAN

The Daily Record carried on using John Burns 'Danielle' rather than Frank Bellamy's 'Garth' and after that ended, there was no replacement strip for a long time- leaving 'Angus Og' alone to carry the torch for cartoon strips.. The following public holidays in England meant the Daily Mirror wasn't published - Wednesday 25 December 1974 and the next day, plus New Year's Day 1975 - and obviously there was no Garth in the Daily Record. Interestingly a caption appeared above the episode of 3 December 1974 (H284) stating "Garth has discovered a well of pitch, and has had pitch spread over the courtyard". Effectively the first time I've seen an introduction to an episode (and there's one for 'The Fosdyke Saga' too!). This does happen again - see below ("Angels of Hell's Gap")

ANGELS OF HELL'S GAP

J12 and J13 were published as usual. But here's where I'm having difficulties. The British Newspaper Archive does not have issues of the Daily Mirror for Friday 17 January 1975, or Saturday 18 or Monday    20 January and episode J15 appears on Tuesday 21 January 1975. So I can't tell when J14 was published. The paper of the Thursday 16 mentions that there's a possibility of strike action closing down all national newspapers on Friday 17, and there's no resumé on Tuesday, so I wondered if J14 was published on the Monday. But an article on Monday 20th in the Daily Record states: "The Daily Mirror was again not published last night" - obviously meaning the early hours of Monday. So it looks as if J14 was never published. So in case it's missing from your collection here it is - but then again, Scotland, this might be your first glimpse of any later 'Garth' strips!

Garth: Angels of Hell's Gap J14

The 28 March 1975 was Good Friday - but the Scottish paper was still running 'Danielle' so no Garths to be found there. Interestingly the issue of the Daily Mirror 5 April, under a headline of "It's great to be back" mentions that DM "did not appear" for last 10 days in the Midlands and the South. Thankfully the Archive has copies of all but one of these. I presume this means the plant in Manchester did go ahead with publication but distribution elsewhere was a problem?

That introductory caption (see above "The Bride of Jenghiz Khan") occurs again in 21 January 1975 paper: "Garth, temporary film extra, has donned the uniform of a Confederate Army major."  In J78 (5 April 1975) we get another: "Loomis with most of his men captured is on the run from Garth and the miners" Were the editors thinking with all the disruption, a resumé of the story was worthwhile?

THE DOOMSMEN

From May to August 1975, there are no discrepancies in the publication of Garth except on 4 July 1975 when 2 strips were published (J154 + J155)! The reason appears to be explained earlier in the paper:

The Daily Mirror regrets that readers in some areas of England and Wales were unable to obtain copies of the newspaper yesterday. This was due to a dispute with journalists. The Daily Mirror apologises for this inconvenience to readers, wholesale newsagents, retailers and advertisers.

THE BUBBLE MAN

"The Daily Mirror did not appear yesterday, in common with other national newspapers"  is the statement on Saturday 15 November 1975. So in case you need this episode J269 to complete the story, here it is.

Garth: The Bubble Man J269

Also another introductory caption appears on J270 (15 November 1975): "Garth learns from a Nomad of sabotage by Ledra"

BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

On 8 December 1975, the Mirror brought all its strips together on one page - meaning Andy Capp was no longer on a 2 x 2 grid but a single strip like Garth. The Daily Mirror didn't publish on the holiday dates of 25 and 26 December 1975 or 1 January 1976 and there are no other surprises here.

THE SPANISH LADY

Good Friday fell on 16 April in 1976 and there were no gaps as a result of the non-publication of the Daily Mirror (and the Record had only the 'Angus Og' strip).

GHOST TOWN - REPRINTED
Unfortunately Frank Bellamy passed away on 5 July 1976 when the third-to-last episode of 'The Spanish Lady' appeared as K158 on Monday 5 July 1976. The Mirror ran the last two episodes and began on Thursday 8 July to re-run 'Ghost Town' with the original numbering on the artwork. So while 'Andy Capp', 'The Perishers', 'The Fosdyke Saga', 'The Larks' and 'Little Joe' were numbered K161, 'Ghost Town retained the number G87. Notice the header above the strip.

Garth: Ghost Town - reprinted

What would have been nice, would be to see G94a from the Daily Record included, but that didn't happen. 

The publication of these 78 episodes gave the Mirror time to try-out and appoint a successor and that was Martin Asbury, as we know. However Bellamy had drawn 16 more episodes of Garth.

THE MANHUNT 

The first episode (K239) was published Thursday 7 October 1976 and the last credited episode was K253. However K254 (published Monday 25 October 1976) despite being credited to Martin Asbury is signed and clearly drawn by Frank Bellamy

 

Garth: The Manhunt K254 drawn by FB

And in case anyone is wondering, the Daily Record of the same date had Angus Og and  was now also publishing 'Lance McLane' by the brilliant Sydney Jordan (M148).

SUMMARY

I've studied all episodes of Garth drawn by Bellamy and noted published dates in a spreadsheet with discrepancies due to strikes, and public holidays. I've looked at the Daily Record for these dates and around them a bit and justified why things were different. This led to the discovery of these new strips. Anyone reprinting Garth would do all collectors a favour by including them.

I hope you enjoyed seeing them and if you followed the text too, go and grab a cup of tea or something stronger! You deserve it.

Norman

Frank Bellamy and Garth in the Daily Record (December, 1971-1973)

Back before Christmas I discovered a mystery - as far I was concerned: a Garth strip was offered that I'd never seen before. It soon came to light that it was from the Daily Record (in Scotland). So before lockdown I had the opportunity to review the Daily Record - God bless the British Library! - and am now writing this up with images to make a bit more sense.

SUMMARY

"G305.5" from Daily Record

• This Garth strip featured characters from "The Wreckers" story which ran in the Daily Mirror 26 October 1973 - 18 February 1974 (G255-H41)
• The seller noted the strip was numbered "DR.CH.73" and the printers' instructions in pencil written on front state "Daily Record 26-12-73"
• With a bit of research I discovered that Scotland and England published different papers on different days over the Christmas/New Year period, so I knew we might have extra Garth strips by Bellamy that I'd not seen in England before.
  

THE HUNT

As Bellamy started on the Garth strip in July 1971 and died in July 1976 I thought there might be at least one strip for each Christmas / New Year holiday period. Once I found that the Daily Record published on Christmas Day and Boxing Day (where the English counterpart did not) I wanted to see how this looked in the paper.

I then found I needn't worry about Boxing Day in Scotland AFTER 1973 because:

• 1973 - 2 January was created an additional bank holiday in Scotland by the 1971 Act. However, the provision did not come into effect until 1973.
• 1974 - New Year's Day became an additional bank holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and Boxing Day became an additional bank holiday in Scotland. ~ Taken from the archived Government page

I then went through every published Daily Record in December 1971, 1972 and 1973 and noted when it was published and which Garths appeared

1971

Dates of Garth in Daily Record & Daily Mirror 1971

The notes above show the DAY on which the paper was published, its DATE, together with the NUMBERING for "Garth" and "Angus Og" (as that appeared together with "Garth" on the same page in the paper). Lastly the "Garth" notation in the Daily Mirror.

NOTES

It appears that when an Angus Og story finished its numbering changed (as opposed to "Garth" which changed the letter prefix every calendar year, i.e. 1971 = E, 1972 = F, etc.).

Interestingly my first discovery  was that everything matched until the Christmas Day issue of the Daily Record. There is an additional strip that didn't appear in the Daily Mirror and it fits between E300 and E301, so I'm calling it "E300.5" - apologies for the poor photo

Garth E300

Garth "E300.5"

Garth E301

I'm going to take a guess and say this is an additional strip drawn by John Allard himself as his lettering looks the same and the art looks like his too. The Perishers strip  was labelled "DR.25.12.71" so I'm guessing this didn't appear in England either - oh and by the way, the weekend Perishers strip tended to be coloured! - and as I'm a fan, here that 'missing' one

Perishers Daily Record DR.25.12.71

1972

Dates of Garth in Daily Record & Daily Mirror 1972

1972 got even more scary for me. I'm glad I captured all of December while there! Everything was fine until we get to the Daily Record dated 16 December 1972 where panels get repeated and skipped. I've labelled each panel A, B, and C and compared the Record to the Mirror's numbering

Daily Record 15 - 19 December 1972

F299 A + B panels were not published in Scotland

Garth F299

Why this occurred at this point, I have no idea. Every day was published (no strikes) and we are not yet at 25th December yet.

Garth F303

Talking of which, F303 is the end of the "People of the Abyss" story in England but in Scotland there is another episode rounding it off.

For the first time I present "F303.5"

Garth "F303.5"

1973

Dates of Garth in Daily Record & Daily Mirror 1973

The Christmas day edition of the Daily Record was not published and a note in the Christmas Eve edition says "We'll be back Wednesday" which is Boxing Day 26 December 1973 and here is where this hunt started with Rhona Flin offering this Garth for sale last year.

Garth "G305.5" or "DR CH 73"

CONCLUSION

So the Daily Record had some different Garth strips from the Daily Mirror, the paper that hired Frank Bellamy. It appears in these three Decembers that Bellamy produced 2 episodes and Allard one. Unfortunately both John and Frank are no longer with us to ask about this. John Allard will certainly have known about this different publishing schedule as he produced one episode in the time period I examined, during the Bellamy run - which stands out a mile due to the difference in style.

THE FUTURE

Looking at the history and outline of Public Holidays in Scotland, I feel it will be a long time before I look at the rest of the Garth publishing in the Daily Record but I'm happy to give others credit if they share the information!

 

[UPDATE DECEMBER 2020: A website for Angus Og now exists: www.AngusOg.scot]

ORIGINAL ART: Garth on ebay - TheWreckers (G305.5!)

If you read this:

G292 of The Wreckers

Then read this:

G293 of The Wreckers

Then this:

G294 of The Wreckers

Do you think the story is missing something? How did Garth get into the chair? The caption "Interrogation" doesn't really make sense.

But what if between G293 and G294, the guards and Garth had a fight and our hero knocked them out? Then Tallion, the villain who would interrogate Garth, might have been watching and threatened Garth. Then we might have Garth submitting and following new guards to the interrogation chamber. THEN we could see G294.

OR ALTERNATIVELY

G304-G305

G306-G307

What if between these two banks of strips Tallion challenges Garth and we see the two guards on the floor? Why do I say that?

G293.5(!) or G305.5(???)

Where did I find what I'm calling G305.5 until I know any better? On eBay!

An episode of "The Wreckers" DR.CH.73 - Daily Record

The seller (rhfl41) has been in touch and tells me that

The Garth strip belonged to my father, the late Ewen Bain, who was a cartoonist. His own cartoon strip, Angus Og, ran in the Daily Record for 30 years [UPDATE DECEMBER 2020: Rhona has created a website now www.AngusOg.scot]

She describes the Garth strip like this:

Original Frank Bellamy Garth cartoon strip. From the Wreckers numbered DR.CH.73. Printers' instructions in pencil written on front including 'Daily Record 26-12-73'.
Drawn in black on CS10 Line Board.
Measures 20 x 53 cms, outer area, 13 x 52 dimensions of drawing.
(The Daily Record is a Scottish newspaper).

Why would this have gone unnoticed all these years - since 1973? We have seen reprints of the strip in Garth: The Wreckers published by the now-defunct All Devon Comic Collectors Club. The Americans saw the strip (oddly missing  G301-G306 inclusive) in the wonderful Menomonee Falls Gazette (#184 - #202) and lastly in the Daily Mirror from Wednesday 13 April 2011 - Tuesday 7 June 2011 where it was coloured by Martin Baines. But NONE of them have this strip that is on offer!

Just to confuse me the edition of the Daily Mirror for 6 November 1973 states "Here's a double ration of your favourite strips" - no explanation why, but presumably industrial action again - there were loads around that time! However the paper appears to have been published the day before and on 6 November a reprint of the 5 November strip appeared! So our numbering sequence is fine.

If they presented the numbered sequences as above with no 'other' strip needing inserting then what is the one presented here? I think the Mirror numbered the Bellamy strips (not Bellamy) so there was a continuous sequence but I wonder if this strip was NOT published in the Daily Mirror.

If anyone reading this has cuttings from or access to the Daily Record for that period I'd love to know.

This has consequences as we may have other printed strips never before seen in England - and further afield, as well as original art that is unique! And I shall have to correct a note on the website that says the BBC article on FB states he did work for the Daily Record, where I thought he didn't!

I then checked all that I did know and agree that 96 episodes of this story are in the reprinted versions I have between Friday 26 October 1973 and Monday 18 February 1974. BUT that is based on the usual lack of Sunday versions of the Daily Mirror and also no Christmas Day, and Boxing Day editions - times were different back then! However usually there would be a New Year's Day edition BUT the Newspaper Archive says not for 1974! So 96 only works if these conditions are true, i.e. the Archive didn't miss one!

Now to the Daily Record reprinting the strip. The Internet and I know nothing! HELP! I shall do the research when next in the British Library and let you know but we now have to conclude:

1. This is an original Bellamy never before printed except in Scotland - and my guess would be c. 26 December 1973 (for G305.5 to work) - dependent on Scotland printing on Boxing Day - as the writing says on the original
2. There may be others in Scotland that England have not seen
3. Ewen Bain asked Bellamy to create a Garth - and Bellamy jumped off using the story as inspiration - and John Allard lettered as usual - VERY UNLIKELY!
4. This is a fake - which I don't believe! We have some provenance - which can be checked

The last thought I have on the matter is - did the Daily Record receive a clean version of the board - free from the usual 'double-day' information and also the sequential number inserted? More on that another day, but the Scots version is clean of the London markings. Draw your own conclusions!


AUCTION SUMMARY

GARTH: The Wreckers
WHERE?: eBay
STARTING BID: £280
ENDING PRICE: £460
No OF BIDS: 7
END DATE: Friday 27 December 2019