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Tag Archives: Roy Newby
Jinty & Lindy 22 November 1975
15/11/2021 1975, IssuesAlison Christie, B Jackson, Barracuda Bay, Do-It-Yourself Dot, Finleg the Fox, Golden Dolly Death Dust!, Hettie High and Mighty, Jim Baikie, jim Eldridge, Mario Capaldi, Phil Gascoine, Phil Townsend, Roy Newby, Santiago Hernandez, Slaves of the Candle, Terence Magee, The Haunting of Hazel, The Jinx from St Jonah's, Too Old To Cry!, Trini Tinturémistyfan
Slaves of the Candle – artist Roy Newby
Golden Dolly, Death Dust! – Phil Gascoine
Finleg the Fox – artist Jim Eldridge
The Jinx from St. Jonah's – artist Mario Capaldi
Ping-Pong Paula – artist Jim Baikie, writer Alison Christie
Tell Us – problem page
Poparound! – pop gossip
Barracuda Bay (final episode) – artist Santiago Hernandez
Do-It-Yourself Dot – artist Alf Saporito
Too Old to Cry! – artist Trini Tinturé
Hettie High and Mighty – artist "B. Jackson", concept and partial writer Terence Magee
The Haunting of Hazel – artist Santiago Hernandez
Song of the Fir Tree – artist Phil Townsend
Barracuda Bay ends this week. The villainous Kane gets caught in his own explosion, and our heroes barely manage to escape the tidal wave caused by it. Susan, who had started her story all thirsting for adventure and getting out of the office, now decides she's had more than enough adventure.
In Slaves of the Candle, Lyndy manages to stop Mrs Tallow spotting the evidence of an escape, but the cost is Mrs Tallow's revenge for getting dye all over her clothes. This takes the form of forcing Lyndy to go into hives for beeswax and risking stings. What's more, the bees are in a very nasty mood. Talk about killer bees!
Just when Janie thought she'd got rid of that horror Hettie High and Mighty – their parents take it into their heads to get married. Now Janie's got Hettie for a stepsister. Arghh!
Talk about double disaster. Solveig and Per, freshly liberated from a Nazi concentration camp, are forced to take shelter in an abandoned one. Trouble is, their old enemy Sergeant Strang from their own camp has the same idea, and then Grendelsen catches up again. So now the children are up against both Grendelsen and Sergeant Strang!
Ping-Pong Paula gets revenge on Myra Glegg, the spiteful girl who's been playing tricks on her. She beats Myra in a table tennis tournament, and then Myra gets kicked out of the boarding house when the landlady catches her ripping up Paula's photos. So that's one problem less for Paula, but there is still the matter of how to sort out her quarrelling parents. So far that looks like achieving world peace – hopeless.
The next ingredient required for the antidote to Miss Marvell's death dust is damask roses. As usual, Miss Marvell throws obstacles in the way of Yvette and Lucy, and she isn't through when they finally reach the roses. There's an angry bull bearing down on them!
In Finleg the Fox, the evidence is mounting up that the unpleasant Mr Dray was involved in a train robbery and the money Una found is the stash. Meanwhile, Dora hatches a nasty plan to poison Finleg!
Hazel's mountaincraft course is in a real mess. She was so distracted by whatever's haunting her that she left her mountain climbing party on the mountain. Ooops!
Katie the Jinx is the hobby horse in a Morris dancing charity event. She would find herself being chased by a showjumping horse who wants her toffee apple and end up straight in the lake. At least the hijinks are so hilarious they make a lot of money for the event.
Nell's search for the woman who might be her mother leads her to a beauty academy, but she is stuck on how to introduce herself. What's more, she isn't exactly a beauty. At least the horrible Mrs Arbuthnot doesn't know she's escaped from the orphanage and the police aren't searching for her yet, but it can only a matter of time…
Dot's back and trying her hand at juggling. She ends up as the one being juggled, by dolphins.
12/11/2021 1975, IssuesAlison Christie, B Jackson, Barracuda Bay, Finleg the Fox, Golden Dolly Death Dust!, Hettie High-and-Mighty, Jim Baikie, jim Eldridge, Jinx From St Jonah's, Mario Capaldi, Penny Crayon, Phil Gascoine, Phil Townsend, Ping-Pong Paula, Roy Newby, Santiago Hernandez, Slaves of the Candle, Song of the Fir Tree, Terence Magee, Too Old To Cry!, Trini Tinturémistyfan
Great Fun Contest!
Poparound!
Barracuda Bay – artist Santiago Hernandez
Penny Crayon – cartoon
The Jinty & Lindy merger is in its second week. Lyndy Lagtree is determined to escape from Mrs Tallow's House of Candles despite being framed by her for theft and now the most wanted person in London. Her first attempt fails, but she picks up a vital clue about the racket. Unfortunately Mrs Tallow is on the verge of discovering this, so Lyndy has to think of something fast! Meanwhile, Nell's escape from Mrs Arbuthnot's horrible orphanage is more successful. So far, no problems, and she's landed on her feet in a cake shop. Can Nell keep one step ahead Mrs Arbuthnot, the cruel matron who can lie her way out of anything?
In "Song of the Fir Tree", Solveig and Per have made their way to a more savoury orphanage, but they are forced to go on the run again when Grendelsen catches up. Unfortunately this causes another missed opportunity to reunite with their father.
Hazel's just about reached the end of her rope with her haunting, but now it's taking another turn in a churchyard. Will it be for the better or worse?
Miss Marvell breaks the hearts of everyone in the community when she uses her death dust to destroy valuable trees that were memorials to fallen soldiers. The water lily is next on the list for the antidote to Miss Marvell's death dust. Easy to find, but not easy to obtain with her around!
In the two running stories that came over from Lindy, Hettie High and Mighty is proving herself just as slick as Mrs Arbuthnot. She is playing so foully on the hockey field that poor Janie has taken a nasty crack on the head. Then Janie finds out Hettie is doing it all on purpose after switching their names with the reporters watching the match. So she will get the blame for what Hettie did! In the other story, Finleg the Fox, Una finds a stash of money in his den. It could only be stolen money, but who stole it, and what does it have to do with the stranger who's been found dead?
In "Barracuda Bay", our heroes escape the villainous Kane's underwater base thanks to a timely earthquake. But now they face a tidal wave set off by the explosives he set to destroy his base. This move has also rebounded on Kane, whose getaway submarine got jammed in the door from the quake.
Myra Glegg has been playing rotten tricks on Ping-Pong Paula, but at least Paula now knows why – Myra is her latest ping-pong rival. Showdown time.
You would think babysitting a pot plant couldn't be any trouble. Not when the damn thing is so big it reaches the ceiling, has very fussy demands, and the Jinx from St Jonah's is in charge of it!
Sandie 28 July 1973
17/02/2019 1973, IssuesA.E. Allen, All Against Alice, B Jackson, Bridie at the Fair, Captives of Terror Island, Cinderella Superstar, Connie Courageous, Dancing into Danger, Eduardo Feito, Joan Boix, Juan Escandell Torres, Leslie Otway, Roy Newby, Sink or Swim Sara!, Sisters In Sorrow, Slaves of the Eye, Terence Magee, Tom Kerr, Wyn and the Witchmistyfan
Slaves of the Eye (artist Joan Boix)
Cinderella – Superstar (artist Joan Boix?)
Wyn and the Witch (artist A. E. Allen)
Connie Courageous (artist "B. Jackson") – last episode
Sink or Swim, Sara! (artist Eduardo Feito)
The Captives of Terror Island (artist Juan Escandell Torres, writer Terence Magee) – last episode
Dancing to Danger (artist Tom Kerr)
Bridie at the Fair (artist Leslie Otway)
All Against Alice (artist Miguel Quesada?)
Sisters in Sorrow (artist Desmond Walduck?)
"Slaves of the Eye" features another sinister teacher (Miss Krell) who exerts a strange, sinister influence over pupils, and it's up to our protagonists (Kate Saunders and her friend Heather) to unravel how and why. Plus what lies under that veil Miss Krell always wears and what lurks in her laboratory. Kate has now discovered Miss Krell used a transmitter inside a netball to make the girls foul her during the match. Once she gets hold of the transmitter, it leads her and Heather to prison cells that were empty earlier but are now full of…whom?
"Cinderella Superstar" is an aspiring ballerina, Ellie Villiers whose road to her dreams is being blocked by uncooperative relatives who treat her like dirt. Now they've taken her gramophone to stop her dancing to her ballet music and given it away. But the blurb for next week says Ellie's about to get some help.
Wyn is an ill-treated drudge at Pinchbeck Hall, but has a good friend in the form of the witch Grizelda "Grizzy" in the attic, whose magic helps Wyn get comeuppance on her horrible employers. This week Lord Pinchbeck is challenged to a duel but there's a problem – Grizzy has turned him into a pig, so how the heck is he going to duel?
It's the final episode of "Connie Courageous". Connie Cartwright has jealous rivals in addition to learning to jump while being blind. And she needs the prize money to restore her sight, but her enemies have blocked the path to her getting to the event. Can she and her horse find a way to get there in time?
"The Captives of Terror Island" also ends this week. Madame Soong of Terror Island has kidnapped an entire hockey team in order to claim the National Hockey Championships for her country, and her training methods are "barbaric". It looks like she has finally got what she wants and is a national heroine, until our heroine finally manages to expose her in front of the spectators. Madame Soong quite literally destroys herself – and Terror Island – with the very bomb she had set for her enemies.
In "Sink or Swim, Sara", the two snobby headmistresses of St Agatha's should have thought twice before making Sara Dale's life so miserable. This caused her to change schools when they badly needed her to win an inter-school swimming gala. Now the same thing has resulted in two of Sara's friends being expelled. Now they've transferred to Sara's school and are happier – then Sara informs them that the expulsion is all part of some dirty trick the headmistresses are playing, which won't be revealed until the final episode next week.
"Sisters in Sorrow" is also on its penultimate episode. Layla and her friend Pat have been forced to become thieves, but the story takes the unusual step of having an aristocrat, Lady Maggins, as the Fagin. They have been forced to impersonate two others in order to infiltrate a household so they can rob it. Layla manages to rescue the real McCoys, but they get cornered by Lady Maggins. Meanwhile, Pat has been exposed as an imposter, so they're both in a corner now.
"Dancing to Danger" and "Bridie at the Fair" look like they have been reprinted from elsewhere, perhaps School Friend or June. In the former, Pat White uses ballet as her cover for undercover work against the Nazis in World War II. She manages to worm her way into Gestapo HQ to find information on a prisoner, Professor Duval, under pretext of her ballet troupe staging a performance there. However, her Nazi nemesis, Herr Staub, gets suspicious and is going to arrange a special watch on them. In the latter, Bridie Donovan has joined a fair in the hope of regaining her memory. But the fortune-teller Madame Rosa tells Bridie she can do anything she wants with her.
"All Against Alice" has been fostered out to a former Wimbledon champion who is coaching her in her beloved tennis, but shows her no affection. Then a Mr and Mrs Tyler claim to be Alice's parents but lose the custody battle in the interim. Just as well, because they are clearly out to make money out of her, which they finally succeed in doing by destroying Alice's amateur status through a dirty trick, and with it, her career.
Jinty & Lindy 3 January 1976
14/01/2019 1976, Issues1976, 19760103, 3 January 1976, Ana Rodriguez, B Jackson, creator credits, Do-It-Yourself Dot, Friends of the Forest, Golden Dolly Death Dust!, Haunting of Hazel, Jim Baikie, Jinty & Lindy, Jinx From St Jonah's, Mario Capaldi, misattribution, Phil Townsend, Roy Newby, Santiago Hernandez, Slaves of the Candle, Song of the Fir Tree, Too Old To Cry!, Trini Tinturé, unknown artist, unknown artist - Merry, Wanda Whiter Than Whitecomixminx
Slaves of the Candle (artist Roy Newby)
The Jinx from St Jonah's (artist Mario Capaldi)
Friends of the Forest (unknown artist – Merry – "B Jackson")
Golden Dolly, Death Dust! (artist Phil Gascoine)
Ping-Pong Paula (artist Jim Baikie)
Too Old to Cry! (artist Trini Tinturé unknown)
Wanda Whiter than White (artist Ana Rodriguez)
The Haunting of Hazel (artist Santiago Hernandez unknown)
Song of the Fir Tree (artist Phil Townsend)
This post is inspired by a number of creator attribution discussions from recent months, not all of which have made it onto the blog yet (and some of which are hot off the press!). Yesterday I had a lovely, fun meetup with the daughter of Trini Tinturé, who is very delightfully based in the same city as me for at least some of her working time. I dug out some old issues to show Maris Tinturé some of her mother's Jinty stories in situ, and this was the first one where I spotted a story attributed to Trini.
Maris leafed through it once, twice, and couldn't find any art of her mother's. Was it just too much of a skim-read to spot it after all this time? No – I pointed out the specific story I had in mind, "Too Old to Cry!", and the immediate reaction was, 'but that's not hers!' – and a quick cameraphone piccy and email confirmed it. This story looks enough like Trini's art for me to never have questioned the attribution that came handed down to me, probably from David Roach originally, but to the most familiar of eyes it is as unlike her art as one face is like another. Below is the episode of the story from this issue – compare it to a piece of definite Trini artwork like the sample pages of Creepy Crawley. (But I think that you will be likely to have to look very closely to be sure, unless you are very familiar with her artwork.) [Edited to add – Trini now says that this story is hers after all! This is upon reflection and, especially, her review of the second and third pages of the story. Here are her own words about it (translated by her daughter Maris): "I would much rather say that this bad work is not mine, and it would be easier for me to do so. But, unfortunately, I have to admit it is. Shame, shame! It looks like the main character had to have a 'special' feel, and special indeed I made her! She looks horribly tuberculose. I don't remember the story or the characters at all. (And at the bottom of the last page the texts points to the continuation in the following week, meaning it's a serial: no clue at all.) But there are traits in the other characters that give me away mercilessly. Nobody can copy certain kinds of folding and line… The way of drawing stones, the backgrounds… the older people… (Or maybe it was a cooperation between me and Dracula, who knows!)
But the date 1976 certainly does not fit. It is quite possible that they originally put aside the story and only published it years later, who knows why. There was a lot of entanglement [with] publishers. These bad pages smack of my earliest works for Scotland's schoolgirl series, for example. Fortunately my style changed very soon.
There's nothing more I can add. It is bad work, but it is mine."]
click thru
This issue also includes an episode of "The Haunting of Hazel" which we have likewise previously attributed to Santiago Hernandez. However, on looking at the 2017 post on "Santiago Hernandez or José Ariza" Trini has this to say: "Barracuda Bay" is definitely Hernandez. "Golden Shark" possibly, but much earlier work perhaps. "The Haunting of Hazel" is unlikely to be Hernandez." So I have likewise changed the attribution of that story on this post, in order not to confidently show it as being by Santiago Hernandez.
Finally, one other story in this issue is from an artist that we have long referred to as unknown – the unknown artist who drew "Merry at Misery House". A sighting by "Goof" on the UK Comics Forum gave us a valuable reference to the name "B Jackson" as the artist credit accompanying the illustration for a text story in the 'Daily Mirror Book for Girls" 1971. Further detective work by David Slinn (a contact of David Roach's) and by David Roach has given a long list of stories and titles that "B Jackson" seems to have worked on. This will follow as a blog post on this site, with apologies for the delay in getting to this denouement.
But will the attribution of B Jackson prove long lasting, or could it be falsified or proved inaccurate in some way? All that I've seen on the blog so far goes to show that there is no 100% guarantee of anything – the word of an expert is very valuable but there's nothing to compare with a direct line from the creator themselves, if at all possible.
Tammy & Sally 1 January 1972 – first New Year issue
29/12/2018 1972, IssuesBeattie Beats 'Em All!, Bernice and the Blue Pool, Cinderella Spiteful, Douglas Perry, Eduardo Feito, Four Friends at Spartan School, Gina - Get Lost, Halves in a Horse, John Armstrong, José Casanovas, Lulu, Maisie's Magic Eye, Maureen Spurgeon, Miguel Quesada, No Tears For Molly, Robert MacGillivray, Roy Newby, Secret Ballerina, Skimpy Must Ski!, Tom Hurst, Tony Thewenettimistyfan
Gina – Get Lost (artist Miguel Quesada)
Beattie Beats 'Em All! (artist John Armstrong)
Halves in a Horse (artist Eduardo Feito)
Lulu (cartoon)
Skimpy Must Ski! (artist Tom Hurst)
The Four Friends at Spartan School (artist "B. Jackson", writer Terence Magee)
Maisie's Magic Eye (artist Robert MacGillivray)
The Secret Ballerina (artist Roy Newby)
Bernice and the Blue Pool – final episode (artist Douglas Perry)
Talk It Over with Trudy (problem page)
Alison All Alone
Cinderella Spiteful (artist Jose Casanovas)
No Tears for Molly (artist Tony Thewenetti, writer Maureen Spurgeon)
This is Tammy's first New Year issue. The girl on the cover has a nice touch of mystique with her mask at a New Year's party. Molly Mills finishes her current story with a Christmas party for all the orphanage kids, despite Pickering's attempts to ruin things for them. Heck, he even tried to tie up the kids' dog and leave it on the roof to freeze to death! Anyway, Molly will have a new story in the New Year.
Gina – Get Lost must be wishing she could get lost. A phoney child welfare officer has sent her to a sadistic children's home where, among other things, she has been forced to crop her own hair. And their idea of punishment is to leave her in a freezing room all night with a vicious dog barking and snarling at her all the time.
"Bernice and the Blue Pool" ends this issue, so there will be a new story for the New Year. "The Four Friends at Spartan School" is on its penultimate episode, so there will be another new story helping to kick off New Year in two weeks. The four friends have successfully escaped Spartan School, but now they find an avalanche is threatening the school. Well, an avalanche may the best thing for the most horrible school in the world, but let's face it – there are lives at stake up there, after all.
"Halves in a Horse" is near its end too. Pauline's cruelty goes too far. She sends Topper bolting and now he's in danger of drowning in a river. The Major, who had figured out Pauline's bullying and tried to get Pauline's victim Kay to stand up to her, is the only one on hand to help, but he doubts the horse can be saved. When Pauline hears this, she is suddenly struck with conscience.
Skimpy is determined to show her grandfather she is not an invalid anymore and can tackle skiing. By the end of the episode he has got the message and decides to help her with skiing. Excellent! Now the story can move more smoothly, though we are sure there are still bumps in the road ahead, and not just the tumbles Skimpy will take on the ski slopes.
Beattie has been cribbing lessons in secret at the school she has been squatting in while keeping up her athletics. Now she has a chance to be properly enrolled, but she has to pass exams.
Maisie tells a fat, gluttonous girl that she's an awful pig. She never learns to watch what she says while wearing that damn brooch, does she? The girl instantly turns into a pig. Needless to say, she isn't so greedy after Maisie finally gets her back to normal.
In "The Secret Ballerina, Karen finally makes it to the locked room – only to find nothing but Aunt Edith crying over someone named Karen, but Karen realises it's not her. So who is this other Karen? Everything begins to point to Karen's mother, but what's it got to do with Aunt Edith not allowing Karen to dance?
Alison seems to be having more success in unravelling her own mystery. The clue she has uncovered leads her to Fengate Hall and she is going in. But the boys who have accompanied her are worried she is going to desert them once she finds out her true identity. Oh, surely not? After all, none of them really know what is waiting inside for Alison.
"Cinderella Spiteful" tries to ruin cousin Angela's party. But in the end she is glad she failed to do so as she misjudged Angela over who she was going to invite, and she likes the look of the guests.
Tammy & Sally 25 December 1971 – first Christmas Tammy issue
21/12/2018 1971, IssuesAlison All Alone, B Jackson, Beattie Beats 'Em All!, Bernice and the Blue Pool, Christmas, Cinderella Spiteful, Douglas Perry, Eduardo Feito, Four Friends at Spartan School, Gina - Get Lost, Halves in a Horse, John Armstrong, José Casanovas, Lulu, Maisie's Magic Eye, Miguel Quesada, Robert MacGillivray, Roy Newby, Secret Ballerina, Skimpy Must Ski!, Terence Magee, Tom Hurstmistyfan
Cover artist: John Armstrong
Skimpy Must Ski! – first episode (artist Tom Hurst)
Bernice and the Blue Pool (artist Douglas Perry)
A Tammy Outfit Idea for Christmas (feature)
This is Tammy's first Christmas issue. Beattie Beats 'Em All! (John Armstrong's first Tammy story) does the honours on the cover. The back cover has a Christmas how-to-make. In Molly Mills, Lord Stanton wants to bring Christmas cheer to orphanage children, but he has reckoned without the cruel butler Pickering. The issue also advertises Tammy's first-ever annual. Lulu is trying to find Christmas presents for Dad but keeps getting foiled.
You'd think this week's episode of Maisie's Magic Eye would be Christmassy too, but no. It's a regular episode, where Maisie and her friend Lorna try to break bounds and sneak off to the circus. Hijinks with the brooch ensue, with a lot of monkey business when Maisie unwittingly turns the circus strong man into a gorilla and the brooch stops glowing before she can change him back.
Normally new stories are reserved for New Year, but one does begin in the Christmas issue, "Skimpy Must Ski!" Skimpy Shaw, a convalescent girl, is sent to live with her grandfather who looks a real sourpuss. Time will tell if he has a heart under there. Meanwhile, Skimpy is inspired to ski, and she thinks she has a natural talent for it.
Gina – Get Lost has been left to look after herself when her parents emigrate, which is not going down well with the welfare authorities. And it sounds like there is worse to come. She has already fallen foul of blackmailers and it looks like she will fall foul of potential guardians out to exploit her.
Before Bella Barlow, John Armstrong drew "Beattie Beats 'Em All!" for Tammy. Beattie Brown is a promising athlete. Unfortunately she has no fixed abode either, so she and her stray cats live in a boiler room at a girls' college.
In "Halves in a Horse", two cousins are left with half shares in a horse, Topper. The cousin who wins the most prizes with him will acquire full ownership. As might be expected, one cousin (Pauline) is not playing fair and making the other cousin (Kay) suffer. Now the cousins have almost equal shares, Pauline is using blackmail against Kay.
Bernice and the Blue Pool was Tammy's first swimming story and also the first story Douglas Perry drew for Tammy. It was the start of a regular Tammy run for Perry that lasted into 1981. The Blue Pool has a supernatural theme, which ranges from beneficial (curing our protagonist of her fear of water) to ominous – wearing Victorian swimming costumes that were worn by a pioneering Victorian swimming team that drowned.
The Secret Ballerina, Karen Jones, has to practise in secret because her aunt is against ballet for some reason. This is, of course, the mystery that needs to be unravelled. Compounding the mystery is a locked room in auntie's house. But now Katie has discovered the room has been unlocked and someone is inside. She is heading to the attic to investigate. Will she find the key to the mystery next week?
Surprise, surprise – Miss Bramble's henchman, er girl, Siddons helps the four friends at Spartan School to escape from the school where sadism is the rule. But of course they should have known it would be a setup. Mind you, they didn't expect Siddons to actually attempt to kill them! When they survive that, they discover Miss Bramble and Siddons have concocted a plan to get them arrested instead.
Cinderella Spiteful – now that's a very unusual title for a Cinderella story, you think. Actually, the story has nothing to do with Cinderella. Emma is jealous of her cousin Angela because Angela is good at everything while Emma is not. Next week it sounds like it will be more spiteful than Cinderella, because Emma reaches her limit in this episode.
Alison All Alone is on the run after being imprisoned by her guardians for many years. The question is: why did they keep her locked up like that? The three runaway boys who helped her escape are helping her to find out. This week they uncover a clue about her past – a crook who says he will be finished if Alison finds out who her true parents are!
Christine Ellingham – Interview
10/03/2018 Creators, InterviewsAlf Saporito, Bardon Art, Barry Coker, Bobo Bunny, Bunty, Christine Ellingham, Concrete Surfer, D.C.Thomson, Dance into Darkness, Danny Kelleher, Dudley Pout, Fleetway, Gerry Finley-Day, Giorgio Giorgetti, Go Girl!, Iain MacDonald, IPC, John Fernley, John Jackson, John Purdie, John Sanders, Keith Davis, Leonard Matthews, Linden Artists, Lindy Under The Lake, Loving, Malcolm Shaw, Mavis Miller, Miguel Quesada, Oh Boy, Race for a Fortune, Roy Newby, Sandie, Stan Stamper, Stuart Pride, Tammy, Temple Arts, Tony Hunt, Topsy of the Pops, Vet on the Hillcomixminx
With many thanks to Christine Ellingham for sending through such detailed and interesting answers to the interview questions below – and of course also thanks to her for getting in contact in the first place!
Question 1 – Can you please give a bit of background context to your time in comics – when did you start doing work for picture strips / comics titles, and what got you into them in the first place? You say that your time as a strip artist was short – what led you to cut it short, if there was anything specific?
As with a lot of the jobs I have done over the years, I arrived at IPC, then Fleetway Publications, purely by accident and good luck.
I had been a staff layout artist plus fashion illustrator on a girls' teenage magazine called, Go Girl! (This is where I first met Malcolm Shaw.) Go Girl! was part of City Magazines, the magazine division of The News of the World. This was in 1968.
Unfortunately, Go Girl! folded after a very short life and it was suggested that I approach Leonard Matthews, the then Director of Juvenile Publications, not sure of his correct title, at Fleetway. I did, and was offered a job there. In those days it was relatively easy to move around from one job to another.
Initially, I was placed in a department with several other people, not a specific title, where we did odd jobs for different papers, i.e. illustration, lettering, pasteup and, in the case of Alf Saporito, cartoons. I remember John Fernley being one of us, possibly Tony Hunt, though I'm not sure.
After a short period I was moved to the Nursery group, under the managing editor, Stuart Pride, and there I worked on a new publication called Bobo Bunny. This had come from Holland and needed adjusting size wise and certain content adaptation making it suitable for the UK market.
By now John Sanders was the overall editor of the juveniles. I have a feeling I wasn't the first to be offered the position of art editor of a new girls' paper called Tammy but I accepted it nevertheless and moved from juvenile to teenage. John Purdie was the editor and Gerry Finley-Day and Iain MacDonald made up the editorial team.
Under John, we gathered writers and artists and the aim was to compete with D.C. Thomson's Bunty and maybe other titles of that type. I remember John and I made a trip to Rome to talk to the Giorgetti stable of artists and we were wined and dined by Giorgio Giorgetti and his American wife. We also attracted all the relevant artist's agents, Danny Kelleher and his son Pat of Temple Arts, Linden Artists and Bardon Art for example, and collected together a group of strip artists, writers and balloon letterers.
Eventually, Tammy was launched and did very well. I was able to contribute a small amount of artwork, the back cover of the first edition is mine, but really my job was to get it all together, see the agents and in one case, the artists themselves (I remember Roy Newby used to deliver his own work) but usually the agents would deliver the artwork.
I have to admit, I was not entirely happy in the role of art editor. I had studied illustration at Hornsey College of Art and that was what I wanted to do. I left Fleetway 1971/72. Barry Coker and Keith Davis of Bardon Art represented mainly Spanish strip artists. I thought that maybe I could 'have a go' at doing this as a freelance and doing it from Spain. Barry and Keith took me on and my then partner and I moved to Spain. Just like that! This was 1972. Amazing really.
Christine Ellingham, 1973/74
First of all my work was for D.C. Thomson; they waited for a whole series to be complete before publishing so as I was a novice and slow, this suited me. Fleetway needed an episode completed in a week, too much for me then. I am hazy about the titles, there may have been something called, "Warning Wind Bells" and another with an Egyptian theme with a character or a cat called Nofret, or these could have been later for IPC. I have a few old diaries of that time and one story I worked on I have only the initials of the title, S.O.S. I wonder what that stood for! 1972. There was "Topsy of the Pops", "Vet on the Hill" and "Lindy Under the Lake", all for Thomson's circa 1973. (This is the date that I drew them, not necessarily of publication.)
As agents, Barry and Keith were superb. They made sure I was never without work, one story followed immediately after another, that I was paid promptly and they gave me such good advice regarding page layout, technique and story interpretation.
While I was still working on Tammy I started to have problems with my right hand (I am right handed), it not functioning properly. This continued to get worse when we were in Spain and instead of speeding up and refining my style the opposite was happening, my work deteriorated. Bardon Art kept me going but eventually we had to return to England in 1974, where I continued to struggle depressingly.
During the Spanish time I illustrated at least two Annual covers, Tammy 1972, including the front endpapers depicting National Costumes and Sandie Annual 1973, plus various spot illustrations. I still have these annuals. Or I could have done these before Spain.
After inconclusive tests that found nothing terribly wrong with my hand or me generally, the GP at the time suggested I learn to use my left hand. After thinking initially, he doesn't know what he's talking about, I realised this was my only option. I remember one ten-part story for Thomson's started with me using my right hand and gradually with training, ended using my left hand. I can't remember which story that was.
From then on things got better. I speeded up and developed my style. Bardon got me the first IPC job. I'm not one hundred percent sure but it could have been, Cove of Secrets or Secret Cove, something like that, for the Jinty Annual possibly 1974. Also The Whittington's Cat Princess, DCT, around the same time. To this day, I draw, paint and write using my left hand.
"Concrete Surfer" came later. That particular story stands out for me because it was such fun to do. It was all action with hardly any background, it was very modern and I love doing figure work. I remember we bought a skate board so that I could see what it looked like from all angles, a helmet too, still got them!
I cannot remember how many strip stories I worked on after "Concrete Surfer" but at some point I felt the need to move on, that I wasn't being stretched any more. Bardon Art were no longer able to represent me, as strip was their speciality, and sadly, we parted company. I started contributing illustrations to Oh Boy, Loving and other IPC papers for older teens.
After a few years I moved on again and, as an illustrator, contributed to national newspapers, women's magazines, house magazines, mail order publications, coin design, greetings cards and so on.
The work was still there after my retirement but the need to move on again got the better of me and now I paint, back in Spain.
Question 2 – On the blog we are always very keen to try to establish any creator credits for artists and writers, as these are otherwise very likely to get lost in the mists of time. As far as we can tell from the art style, it looks like you drew three stories for Jinty ("Race for a Fortune" (1977-78), "Concrete Surfer" (1978), and "Dance Into Darkness" (1978) plus some covers and spot illustrations, as well as a story in the Lindy Summer Special (1975) and in the Jinty Annual 1978. It may be asking too much at this distance in time, but what other work do you recall doing and in which publications?
I would have to look at these stories that you mention to verify that I actually drew them! As I have said, Concrete Surfer stands out because for me it was a joy to do. The others, some I have managed to see on line and they do look vaguely familiar. At the time I used my partner as a model. I found men more difficult to draw than women and girls and I have noticed him in certain frames even though I tried hard to make them not look like him! When I see him I know that I did that one!
Jinty 8 July 1978: cover shows "Dance Into Darkness"
Question 3 – At the time it was very usual for artists and writers to work quite separately from each other, particularly freelance creators. Was this the case with you, or did you know others working in the same area? I ask partly in case there are any interesting stories or anecdotes that you can relate at this distance in time, but also in case you remember any names of people on the creative or publishing side that can feed in to our information of who did what.
Yes, this was the case for me. Artists do lead a solitary life and being freelance meant I would be at my desk not wanting to be interrupted. The deadlines, especially for IPC, were pretty tight. In my case the work would be delivered to Bardon Art and they would take it to the publication in the case of Fleetway, a few minutes walk away. Though in Spain I posted it directly to DCT. Nevertheless, Barry and Keith were very much involved and would add their comments sometimes.
While we were in Spain the work was rolled into a tube and posted. The tubes had to be open at both ends, some string threaded through and tied and a description of the contents had to be stuck to the outside, or left with an official at the post office.
I did meet one artist in Spain, Miguel Quesada. It was he who told me how to send artwork to England. He and some of his very large family, (a lot of mouths to feed), visited us unexpectedly. He was one of Bardon's and a contributor to Tammy. I never met any of the other artists apart from Roy Newby, but that was before I was a contributor myself.
I did meet John Jackson when he was the art editor of Jinty and of course, Mavis Miller.
Question 4 – I am keen to understand more about the creative and publishing processes of the time. Presumably the writer supplied a script, and the editor chose the artist, but I don't know how everything interacted. Did you get any guidance (say as part of the written script) or conversely any interference from the editor or art editor, or was the published page pretty much under your design control including the composition of the page?
Yes, the editor would choose the artist, art editors didn't have much say in the matter, (Though this is just from my experience of working on Tammy.) And I think the editorial team would have suggested an idea for a story to the writer, again, this is how it happened on Tammy.
The artists were given a lot of guidance. Before even starting, we would be briefed on the content and theme of the story, to get to know the main characters. In the case of IPC the scripts would come one at a time, having only just been written, probably. The artist would receive a document containing the dialogue for each balloon and the positioning of the balloons had to be in that same order in the frame, also, there would be instructions on the action and mood in the frame, i.e. the heroine to look sad, the bad girl to look vindictive; a closeup and so on. The composition of each frame would be influenced by the order and size of the balloons and the overall design of the page would have had input from the editor. Quite a lot to work out, now I come to think of it! [An example of a script has been previously sent in by Pat Davidson, wife of Jinty story writer Alan Davidson: see link here.]
I always had to submit pencil roughs that would be shown to the editor for his/her comments. In Spain there were many visits to the post office, pencils going off to Stan Stamper in Dundee, coming back with comments, a finished, inked episode flying off, the two passing each other on the way. Also, we artists had to work 'half up' so there was a lot of ground to cover. ['Half up' means using a larger piece of art paper – half as much again as the finished size, so that for instance if the finished publication is 10 inches by 12 inches, half up would be 15 inches by 18 inches – with the artwork being photographically reduced in size during the production process.]
Question 5 – A slightly self-indulgent question but with a point to it – how did you come across the Jinty blog? Was it a case of happening to suddenly remember something you worked on years ago and searching for it, or being sent to it? (I ask because I would love to hear from other creators from the time, and if there is anything I can do to increase the chances of someone posting a comment saying that they wrote or drew a story from the time, I will certainly consider it.)
I'm trying to think. How did I find it? I get carried away on the internet sometimes. I think I was looking up an old friend of my now husband's, the two of them used to work together on Eagle, Swift, Robin and Girl papers, as balloon letterers and layout artists. I started looking at Girl artwork as I do have a couple of Girl Annuals, No.3 and No.5. I noticed that the writers and artists all got a credit; one name I recognised was the artist Dudley Pout, I wonder if he contributed to any of the Jinty stories? Though he was probably of another generation.
The friend of my husband had died but in reading his obituary I found links to other sites and by then I was interested to see if any of my work was featured anywhere, the only title I could think of was, "Concrete Surfer"!
First episode of the 1978 story "Concrete Surfer"
Roy Newby (1912-2011)
23/02/2018 CreatorsBound for Botany Bay, George Beardmore, Girl, Jinty, Judy, Late for Dancing, Lindy, Nina Nimble Fingers, Poor Law Polly, Poppet, Robbie of Red Hall, Roy Newby, Slaves of the Candle, Tammy, Valentinecomixminx
Roy Newby is thought to have drawn only only a few stories in Jinty, but he was certainly a long-running artist in other girls' comics titles, particularly Girl, where he drew "Robbie of Red Hall" for many years. I do not yet have a fuller comic bibliography to list in this post, but on the UK Comics Forum, mention is also made of a story in the second Girl Annual which is specifically credited to him as artist: "Late For Dancing", written by George Beardmore. Additionally, comics newssite Down The Tubes states that Newby worked on stories that appeared in other titles such as Tammy, Poppet, Judy, and Valentine.
Newby died relatively recently, having lived to the age of 98; the obituary in the Guardian, written by his son Mike, can be seen here. Mike Newby has likewise created a dedicated site showing his work (though not including many examples of comics, unfortunately for us). Finally, the Lambiek Comiclopedia has a little more on him here.
List of stories attributable to Roy Newby in Jinty:
Slaves of the Candle (1975-76)
Bound for Botany Bay (1976)
Stories in Tammy:
The Secret Ballerina (1971-72)
Tina on a Tightrope (1972)
Minions of the Mine (1972)
Stories in Lindy attributable to him:
Nina Nimble Fingers (1975)
Poor Law Polly (1975)
Stories in Girl: many, including:
Robbie of Red Hall
Late for Dancing
When researching this post, I got in contact with Mike Newby and his sister Clare, who shared some memories with me. Mike told me that "…Dad's original artwork for his comics was destroyed by the publishers as soon as they'd done the necessary for a print-run. (What a shame!) But Dad kept pretty much everything in printed form. He'd go and buy that week's edition of whatever comic he'd drawn and stick it in a scrapbook.".
Clare told me more details of her father's time as a comics creator and her time as a reader of comics: "Through the late 50s and 60s, Friday afternoon was comic day! After school, I got School Friend, Girl's Crystal and one other; Jackie/Tammy/or whatever. I saw Dad's stuff free! Whenever I was ill in bed, I used to look at the scrapbooks of mostly Girl. Dad said he preferred girls papers as they didn't have as many technical, fiddly buttons and switches (spaceships) as boys. Also, he used to get any scripts set in dancing schools as he could use me for reference (I studied ballet which I went on to do professionally). He particularly liked historical costume stories. As I got older, he worked on Valentine and Roxy. I was about 13 and wasn't allowed to read them, so I would sneak into his studio when he was out and read about teen life. I put everything back and thought I'd got away with it, but he told me years later, he always knew!"
Courtesy of Clare Newby, here are two images of her father's work – a photograph of some of the scrapbook pages, and a beautiful little sketch of herself reading them in bed, when ill at one time. Many thanks indeed to her for sending those in!
Little Lady Nobody (1972)
18/02/2018 Storiescreator credits, Desmond Walduck, historical story, individual slave story, Little Lady Nobody, redemption narrative, Roy Newby, Sandie, Slaves of War Orphan Farmcomixminx
(from Sandie 18 March 1972)
Published: Sandie 12 February 1972 – 1 April 1972
Artist: Desmond Walduck?
Writer: Unknown
Elaine Moresby is the daughter of a rich Yorkshire businessman. While her father is away on business she is sent to Miss Pettifor's Academy for Young Ladies, where she soon shows how spoilt and selfish she is. Even her fellow rich young ladies are fed up of Elaine's complaints and meanness towards the servants. But before the first episode is up, Elaine has been told by her uncle that her father has been drowned, leaving her an impoverished orphan; and Miss Pettifor takes the opportunity to ask for the payment of 150 guineas for the last six months' fees (even though Elaine knows that it was paid at the time). The final indignity – Elaine is forced to work as a servant to pay off the debt that wasn't really incurred – and all the other servants are cruel to her apart from Mary, who is kind. (This is partly because Elaine caught Mary looking at a posh dress of hers and was going to denounce her to the headmistress, but was stopped from doing so by the arrival of her uncle – so it's only by luck that she has even one friend on her side.)
It is difficult for Elaine to adjust to the life of a servant, but her main challenge is that Miss Pettifor and the head servants are clearly out to get her. Mary helps her to get used to the tasks but Elaine is firstly nearly suffocated when Mrs Rutherford lights a fire underneath her after sending her up the chimney, and then is thrown down the well by a mystery assailant. Mary helps Elaine to climb out but of course Mrs Rutherford comes out almost immediately and sees that her ploy has failed. She tells Elaine to climb back down the well to find the bucket, and of course she is terrified at the thought – and says that Mary was the one who knocked it in, and Mary has to climb down instead. Mary understands that it was fear that drove Elaine to say that, but that forgiveness means little when Mary gets very ill as a result of her ducking. Elaine sticks up for Mary and helps to nurse her during her illness, so the other servants think better of her after all.
Miss Pettifor is still out to kill her if possible, though – her next attempt is to run her over with a horse and cart. Some of her fellow servants stick up for her, but in retaliation Mary is once more driven to illness by Miss Pettifor and Mrs Rutherford. When Elaine spots her uncle coming to visit, she thinks that he will be her way out, and escapes to find him. However, a panel set back at Miss Pettifor's Academy has the uncle explaining that it was he who set up the series of murderous attacks, because 'with her out of the way, I am the sole heir to her dead father's fortune'.
Elaine has escaped from the Academy, along with Mary, but her erstwhile friends don't believe that the tattered escapee is really Lady Elaine Moresby, who they have been told has 'been dead these past three weeks!" And when she reaches her old home of Moresby Hall, her uncle shoots at them, sets the servants on them claiming they are 'gipsy thieves', and makes Miss Pettifor and Mrs Rutherford go after them to fetch them back to the academy. Not content with that, her uncle has the school set on fire, with the two girls trapped inside! So it is all a real giveaway that they have serious enemies who will stop at nothing.
They manage to make it back to Moresby Hall, where Elaine finds some papers written by her father's lawyer, Mr Murchison. Her father wasn't penniless at all, and her uncle is claiming the estate as his. They try to see Murchison to plead Elaine's case, but he is ill and they aren't allowed in – and when they are taken up by the Bow Street Runners, Uncle Ned tells the magistrates that Elaine 'suffers from the delusion that she is my niece Elaine'. He also threatens her friend Mary. Defeated, Elaine can only plead guilty to imposture – and Uncle Ned, now clearly revealed as a black-hearted villain, sends her to a dreadful quarry where kids are made to work until they drop. However, a death from overwork isn't going to be quick enough for Uncle Ned – firstly because Mary is making a nuisance of herself, asking questions (so off to the quarry she goes, too), and then because the father's ship turns out to have survivors after all. So the head man in charge of the quarry is enticed into locking the two girls in a burning shed full of gunpowder… Miraculously, they escape once again, and this time are taken in by a shepherd who recognises Lady Elaine for who she is.
Biddy, Elaine's old nurse, also knows who she is, but the real test is whether Lawyer Murchison will do so or not. He is nearly convinced, until Uncle Ned shows him Elaine's hands, coarsened by weeks of work. It was all for nothing, and Elaine is tried and sentences to be transported for life. Mary proves her worth once again as a true friend, though- she forces her way into the place where Uncle Ned and Miss Pettifor are bamboozling the father with spurious stories of Elaine's last days before succumbing to pneumonia. All's well that ends well as her father turns up at the transportation ship to rescue Elaine just as she is trying one last escape – this time by plunging into the water to swim away. The last half page shows the faithful companion Mary and the reformed character Elaine drinking tea at Moresby Hall, and planning to enrich the lives of these who have less than she does.
Further thoughts
"Little Lady Nobody" is a slave story with strong redemption narrative elements. It is as over-the-top as most slave stories tend to be – of course the protagonist faces hard work, lack of food, and lack of sleep, but matters quickly escalate from the hard life of a normal skivvy to multiple threats of violent death. This cruelty is the main focus of the story, though Lady Elaine's transformation from spoiled uncaring rich girl to compassionate champion of the poor is also a thread running through the first few episodes or so.
Elaine is quite a sympathetic character as she is very determined and tries very hard not to be beaten. Of course she is not perfect – as well as having to learn how hard a servant's life is, she is also understandably affected by the various frights she's had, and it leads her to some disgraceful actions that she is ashamed of later. For instance in an early episode she lies and says that it was Mary who dropped the bucket down the well, though of course it was Elaine herself who did so, because she was being pushed down the well by an unseen hand. But her lie is because she is so scared, she can't face climbing down the well to retrieve the bucket as the cruel slavedrivers demand, so although it is wrong of her, we understand that this is not a real relapse into being an uncaring rich girl.
Even after asking David Roach and others on Facebook, it is not clear to me who the artist is. Catawiki credits this story to Desmond Walduck. who drew "Slaves of 'War Orphan Farm'", and there is certainly a lot of similarities. However, the later Sandie story "Sisters in Sorrow", drawn by the same artist and with a very similar theme, was previously identified by David Roach as being by a female artist called Broderick. And when I looked at this story, my immediate feeling was that it looked like the work of Roy Newby, who is credited with drawing "Slaves of the Candle" and "Bound for Botany Bay" in Jinty, and "Nina Nimble Fingers" in Lindy. All three of these were historical stories set in the 18th and 19th centuries, featuring slavery, severe injustice, hard times, and danger of death – so again very thematically similar to the current story under discussion. However, on further consideration, I think I will withdraw that identification. Roy Newby's work is much smoother than the rather scratchy line used by the artist on "Little Lady Nobody" and the figure drawing and the faces are not quite the same either, though there are a lot of similarities in elements like noses and chins. Roy Newby's children also do not think that this is by their father, though they again can see the similarities. Perhaps we will find that there are three artists with very similar styles – Newby, Walduck, and Broderick.
Site announcement – small reorganization
24/11/2017 GeneralBonnie's Butler, Desmond Walduck, Julio Bosch, Little Lady Nobody, Roy Newby, Sandie, Slaves of War Orphan Farm, Vicente Torregrosa Manrique, Wee Suecomixminx
As I have been lucky enough to get a run of 69 issues of Sandie, and am now posting about each issue in consecutive order, it seemed sensible to tweak some of the elements of the blog to reflect the wider range of titles included.
The page that previously was just called 'Issues', which listed all the issues of Jinty which we'd posted about, is now called Indices of issues and annuals. The aim is to mention the key titles covered on this blog, with a link to the separate page where the index of each title is held.
Below this in the menu there are currently links to the following pages:
Index of Jinty issues and annuals (the same information as before, just re-titled)
Index of Sandie issues (links to my recent posts and a few earlier posts on Sandie)
Index of other titles (the same information as before but with the Sandie links moved onto that index)
I've also updated the posts on the first three Sandie issues to list a couple of additonal artist credits. I checked on Catawiki and I see that Sleuth on that site has credited "Wee Sue" to the artist Vicente Torregrosa Manrique, and "Bonnie's Butler" to artist Julio Bosch. She also credited "Little Lady Nobody" to Desmond Walduck (artist on "Slaves of War Orphan Farm") but I feel like the art is a better match to Roy Newby, per my original credit. Anyone have an opinion on this? I will post some scans later on to help with this identification, if need be. Edited to add: I now think this is not a match with Roy Newby's work and am taking back this identification.


text:
Rumin8 expands global footprint to the United States to address large climate conscious market
Australian climate technology company Rumin8 is taking its methane reducing feed additive to the United States, opening an office in San Francisco, Northern California.
Rumin8's expansion to the United States provides the Company with exposure to a significant source of capital for climate technology start ups from climate impact funds, as well as proximity to a large market of sophisticated beef and dairy industry participants seeking to reduce their impact on global warming.
Rumin8 Chief Commercial Officer Kosta Stavreas said the Company's expansion to the United States coincide with significant investment from the US Department of Agriculture in market opportunities for American agriculture participants to be leaders in climate-smart agricultural production.
"The appetite for methane reducing solutions is astounding in the US market and participants in both dairy and beef have pushed open a door for us to enter the market," he said.
Mr Stavreas will head up Rumin8 USA as well as leading Rumin8's commercial expansion.
"It's an exciting time to be in the US with growing interest from the private sector to develop these technologies, as well as producers being open to trying new solutions that will help reduce livestock greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
"The new office will be a base for the Americas and help us to work regionally with key markets where there are more than 400 million head of cattle concentrated across a small number of countries."
Rumin8 Managing Director David Messina said the expansion supported Rumin8's strategy to grow its presence in key markets.
"The United States has the second largest cattle herd in the world, so it is an important potential market for Rumin8," Mr Messina said.
"With growing appetites for climate smart solutions, we are happy to be expanding our footprint to bring more methane reducing products to more producers."
The investment landscape for climate technology is expanding rapidly, with the San Francisco Bay Area ranked as one of the top five global investment hubs attracting venture capital, presenting an opportunity for Rumin8.
"The Bay Area is naturally geared to take the lead on new technologies and solutions, so it's the perfect place for Rumin8 to be," Mr Messina said.
Download the press release as a PDF
Cameron Morse
cameron.morse@fticonsulting.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


POSB and First Mutual Life Assurance recently signed a bancassurance agreement which will see the latter underwriting the POSB Funeral cash plan and the POSB Pensioner Guarantor Plan products. This partnership is a first for First Mutual Life's Individual Life & Funeral Business Division and it marks a dawn of a new era in bancassurance arrangement.
POSB's clientele represents FML's target micro markets which includes the low income earners, people in rural and outlying areas, and rural areas. The bank's branch network is also ideal as the bank is represented in most parts of the country including the outlying areas where FML does not have office presence and this will help in the distribution of the Funeral Cash Plan.
The POSB Funeral Cash Plan (FCP) is a funeral assurance product that pays cash benefit at the time of bereavement. The cash benefit is meant to cover funeral expenses.
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Bancassurance also offers FML an opportunity to reduce reliance on traditional agents. The involvement of POSB will open up further opportunities for FML to other shared services for the benefits of clients.
The table below indicates the plans available to members.
The POSB Pensioners' Guarantor Plan seeks to safeguard the pensioners' wealth at the time of death. The policy ensures that the pensioners' estate is not further depleted because of financial obligations like outstanding loan with a bank, meeting funeral costs and any other financial needs.
This product is linked to the loan that POSB would have advanced to the client and the sum assured is at the same level with the loan amount.
The sum assured will be used to clear the outstanding loan first and any surplus will be paid to the beneficiaries.
This partnership is set to open other opportunities and revenue streams for the department and the company as a whole and as we continue to grow it we look forward to enhanced revenue growth.


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text:
ANTE+ is a complete pre-workout supplement that allows handling intense training, giving correct support to the muscle mass and maintaining the body acid base balance, responsible for the feeling of fatigue.
ANTE+ consists of Citrulline malate, Creatine, Beta-alanine, Arginine, Taurine, L-acetylcarnetine and L-Tyrosine.
Creatine has the characteristic of increasing muscle strength, explosiveness and anaerobic performance. It is stored in the muscle as phosphocreatine (Pcr), readily available to give its phosphate to ADP (Adenosine Diphosphate) for the synthesis of new ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) necessary for muscle contraction. At the same time, muscular trophism increases, with the entrance of water and nutrients into the myocyte (muscle cell) and consequent increase of the muscle mass. The energy supplied to produce ATP during and after physical exercise depends mainly on the quantity of Pcr deposited in the muscle. The ability to maintain the level of effort constant decreases as the Pcr supply decreases. The high creatine content allows the muscle to recover more quickly from intense physical efforts, improving performance.
L-AcetylCarnitine is an acetylated form of L-carnitine. This substance is absorbed better by the body and, thanks to its greater lipophilicity, can go through the cell membranes to reach the muscle and cross the blood-brain barrier. Carnitine is metabolised in the body, and more precisely in the blood through plasma esterases. In this form, it can transport fatty acids to the mitochondria, where they are used to produce energy. The deficiency of this substance has been found to reduce the energy produced and increase the adipose tissue. At central nervous system level, it interacts with the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, playing an anti-oxidant role. Carnitine is also attributed vascular and cardioprotective properties. It increases peripheral vasodilation contributing to improve oxygen flow and distribution. Carnitine promotes the lowering of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood and raises HDL values, reducing the risk of deposits in the blood vessels. Carnitine has been proven to lower the level of the lipoproteins responsible for myocardial infarction. Its ability to convert fat into energy is widely exploited in the world of sport to improve athletic performance. Moreover, during the muscular activity, carnitine reduces the formation of lactic acid and maintains the glycogen in the muscles.
Arginine, citrulline, taurine and tyrosine act in synergy to promote an optimum flow of blood, and therefore of oxygen and nutrients, to muscles. So, an increase of muscle trophism is obtained, directly improving performance and optimising the following recovery.
Beta-alanine plays its role through its antioxidant power but mainly through Carnosine regeneration. The main effect of Carnosine is a buffer effect at muscle level, increasing resistance and favouring the recovery after the competition or training. Carnosine works as a buffer and delays the onset of the state of lactic acidosis inside the muscle cell, therefore increasing endurance and slowing down the onset of fatigue.
DIRECTIONS: Add 1 sccop (17.5 g) in 200 ml of water, juice or other favourite beverage and take once a day 30 minutes before training.
STORAGE CONDITIONS: Store in a cool, dry place away from heat sources.
WARNINGS: Keep out of the reach of young children. Do not exceed the recommended daily dose. Food supplements should not be used as a substitute for a varied and balanced diet. A varied and balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle are important. Do not take during pregnancy and in children or for prolonged periods without consulting a doctor.
L-citrulline DL-malate, creatine monohydrate, beta alanine, arginine alpha-ketoglutarate, fructose, taurine, L-acetylcarnitine, L-tyrosine, acid: citric acid, flavour, vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid), emulsifier: E 473, anhydrous caffeine, sweetener: sucralose, niacin (nicotinamide), pantothenic acid (calcium D-pantothenate), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B1 (thiamine hydrochloride), folic acid (pteroilmonoglutamic acid), vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin).
L-Acetylcarnitine
240 mg (300% AR/RI)
24 mg (150% AR/RI)
2.1 mg (150% AR/RI)
3.8 mcg (150% AR/RI)
- of which citrulline
Thiamine
300 mcg (150% AR/RI)
9 mg (150% AR/RI)
L-Tirosine
Beet root d.e. Rednite™
Cherry fruits d.e. Vitacherry Sport®
Pomegranate fruits d.e. VitaGranate®
- of which punicalagin
Black currant leaves d.e.
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ANTE+
Workout PRE INTRA POST Workout


Authenticity is a slippery fish. It often covers for other things, like the fancies of a conductor, and sluggish Sir Norrington is a con-duc-tor of the personality school; he conducted with one hand in his trousers, and when that was too tiresome he sat down. Le roi s'amuse, indeed.
His Beethoven was weary and careful; this second quality suited pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, who was totally in control and very precise. Together, they played a restrained allegro, made up for it with a sumptuous largo full of caresses (not a word you associate with a pallid Scandinavian and a paunchy Brit), and a rolly-polly rondo, like watching Norrington dance, I imagine.
While he changed postures, a cell phone went off, twice, in row F. Not only was it extraordinarily loud, but the techno ringer sucked in a major way. The second time we silently killed and ate the owner – last thing I saw was a fierce madame with appropriate dentures bite the electronics in half.
The second half of the evening was given over to the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (hardly a towering figure in music, the comparison with Beethoven in the programme notes notwithstanding) who specialized in the production of an anaesthetic effect at long ranges. He had a fabulous career in the army.
This is a cruel joke if you know something about Williams because his music took a turn for the better after he served in the First World War. But this evening's selections were both pre-war and consequently untouched by the complications of that experience. Perhaps Bertie Wooster would have been moved, but both the London Symphony and his Wasps overture are foggy hodgepodge, the musical equivalent of Bubble and Squeak in a Heathrow restaurant, or an hour-long advert soundtrack that's got lost in itself. It was rough going and I won't do it again, though the evening was worth hearing Andsnes's magical precision live.


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text:
Casino Royale Movie Review
by Simon Crust Nov 29, 2012
Casino Royale Movie (1967)
"Bond, James Bond."
An immortal line from an immortal franchise. Bond celebrates his fiftieth anniversary this year and to coincide with that milestone achievement and the twenty third film release, Skyfall, MGM have produced a lavish box set of all previous twenty-two films, bestowed them with clean, bright pictures, absorbing surround sound and abundant extras – it is a set to crown all sets.
The following review is an amalgamation of Chris McEneany's, Cas Harlow's and my own separate film reviews. Since there are twenty-two individual reviews, to save a little space I have taken only the first part of the verdict of each review for this, the main summary page - the film title for each is linked through to its respective review which opens to the full in-depth analysis that we have given, and that the set deserves; ladies and gentlemen, tonight's premier presentation is the Bond 50 box set...
Dr No
A very proud and exciting beginning to one of the most popular and enduring movie franchises in Cinema history, Dr. No starts the ball rolling in considerable style. Sean Connery takes the character of James Bond by the scruff of the neck and hauls him from the pages of Ian Fleming's bestsellers with passion and gusto. Aided immeasurably by director Terence Young, who moulded this unique interpretation so perfectly that it became the template for the rest of the series, and even won over its literary creator who had been initially dismissive of Connery's live-action take.
Iconic with Ursula Andress' glistening arrival like a goddess from the sea, and fascinating with the ruthless predatory guile of Connery's unstoppable 007, the film hardly even seems to have dated. Oh, the fashions, the equipment, the weaponry and the effects may be pure 60's, but the sheer panache and pop-culture ensnaring bravado remains just as sizzlingly captivating and awesome as ever. The film also benefits from having a proper story and a sense of mystery and threat. Bond reveals some vital everyday skills for having survived as an agent for MI6, and we get, in a glorious economy of skill and absolute class, just who this guy is and how he operates. All the elements are present and correct and traditional "classic" Bond was born.
What makes From Russia With Love so immortally appealing, and one of the most highly regarded of the entire series, is that the fact that it tells a damn good spy story. There's subterfuge, double-dealing, assassinations, serious political skulduggery and, yes, even some actual bonafide spying - Bey's little periscope up into the Russian Embassy, for instance and Grant's perpetual shadowing of his targets. The development of SPECTRE and its evolution and headhunting from the old SMERSH is a wonderfully evocative element. The chess-game that Kronsteen (Vladek Sheybal) is seen playing near the start, before he is called into Blofeld's service, is the visual metaphor for a battle of wits that plays out across several nations, sacrificing lives along the way towards the final checkmate. Never more evident than in Bond's feint with Red Grant regarding the briefcases - a great gambit that actually depends hugely upon luck as well as poker-faced deception.
Quintessential Bond, From Russia With Love is remarkably assured. It tells a proper story and doesn't just link together a series of stunts and set-pieces. Connery is smoother in the role than in his debut, though he would truly take his characterisation to its natural and culture-establishing zenith in his next entry, Goldfinger. Classic scenes aplenty, but that violent free-for-all aboard the Orient Express tops the lot. John Barry takes the stage with his lushly dynamic wall of sound and some truly memorable characters flit or bludgeon their way into Bond's dangerously attractive world.
Pure gold, Connery's third outing as 007 is the fantasy that has everything - obsession, desire, action, sex, finely rendered characters, a scintillating script, a blistering musical score and that undeniable, inimitable style of a star who is clearly at the top of his game ... and having tremenous fun showing us that he is. Oh, and it's also got an Aston Martin DB5. To give Goldfinger less than 10 out of 10 would be unthinkable. Without it, the modern action film, as we know it, possibly couldn't exist and Bond's most enduring elements certainly wouldn't.
Goldfinger is a class act, through and through. The film has stood the test of time, existing in a bubble of infinite cool that makes it enjoyable, dynamic, engrossing and downright vital for each new generation. Its own inherent repeatability is beyond reproach, like a comfy old slipper, Goldfinger wraps around you with eager-to-please satisfaction and, although it is not a movie about which you can say you see something new each time, its big moments still deliver a frisson, its ribald dialogue still raises an eyebrow and its totally unabashed sense of entertainment is without equal.
Sean Connery's fourth outing as England's finest government sanctioned hit-man-cum-womaniser was set predominantly in, on or above the sea. With SPECTRE's latest madman unleashed with a truly world-threatening scheme, the superpowers on the brink of meltdown and Bond's much-needed sojourn to a health spa violently curtailed, it is time to batten down the hatches, take a deep breath and dive into some of the most elaborate set-pieces and inventive action in the series so far.
Slightly overlong and feeling somewhat overblown, as well, Thunderball is, nevertheless, another classic in the 007 canon. This was the biggest and most outrageous Bond adventure out of the earlier slew of movies and definitely Connery's most inventive and exhaustive spell of duty. Shark-loving Emilio Largo makes for a colourful villain, but Adolpho Celi never quite hits his stride when competing with Connery's cocksure swagger, but the set-pieces are great fun and we get to see Bond in a couple of tight spots that show his resourcefulness and courage. Terence Young directs with style to burn and Peter Hunt, who would soon take up directorial chores himself with the glorious OHMSS, brings some mighty wallop to the bruising action sequences with savage editing dexterity.
Popular, fun and highly entertaining, You Only Live Twice falls some way behind the previous three movies. Dahl's screenplay is contrived and fanciful and lacks bite in terms of the dialogue, which barely fizzes when it should positively sizzle. The exploits of 007 also seem to lack the panache and the raw excitement that we know he is capable of, despite the staging of the biggest and most impressive finale of the series so far. But the film always looks amazing, and there is still plenty to admire and love about it. Donald Pleasance makes an iconic super-villain out of Blofeld, that bald head and scar the stuff of pure comic-book excess. He does the role proud too, with a cleverly creepy performance that only Pleasance could achieve. "KILL BOND! NOW!!!"is a fabulous hissy-shriek of aggrieved impotence, and his little scuttling frame is a comical slant on somebody determined to cause mass murder. The ladies are gorgeous, with the doomed Aki and the treacherous Helga being the standouts for me. And, of course, Little Nellie has her own attractive attributes too.
Connery doesn't quite pass muster this time out. He always looks snappy in those crucial 60's suits and he handles the physicality of Bond's latest mission with superlative ease, flipping a gaggle of goons over with ease during the final act. But there is definitely something missing, and even if you didn't already know that he was determined to bow-out of the franchise and leave the character behind at this point, you can plainly see how little enthusiasm he can summon.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
After Dr. No and Goldfinger, which in turn, opened up the cinematic potential of James Bond and then set the template for what we could expect and love from the franchise, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the next most important film in the entire series. We've had returns, reboots and baton-changes, but with only one mission as 007, George Lazenby did the unthinkable for what has primarily been a celebrated run of resolutely fantastical and purely escapist excess – he gave it genuine heart and soul and delivered an adventure that told a multi-layered story and stuck rigidly to a strong linear narrative.
Bond's greatest snowbound actioner, and also one of the character's most brutal and exciting. Savalas makes for a terrifically rounded Blofeld. No madcap super-villain traits, just humanistic nuance and an almost sympathetic desire to earn himself the respect of the world without just threatening to blow it up! Rigg is gorgeous, irresistible, resilient and convincingly adaptable whilst also being exotically heightened and profoundly tragic … and you can see exactly why 007 why fall for her. Lazenby is just plain awesome as a confident and courageous yet vain and headstrong Bond. His physicality and single-mindedness ushered in the type of hero that Dalton and Craig would later develop. And this, in turn, would also inspire a far more violent and hyper-kinetic type of action set-piece from the established Bond team. Seemingly, the world wasn't quite ready for this new version of its favourite secret agent, although Connery's mostly unsatisfying return would certainly embrace much of Lazenby's more brutish attitude, and Roger Moore would happily take the hero into a more comical, daft and semi-self-parodic direction with 70's fluff. But this more realistic and vulnerable attitude has since served Daniel Craig's interpretation extremely well.
OHMSS is my own personal favourite from the entire series, and it is a film that has gained itself a critical turnaround from bold experiment to bonafide classic in the decades since its release. It works as both a standalone adventure as well as a thrilling continuation of Bond's most compelling manhunt. We have humour, excitement, violence and a shocking, heartbreaking conclusion.
Diamonds Are Forever will never be hailed as a classic amongst the series. There is something dry and indifferent about it that makes the whole scenario strangely uninvolving. This disappointment is compounded by the fact that Connery is just doing things by-the-numbers and playing Bond without any real zest or flair. He had his own reasons for coming back this last time for Eon, and they didn't include a love for the character or his fans.
Blofeld is not as three-dimensional or as intimidating as Savalas, nor is he as archetypal as Pleasance as a boo-hiss evil mastermind – he is much more like a loquacious upper-class foil for John Steed. His plans are once again hi-tech and world-threatening but, at the same time, they also seem quite low-key and all rather commonplace. After all the messing about with shady lowlifes from Amsterdam to Nevada, the SF angle, however enjoyably comic-book it is, feels like it has wandered in from another film altogether. But, on the flipside, we have some gorgeous ladies, especially Jill St. John and Lana Wood, two brilliantly bizarre hit-men and a couple of great action scenes in the famed elevator-fight and the car chase through the Vegas strip. Even if the finale is exceptionally poor for a 007 adventure, there is still much entertainment to be had from it. It certainly doesn't sparkle like its titular gems, but Diamonds Are Forever is definitely still worth a closer inspection.
Voodoo and tarot-card reading; heroin smuggling and poppy fields; organised crime in Harlem and despotic dictators in South America – even today these don't sound much like the ingredients of a Bond film; back in 1973 it must have been an even bigger shock to the system.
Live and Let Die was a brave new direction for Bond to go in, marking the first successful reboot of the franchise and introducing the world to the longest-serving Bond actor, the unflappable Roger Moore. Whilst it took a while for him to find his rhythm, this debut was still an engaging shift in dynamic from the Connery days of old, in many ways adopting the back-to-basics approach that hadn't been seen since Connery's early years (notwithstanding OHMSS), and carrying Bond into a new era in terms of style and attitude. The popularity of his effortlessly cool and distinctively witty take on the character ensured that the super-spy would live on for a further 12 years, and it all started here. Remember for Roger Moore's introduction to the role; Jane Seymour's stunningly gorgeous Bond girl Solitaire; David Henson's debut as arguably the best Felix Leiter, that opening song track, the superb alligator-stepping-stone scene; the fantastic speedboat chase and stunts; the double-decker bus that gets sliced in half; as well as that villain with the claw for a hand.
With an original novel which told a tale of a brainwashed Bond programmed by the Russians to kill M, finally recovering only to be dispatched on one last mission – to kill the world's greatest assassin – there were plenty of great ideas which could have made the film adaptation one of the absolute best Bond outings. Unfortunately, then-topical energy crisis issues; the influence of then-suddenly-popular martial arts movies; and a somewhat misguided approach towards the tone and comedy of the piece left The Man with the Golden Gun one of the weaker entries, with large stretches of the movie utterly devoid of consequence, and the remaining good bits often damaged by the presence of some truly bad characters.
Whilst Christopher Lee's eponymous villain would be a great scene-stealer, Britt Ekland's cute-but-utterly-vapid Bond girl would cause much of the destruction herself, and Roger Moore – still on good form – would be limited by pressure to act more like Connery's Bond. Still, the movie would be book-ended by great little assassin-versus-assassin sequences and a few fun moments in-between. It's just a shame because it could have been so much more.
Remember The Spy Who Loved Me for being the absolute best of Bond, and undoubtedly the best Roger Moore outing; for the impressive ski-chase pre-credits sequence that culminates in that classic Union Jack parachute stunt; for the excellent interplay between Moore and Barbara Bach's undeniably sexy but irrepressibly feisty Russian superspy counterpart – every bit his equal and seemingly immune to his charms; for being the introduction to one of the best Bond villains, and certainly the most memorable Bond henchman, Richard Kiel's menacing and near-indestructible Jaws; for the exotic Egyptian set-pieces and the superb underwater stunts – for once paying off; for the best Bond car – the Lotus Esprit – with all its superb gadgets.
It was the perfect blend of Cold War spy-vs-spy conflict and grand-scale villain-with-a-lair global terror; the massive hundred-man tanker assault set-piece, the memorable face off at the villain's submersible fortress, and the 'magnetic' denouement that leads to Jaws taking on his namesake – a shark! It had one of the best Bond songs – Carly Simon's Nobody Does it Better – and one of the best Bond scores, and was basically one of the absolute best Bond films, up there with Connery's own best, Goldfinger. My personal favourite, it simply doesn't get any better than this.
I love Moonraker. All too easy to dismiss because of the over-the-top space battle at the end, Bond fans often overlook the near-perfect Bond adventure that preceded that extravagance. Sure, Moonraker was fast-tracked because of the success of Star Wars, but it also boasted then-state-of-the-art technology and unprecedented stunts: viewers got to see Space Shuttles in action two years before the first test launch, and were blown away by the sky-diving pre-credits sequence – just two elements which we take for granted now, but which were way before their time back in 1979. Add to that a superb Bond villain, the return of Jaws, a strong Bond girl and Roger Moore on top form and you have not only one of Moore's best Bond flicks but also one of the best Bond films of all time. Don't just dismiss this as pure cheese – it's far better than that; it's You Only Live Twice but with teeth; it's Bond only bigger and bolder than anything before, and than anything since too.
Remember Moonraker for the still jaw-dropping pre-credits skydiving sequence; the surprisingly tense centrifugal G-simulator scene; for the Venetian Gondola chase; for Lois Chiles being the second most interesting Bond-equal female counterpart; for the remarkably gentle and well-spoken Michel Lonsdale, bringing us one of the all-time best Bond villains in Hugo Drax; the franchise's best henchman, Jaws; the glorious speedboat chase down the Amazon river to the Iguazu Falls, where John Barry's score beautifully blends in that classic Bond trumpet theme that's been used ever since the days of From Russia with Love for all the best action sequences; and, in particular, the tense race as Bond desperately hunts down the last few bombs before they enter Earth's atmosphere. Above all, remember Moonraker for far more than just the over-the-top space battle that clouds your memories and your retrospective judgment – for truly being the awesome spectacle that it was at the time. This was Bond at its biggest and, for the most part, actually also at its best.
For Your Eyes Only
Even for those who – like me – loved Moonraker, there was no denying it left the franchise with nowhere to go: after sending Bond into outer space the only thing they could really do is bring him back down to earth. Having long-since jettisoned the comparatively mundane exploits told in the books, Bond had become too big to handle. The outlandish plots to take over or destroy the world (or both); the cool-but-preposterous gadgets; he had evolved into a larger-than-life super-spy. But it was time for a change. Despite plans to re-cast, Roger Moore would return, but the rest was effectively a reboot: a new director, a script which – for once – followed the original stories fairly closely, and no gadgets. It was back-to-basics.
Capably presenting a darker take on the commonly more lightweight Roger Moore Bond, the end result was a refreshingly down-to-earth Cold War thriller with action-adventure highlights, tense and intense stunts and solid, revenge-inspired undertones. More hit than miss in its somewhat misguided approach to blending classic Moore comedy with the intended grittier Bond direction, it's just a shame that the filmmakers didn't fully embrace the tonal shift, either here, or in Moore's subsequent outings. Still, it remains one of those rare Roger Moore Bond movies that appeals to even those who didn't like Roger Moore as Bond.
Octopussy, ironically also the 13th Bond film, turned out to be one of the least popular entries, and yet – unlike Never Say Never Again – it's still undeniably classic Bond. There's a wonderfully exotic flavour to this particular outing, injecting a new location – India – into the mix in a bid to add some spice to the usual Cold War antics. For what it's worth, Moore's sixth outing is far more entertaining than Connery's tongue-firmly-in-cheek return (an act which never really suited the far more serious actor), and certainly proved the endless breadth and diversity of the franchise.
Remember Octopussy for the spectacular Acrostar micro-jet pre-credits sequence and impressive closing atop-the-plane stunts; the surprisingly tense classic Bond 'gambling' auction scene at Sotheby's and the threatening backgammon standoff with the villain, followed by a fun little tuk-tuk chase; remember it for the wonderfully exotic Indian locales juxtaposed with the harsh East German Cold War settings; for Bond's only safari, and his only trip on train-tracks via car; and don't forget that ticking-time-bomb defusal in a clown suit – it's much more tense than you may assume. Above all, don't forget that it showcased a reluctant-to-return Roger Moore still managing to go toe-to-toe with the original – and younger, though not that you'd notice it – Bond, Sean Connery, and, more importantly, coming out intact and on top.
A View To A Kill
Whilst Roger Moore might have felt that it was an all-time low for him – he famously reflected "I was only about 400 years too old for the role" – and many Bond fans feel exactly the same way, I think that A View to a Kill is a strangely enduring little Bond entry, bolstered by some unusual, previously unused-in-Bond, mainstream locations and some impressive stunts and set-pieces. It feels fresher than it should; Moore seems fitter than he should; the story is more serious than many give it credit for; and it was arguably a more satisfying climax to his 12-year tenure in the role than the previous entry, Octopussy.
Remember A View to a Kill for the impressive snowboarding pre-credits sequence; for the memorable Eiffel Tower stunt. Remember it for being Roger Moore's final Bond entry, and for his consummate professionalism in the role all the way through to the end, this time facing off against Christopher Walken's psychotic villain – one of the best Bond villains of the entire series. Remember it for Bond breathing underwater using the air from a car tyre, and for the tense fire-ladder rescue from a blazing inferno; for Grace Jones's unique Mayday and for the stunning finale involving an airship and an axe-fight atop the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge.
The Living Daylights
The Living Daylights is Shakespearian actor Timothy Dalton's first outing as James Bond in which he significantly changes the persona that has been around for fourteen previous films. His interpretation was drawn from the books; he was far more serious, ruthless and cunning even, as well as the trademark wit and charm. It was a far cry from what audiences were used to seeing and paved the way for the likes of Daniel Craig as the latest 007.
The film contains many of the traits that make a bond film; action, gadgets, exotic locations, political intrigue set to the backdrop of world politics – the fact that the main villain of the piece is not a typical megalomaniac hell bent on world domination, or the fact that the top assassin didn't have a memorable personality or tricks (save strangulation with personal headphone wires) does not detract from what is a terrific globetrotting yarn. The story involving a weapons dealer double-crossing the Russians and setting up a potential East-West confrontation is involved enough to keep you guessing and enables Bond to use some detective skills as well as his pistol to discover the truth. New Bond girl Maryam d'Abo as Kara Milovy is a far cry from what audiences have come to expect, but she fits well within the confines of the film and adds to the believability and realism that the makers were striving for. As good as any debut Bond feature The Living Daylights comes highly recommended.
Licence To Kill
Licence To Kill is a great Bond film, even if it does stray from the well-worn path, and a damn fine thriller in its own right. It benefits from a deadly assured Dalton and two fabulous villains in Robert Davi and Benecio Del Toro, as well as the pure sex appeal of Carey Lowell as a much better written and better acted Bond babe than is usually offered. The screenplay is tight and darkly woven around a realistic scenario. The 80's bogeyman of the Columbian drug-baron makes for a surprisingly volatile and complex adversary for 007 to tangle with, and Dalton's brutally single-minded hero carves an altogether more mean-spirited path of destruction than his usual MI6-sanctioned escapades. OHMSS had been a long ago, and it was about time that Bond threw his weight around again.
Felix Leiter gets his leg snipped off by a shark, and this leads to Bond pursuing a ferocious one-man vendetta against the vicious drug-lord responsible. Anthony Zerbe gets a very inflated opinion of himself, whilst Robert Davi gets extremely hot under the collar and Benecio De Toro rises above a crushing sense of defeat at Bond's hands to become the breakout star of the piece. On the glamour front, Carey Lowell beats Talisa Soto in every department and, musically, Michael Kamen comes up with a very decent, albeit pop-orientated score in the wake of John Barry's departure from the franchise. An essential part of the Bond collection, Licence To Kill revealed that 007 could move with the times and take on, and beat the sort of villainy that everybody can relate to.
GoldenEye hit the screens in 1995, after the fall of Soviet Russia and after a six year hiatus while the franchise sat in litigation hell. During that time, Dalton passed the Bond baton to Brosnan, who, by this time, was eager for the role and took it to, perhaps, it's filmic high up until that point with a near perfect balance of all the previous incarnations. Unfortunately the film itself hasn't aged all that well. At the time it was great to have Bond back, the action was high, the girls were hot and the spectacle was wild. But several near fatal flaws crept in, the biggest of which was the music - which was quite simply inappropriate for a Bond film. That and BMW.
However, the story was quite tight, and felt quite personal containing themes of revenge, power and grand thievery with a suitably dastardly plot to ruin London and bring about a world economic disaster (all they had to do was use America's banking system ...) Casting for the main parts was sublime with Judi Dench taking on the mantle of M which was a high point, especially in this 'reboot' as it dealt head on with the 'old style' of Bond seen as a potential loss maker in this ever changing world. So whilst there is much to praise and the makers were heading in a terrific new direction, as a film I find the whole project lacking in that sparkle that makes a Bond film 'Great'. Perhaps not 'Golden'Eye, more Bronze, or Zinc.
After the huge financial success of GoldenEye, MGM wanted to capitalise and promote itself by using its flagship series as a flag before its stock offering in 1997. This meant a huge production rush, one of the quickest in the franchise which resulted in some flaws creeping in – a poorly envisaged villain, poorly developed Bond Girls, and a poor end goal – but, learning from the mistakes made on the previous film, the makers ramped up the 'Bond-ness', overhauled the music and produced a film that was more 'Bond' than anything that had been produced in the last few years.
Brosnan again takes on the mantle and even though he doesn't do anything new, still manages to come out on top. The story of a media baron trying to instigate a war to obtain exclusive news rights in China is pure hokum, the main villain of the piece, Elliot Carver, is nowhere near slimy enough as portrayed by nice guy Jonathan Pryce, the girls (Teri Hatcher and Michele Yeoh) are window dressing and largely wasted (particularly Yeoh) and the gadgets are wild but great fun (ignoring the fact of BMW) – BUT the whole film plays out as the very best that the Bond franchise can offer; Bond is against near insurmountable odds alongside a globetrotting backdrop filled with guns, gadgets and girls – the music is Bond through and through and it is an incredibly enjoyable experience despite the nonsense of it all. The tone is far lighter than the preceding two films and marks the direction the franchise wanted to take and marks a higher point before things started to go too far in the wrong direction.
After one of the longest and most memorably British pre-credits sequences, set on the Thames and featuring both the real MI6 building and the Millennium Dome, we launch into the main story, which sees 007 uncover a plot to kill an oil heiress who is establishing a new pipeline that would threaten other big oil providers. Throw in some stolen plutonium, an international terrorist who wants to decimate Europe's oil supply, a femme fatale, an emancipated heroine and a shed-load of gadgets, and you have the most classically perfected entry in the Brosnan era.
You see, The World is Not Enough exhibits all of the key components of a trademark Bond film and strikes a fine balance between wit and tension, brutality and frivolity, managing to be harmless fun through-and-through whilst still painting a reasonably intriguing story that becomes personal for both 007 and his boss, M. The plot allows for all the requisite exotic locations, from snowy Alps perfect for a ski chase to sunny Spain, blistering Azerbaijan and glorious Turkey. His new BMW (thankfully the contract ran out after this and he went back to Astons) is a little, um, effeminate, but still comes packed full of fun gadgetry, and he even gets a rocket-powered, torpedo-laden mini speedboat with which to tear around the Thames in. We may be missing the evil lair but most of the other traditional Bond stuff is there.
All in all, it is, for me, the most recent classic Bond film, and certainly my favourite 'traditional' tale from Brosnan, the point at which he perfectly captured the role, and where the filmmakers brought together all the right ingredients for a classic Bond movie. The girls, the guns, the gadgets, the action, the stunts, the explosions, the impossible escapes and devious world destruction plots - it was all perfectly mixed together here. Classic Bond.
To celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the Bond franchise, the production team went all-out to make a Bond film that both contained references to all of his past adventures and was also, in its own right, a thoroughly entertaining Bond adventure – looked at on purely those terms Die Another Day is a triumph. Although it was to be Pierce Brosnan's last outing as the super spy he puts in a typically terrific turn in a story that has him captured and tortured for fourteen months, then battling a megalomaniacal North Korean colonel hell bent on invading the South.
Judi Dench puts in another excellent performance as M and when she and Bronsnan share the screen the tension in electric – I dare say paving the way for Daniel Craig's relationship with the same. Of the two Bond girls, Halle Berry is pretty flimsy, but Rosamund Pike is suitably cool with a character that gets to do rather more than simply be eye candy. Toby Stephens plays the main villain Gustav Graves with early promise but soon degenerates into a spoilt child. Long lambasted for outlandish gadgets (invisible car) and stunts (CG surfing) there is an argument to be made for it not standing up to modern interpretation; however, much like Moonraker before it, Die Another Day paved the way for a far more down to earth Bond and reboot that has invigorated the franchise like no other before it. Wild and fanciful it may be, but entertaining Bond it remains.
I loved Casino Royale; for me, it just did everything right, from the catchy black and white prologue and the wildly different title sequence, through the decidedly low-key mission and traumatic denouement that sees the full birth of 007. It is violent, realistic, bereft of the cheese that mired the franchise and focuses on a Bond who is resilient rather than refined, brutal rather than urbane. The daftness is gone, the edge is back. Long live Daniel Craig's Bond.
This debut marks him out as possibly the best Bond - only time will really tell - and certainly the biggest hook to ensure the longevity of the series into new millennium. Despite a couple of very minor flaws, this is fast, cool and aggressive, making 007 rock like never before, proving quite conclusively that nobody does it better.
Quantum of Solace picks up just a few minutes after the end of Casino Royale, continuing where the first film left off, and kick-starting straight into what would turn out to be 106 minutes on back-to-back action set-pieces, charting Bond's quest for revenge, or at least the truth, as entwined with a complex plot involving the shady organisation behind it all. A car chase leads to a foot-chase across the Italian rooftops, a boat chase in the Caribbean and a plane chase and skydive in Bolivia. There is no time to even catch your breath as Bond crosses continents and kills his way to the truth.
Unfortunately Quantum of Solace is just the second half of one long story.
Taken as a whole they work well to give us a bigger piece of the Bond reboot puzzle, however, whilst Craig's Bond entries before and after – Casino Royale and Skyfall, respectively – worked perfectly fine as standalone entities, Quantum clearly does not; without its predecessor it is nothing more than just another post-Bourne spy actioner-thriller. Although it may be a quality production, further promoting Craig as the definitive Bond, it was a paltry offering considering it was all fans had to feed on over a long 6 years until Skyfall.