Tammy 20 August 1983

Cover artist: John Armstrong

Namby Pamby (artist Eduardo Feito, writer Ian Mennell)

Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)

Welcome, Stranger! (artist Douglas Perry, writer Chris Harris) – Pony Tale

Room for Rosie (artist Santiago Hernandez, writer Alison Christie)

Holiday Miss Title! (writer Maureen Spurgeon) – Quiz 

Fate – or Fortune? (artist Carlos Freixas, writer Maureen Spurgeon) – complete story

The Button Box (artist Mario Capaldi, writer Alison Christie)

Backhand Play (artist Phil Gascoine, writer Ian Mennell)

Make Your Mind Up, Maggie (artist Juliana Buch)

Pretty Tidy (Chris Lloyd) – feature 

We had this issue before, but the post disappeared for some reason. So here it is again for 1983 issue in our Tammy August month round. 

Inside is one of the most historic moments in the saga of Bella Barlow – the moment when her arch-antagonists, Jed and Gert Barlow, make their final bow and disappear from her strip for good. We never thought we’d see the day. This was an astonishing move for Tammy to take, and we have to wonder what was behind it. Did ye Editor get tired of them or something? Anyway, good riddance to them. Our only regret is that although they had their karmic low points (including prison), they were never really punished for their treatment of Bella. 

In our other stories, Pam’s ridiculously overprotective mother does it again in “Namby Pamby”. The moment she hears Pam’s in a swimming match, she races to the pool, barrelling through the crowd and screaming hysterics, just because she thinks her precious little baby’s catching a chill. Oh, for crying out loud! Pauline Wheeler thinks she’s found “Room for Rosie” pretty quickly, but the new home falls through, so back to square one. No doubt this will be the first in a long string of failed homes before Rosie finds the One. “Backhand Play” is now on its penultimate episode, and it sets the stage for the final one: showdown between the tennis club and their backhand-playing tennis officer, Terry Knightly’s uncle, who’s now making an utter mockery of tennis. And the complications over juggling between riding and ballet get even worse for Maggie in “Make Your Mind Up, Maggie”.

Tammy’s complete stories are now the Button Box series, a Pony Tale series, and a self-contained complete story, a number of which had a supernatural theme. Some of them were reprints of Strange Stories, others were totally new and credited, giving us insight as to who might have written the spooky completes of the past.

Tammy 11 June 1983

Cover artist: Phil Gascoine

Portrait of Doreen Gray (artist Tony Coleman (credited as George Anthony), writer Charles Herring)

The Button Box (artist Mario Capaldi, writer Alison Christie)

Backhand Play (artist Phil Gascoine, writer Ian Mennell) – first episode

School Days (artist Phil Townsend, writer Ian Mennell) – complete story

Enchanted June (artist Alma Jones, writer Maureen Spurgeon) – feature 

Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)

Different Strokes (artist Santiago Hernandez, writer Charles Herring)

Jaws Three (artist Phil Townsend, writer Gerry Finley-Day)

Pam of Pond Hill (artist Bob Harvey, writer Jay Over)

Heatwave! (Mari L’Anson) – feature 

Now we come to the 1983 issue in our Tammy June month round. As it so happens, the issue has a feature about popular British folklore in June (below), which makes it even more flavoursome for our June month theme. At this time, Tammy liked to run a feature on a particular month and the folklore that went with it.

We are now in the era where Tammy ran credits and her covers used story illustrations taken from the panels inside. Jinty did the same thing for several years before she changed to Mario Capaldi covers on 21/28 June 1980. This era of Tammy also had a new logo.

This issue has a gorgeous Phil Gascoine cover, which heralds Gascoine’s new story, “Backhand Play”, the last tennis serial Tammy published. A number of tennis stories appeared in Tammy over the years, such as “Backhand Billie” and “Double – Or Nothing!”. But the one that has to be the classic is “Becky Never Saw the Ball”, about a tennis player making a comeback after going blind. 

Bella and Pam of Pond Hill continue as the regular characters. There are two other regulars strips that appear now. One is a weekly complete story, with themes ranging from the supernatural to romance. Some of these completes reprint old Strange Stories, with text boxes replacing the Storyteller. The other is “The Button Box”. The Button Box is a storyteller theme (minus the supernatural), with Bev Jackson bringing a story every week from her button box. Each button has a story to tell, and often a moral along with it. This week’s moral: if you show a little kindness, it will be rewarded. Like having your life saved, which is what happens with the only man who showed kindness to a beggar girl who is bullied by everyone else in an Italian village. 

Tammy has had a higher number of serials since she dropped a lot of old regulars on 17 July 1982. And now she has credits, we can not only see who is behind the stories but also the types of stories some of her writers favoured. For example, we can see from the credits that Alison Christie favoured heart-tugging emotional stories and Charles Preston spooky completes. Perhaps Preston used to write on Strange Stories, Gypsy Rose and Misty. Other writers, such as Malcolm Shaw, Ian Mennell and Charles Herring, wrote on a wider variety of genres. 

Jinty & Lindy 17 January 1976

 

Slaves of the Candle (filler artist)

The Jinx from St. Jonah’s (artist Mario Capaldi)

Friends of the Forest (artist “B. Jackson”)

Win Your Very Own Hairdryer! (competition)

Fran of the Floods – first episode (artist Phil Gascoine, writer Alan Davidson)

Ping-Pong Paula – final episode (artist Jim Baikie, writer Alison Christie)

Too Old to Cry! (artist Trini Tinturé)

Wanda Whiter Than White (artist Ana Rodriguez)

The Haunting of Hazel (artist Santiago Hernandez)

Song of the Fir Tree (artist Phil Townsend)

Do-It-Yourself Dot (artist Alf Saporito)

Make it Easy…A Nightdress Case – feature 

This issue marks the start of the Jinty classic, “Fran of the Floods”, a tale that has more relevance in today’s climate change environment and rising sea levels than when it was first published in 1976. Rising temperatures and melting ice caps are causing non-stop rain worldwide, and flooding problems are everywhere. Fran Scott is treating it as a joke, but Dad senses it’s something more like the Apocalypse. 

Ping-Pong Paula ends this week. Paula is in hospital in a coma after a road accident, but not even this brings her quarrelling parents together. It takes a telling-to from a nurse that they have to put everything aside and go in together if they want Paula to recover for things to come right at last. 

Poor Nell can’t do anything right. This week she tries to protect Sara’s horse Mister Flicker because she mistakenly thinks he will be destroyed. But her ignorance in horse care has resulted in him becoming seriously ill. More tears for the girl who’s “Too Old to Cry!”.

Lyndy Lagtree, who has finally escaped from the “Slaves of the Candle” racket, realises the villainous Mrs Tallow is out to steal the Crown Jewels and is hot on her trail. Unfortunately, she fails to stop Mrs Tallow from putting her plan in motion at the Tower of London.

In “Friends of the Forest”, Sally and Maya are trying to keep a tame deer, Star, from the circus. Sally is discovering how Maya lives in the forest – in a tree house. But it looks like the welfare busybodies don’t approve of this. They grab Sally, thinking she’s Maya.

In “Song of the Fir Tree”, our fugitives catch up with their old friend Rachel from the concentration camp, who’s now a bit of a fugitive herself. But their enemy Grendelsen catches up too, and now he’s got all three at gunpoint.

Hazel finds out why Black Crag Mountain is angry – greedy developers are out to disturb the dead as they dynamite the old mine workings for silver, and they’ve been scaring the villagers off their land to do it. No wonder the mountain’s a bit pissed! Wouldn’t we be?

That self-righteous prig Wanda White is too much this time. She’s kept Susie awake all night by reading “Pilgrim’s Progress” aloud – her nightly habit of reading a self-improvement book – through those thin walls between them. It’s the last straw in Susie working herself into exhaustion, and the exhaustion gets Susie into trouble in gym class next day.

Dot’s putting on a bit of weight and is making do-it-yourself gadgets to lose it. She eventually turns to a do-it-yourself Turkish bath, which solves the weight problem. Trouble is, Dot forgot to undress first!

Katie is getting a cup of tea for her friend Sue, who is in hospital. Should be straightforward? Not when you’re the Jinx from St. Jonah’s. And that’s just the start of the jinxing that gets Katie banned from the hospital. The ban isn’t stopping Katie from getting some sweets to Sue – but with a fishing pole? Oh dear, watch out for jinxing hijinks at the hospital next week!

Jinty & Lindy 22 November 1975

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.

Jinty & Lindy 15 November 1975

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

Great Fun Contest!

Poparound!

Barracuda Bay – artist Santiago Hernandez

Penny Crayon – cartoon

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

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! 

Tammy 17 September 1983

Namby Pamby (artist Eduardo Feito, writer Ian Mennell)

Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)

Donkey’s Years (artist John Richardson, writer Ian Mennell) – Pony Tale

Take Your Place! (artist Joe Collins, writer Maureen Spurgeon) – Quiz 

Annie’s Cuttings (artist Phil Townsend, writer Jake Adams)

The Crazyees (artist Joe Collins)

Pam of Pond Hill (artist Bob Harvey, writer Jay Over)

Room for Rosie (artist Santiago Hernandez, writer Alison Christie)

Lonely Ballerina (artist Maria Barrera, writer Jay Over)

Back in Form! (Mari L’Anson) – Feature

We continue our September theme with this “back to school” issue from Tammy. Tammy steps in to cheer up Tammy readers who are trudging back to school after the summer holidays, and brings them a school quiz and (yay!) the return of Pam of Pond Hill.

A new pupil, Megan Morris, joins Pam’s class. Traditionally, new pupils in Pam’s class lead to trouble for her until the resolution of the plot thread. So far this doesn’t seem to be the case with Megan, who helps out when Pam’s gran takes a fall downstairs. However, the accident clinches Pam’s parents’ decision to move to the countryside, which leaves Pam shocked at the thought of being uprooted and leaving Pond Hill.

In “Namby Pamby”, Pam Beeton’s upbringing has been so over-protective that she is dubbed “namby pamby” at school. She is resorting to the old trick of going behind her mother’s back to get some freedom, which has gotten her in trouble. There’s trouble again when the class sneak off to a fair and Pam unwittingly lets it slip to a prefect. Now Pam’s class are out for her blood for sneaking. In the last panel we can see Pam has reached breaking point. Next week’s blurb says Pam’s going to run away (wow, her over-protective mum will probably have a heart attack at that!), which means only one thing: the end of the story is close.

“Lonely Ballerina” has discovered that the woman running the shambolic ballet school is not the ballet teacher but her sister. The teacher has been missing for months and the layabout pupils don’t care; they just take advantage to enjoy themselves. The lonely ballerina is the first to ask serious questions about what’s going on.

“The Button Box” is absent this week, but we get an emotional complete story, “Annie’s Cuttings”, about a ragged old woman named Annie Holmes living in a rundown house. She does nothing but collect old newspapers and has nobody in the world to love her except her cat Moonlight. Next door, Mum is rather intolerant of Annie, but her daughter Tina is more sympathetic and finds a way to help Annie once she discovers her problem: poor Annie was jilted at the altar and the trauma turned her into what she is. 

Bella enters a talent contest to raise funds for her gymnastics club. At her friend Jenny’s suggestion, they pair up to make it a burlesque gymnastics performance. The audience loves it, but is it enough to win? They didn’t bring a single supporter with them.

In the Pony Tale “Donkey’s Years”, Felicity Hewitson thinks the donkey man is mistreating his donkey Ned and steps in. However, it turns out she misconstrued what she saw. The man was being grouchy with Ned but not intentionally cruel, and he really does care for Ned. Incidentally, why is the story labelled a Pony Tale when a donkey is not a pony?

Pauline Wheeler gets an offer for Rosie. But instead of it falling through as usual, she actually turns it down once she realises the potential buyer wants Rosie as part of his antique collection when gran always used her as a workhorse. Rosie has to go to a home where she will make herself useful.

Tammy 8 October 1983

• Lucky by Name… (artist Juliana Buch, writer Malcolm Shaw) – first episode
• The Button Box (artist Mario Capaldi, writer Alison Christie)
• Pam of Pond Hill (artist Bob Harvey, writer Jay Over)
• Run, Rabbit, Run! (artist Edmond Ripoll, writer Roy Preston)
• Glenda’s Glossy Pages (artist Mario Capaldi, writer Pat Mills) – first episode
• Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)
• Room for Rosie (artist Santiago Hernandez, writer Alison Christie)
• Lonely Ballerina (artist Maria Barrera, writer Jay Over)
• The Crayzees (artist and writer Joe Collins)

Two stories start this issue: “Lucky by Name” (the second Tammy horse story with that title) and a repeat of “Glenda’s Glossy Pages” from 1975, with no announcement that it is a repeat. This is rather strange. When Tammy brings a story back by popular demand she says it was brought back by popular demand, but there’s nothing. So was it popular demand that brought Glenda back, or did they just bring it back as a filler or something?

In the former, a foal is born into a wild pony forest reserve. But there seems to be something strange about it, both in its appearance and in the way weird things seem to happen in its presence. In the latter, nice things are beyond Glenda Slade because of her mother’s low income. Then things begin to change when she receives a mail order catalogue. But maybe Glenda should remember the old saying: if it’s too good to be true, it usually is…

The Button Box story (below) is one of my favourites: the barrel button story. Bev tells the story as a lesson not to discount old barrels. Personally, though, I read the moral of the story as knowing a few basics about self defence and how to free yourself from bonds (check out the Internet) in the event of a home invasion/robbery.

(click thru)

In Pam of Pond Hill, Dad’s business is in trouble. A new supermarket is stealing his customers by undercutting his fruit & veg prices. Counter-measures to win back customers get outmanoeuvred every time and Pam suspects a leak. Tracy keeps insisting the spy is Pam’s new friend Meg, but Pam doesn’t believe it. Then, at the very end of the episode, Meg acts very strangely – she can’t get inside fast enough when Pam discovers where she lives. Hmm, does Meg have something to hide?

In the complete story, “Run, Rabbit, Run!”, Rae Betts is dubbed “rabbit” and gets bullied at school. The ringleader isn’t all that nice to her own rabbit either. Matters come to a head when the terrified rabbit runs away – right into a burning field. Strangely, a Misty story had the same title and a similar theme. The Tammy version was was written by Roy Preston, who was credited with writing plenty of spooky stories for Tammy. Did Preston write the Misty version too?

Bella has taken over as club coach because the two quarrelsome coaches have quit. They realise their mistake and come back, as it is the eve of a serious competition, but Bella is put out when the girls say no thanks because they’ve had enough of their arguing. Next week is the final episode, so we will see how this resolves.

In “Lonely Ballerina”, the ballet school has gone to pot because the principal, Mary Devine, has been missing for months. At last she is found – in the attic. Tanya Lane, who thought Mary’s sister Betty was holding her prisoner, is surprised to find Betty crying over her instead. All the same, Betty has some serious explaining to do.

Rosie’s in the school panto, serving as Sleeping Beauty’s cot. She becomes a panto star and takes curtain calls with the rest of the cast. Sadly, no home comes out of it for her.

In “The Crazyees”, the cat’s pining because Snoopa hasn’t appeared for ages. Miss T and Edie investigate and discover the lovesick cat is driving Snoopa to distraction, so he’s hiding from her. Miss T’s solution: make Snoopa human size.

 

 

Tammy 3 September 1983

 

• Namby Pamby (artist Eduardo Feito, writer Ian Mennell)
• Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)
• Porridge Pulls His Weight (artist Bert Hill, writer Linda Stephenson) – Pony Tale
• Lonely Ballerina (artist Maria Barrera, writer Jay Over) – first episode
• The Button Box (artist Mario Capaldi, (sub)writer Linda Stephenson)
• The Moon Maiden (artist Hugo D’Adderio, writer Roy Preston) – complete story
• Room for Rosie (artist Santiago Hernandez, writer Alison Christie)
• Make Your Mind Up, Maggie (artist Juliana Buch) 
• Warmer Outlook (Mari L’Anson) – feature

What could be so spooky or terrifying about a ship in a bottle? A lot if you’re in a Roy Preston story and you’ve been cursed for deliberately wrecking a ship at the expense of lives so you can claim insurance. The story, “The Moon Maiden”, appears below. Roy Preston is credited as writing a number of complete spooky stories, often with comeuppances, for Tammy during her credits period. This lends credence to Preston having written some of the other creepy complete stories we’ve seen in the past: Misty completes, Strange Stories, Monster Tales and Gypsy Rose. 

(Click thru)

A new ballet story, “Lonely Ballerina”, reunites the creative team from another Tammy ballet story, “Slave of the Clock“. Tanya Lane is sent to Mary Devine’s ballet school for more advanced coaching, but upon arrival she finds things aren’t exactly how they look in the brochure. The school is a mess, the pupils laze about, there are no lessons, and the teacher looks as much a prima ballerina as a rice pudding. Looks like a cheat, but Tanya is determined to wring ballet lessons out of it if it kills her.

“Make Your Mind Up, Maggie” is on its penultimate episode. Madame has found out Maggie’s secret and expelled her for disobeying orders. Ironically, it’s all because of Maggie’s friend Nadia, who got her expelled in the mistaken belief that ballet was preventing Maggie from pursuing her true vocation, riding. It was the other way around, Nadia you great nana! Now Maggie’s hopping mad at her. Still, there can be no doubt everything will be sorted out next week because it will be the conclusion. It’s a bit strange, reading the penultimate and final episodes as single episodes when they appeared as a double episode in the original run because of an imminent merger.

“Namby Pamby” started in the same issue as Maggie but still has ways to go before it reaches its penultimate episode. No wonder, with the amounts of growth Pamela Beeton has to catch up on because of her ridiculously over-protective upbringing, which has left her with the maturity of a toddler. This week Pam is learning to ride a bike, something her mother never allowed her to do: “they’re too dangerous” she said. Pam is off for a bike ride with her friends but has to do it behind her mollycoddling mother’s back. Next week’s episode will tell if she gets away with it and takes another stride with independence and growth.

This week’s pony tale is drawn by Bert Hill, an artist seen more often at DCT. As the story appeared during Tammy’s credits run, this is Hill’s only credited story. The story is about the bad old days of children being exploited and abused in mines in the 19th century, and in this case, how speaking out – and striking back – improves things. 

The Button Box tale has a moral on accepting things have their time and times change, and you must change with them. In Linton, the new cinema overtakes the hurdy gurdy man in popularity. For one day he and his daughter Dolly triumph over the cinema with a lotto (now bingo) game, but it can only be a one-off. The father realises the hurdy gurdy has had its day and takes a job to make ends meet, but Dolly appears to find it harder to accept. Years later, Dolly has the satisfaction of seeing the old cinema turned into a bingo hall.

Bella’s gymnastics club is at a competition, but the coaches keep quarrelling, which is affecting the team and their chances of winning. Bella takes a bold move to ensure they win: add some extra-difficult moves to her beam routine. At least the coaches finally agree on something – they are appalled at the risks Bella is taking. 

Pauline has to do some fast work to save Rosie from being smashed up and then being stolen. Plus another failed bid to find her a home. 

 

 

Princess Tina 27 May 1972

Cover artist: Purita Campos

• Stop ‘n’ Chat with the Tina Gang (writers Linda, Jeffy (Jennifer) and Horace) – feature
• Patty’s World (artist Purita Campos, writer Phillip Douglas)
• Clueless – the blunderdog (artist John Richardson)
• No Swimming Allowed! (artist Santiago Hernandez)
• Pop People (feature)
• Princess Tina cookbook cover – feature
• Briony Andrews (artist Rodrigo Comos) final episode
• Ross – Student Nurse (artist Colin Merrett)
• The Happy Days (artist Andrew Wilson, writer Jenny Butterworth)
• Summer Line-up (feature)
• Problem Pony (artist Edmond Ripoll)
• Freedom Island (artist Juan Solé Puyal)
• Fifty Tote Bags to Win! (competition)
• Make this with Jeffy (real name Jennifer) – feature
• Princess Tina Cook Book – feature
• Flower Arranging – feature
• Janey (writer Jemma) – text story
• “Fire!” (by Horace) – text story
• Jinny below Stairs (artist Julian Vivas)
• Tina Aims for the Top! (artist Candido Ruiz Pueyo)
• Tell us about it – letters page

We continue our exploration of older titles with a look at Princess Tina. Princess Tina started on 23 September 1967 by merging Princess (first series) and Tina. Well, it makes more sense than “Princess & Tina”. In 1973 Princess Tina merged into Pink (best remembered for Sugar Jones, the scheming celebrity you love to hate, though you have to love her for being a sex symbol). 

Princess Tina is a larger size than her contemporary sisters. Princess Tina is also striking for giving credit to some of her writers and her creative teams. These tend to be the writers who write features such as Jeffy (Jennifer), who puts up cut-out dress patterns and text stories, and Horace, writer of the Horace Scope (horror scope). Now that is a nice touch, showing a human face to the creative team. There are even photos of these writers attached to the features. Horace also took part in the artwork; Stop ‘n’ Chat says he painted the cover you can cut out for the Princess Tina cookbook (which has been removed from this copy).

(click thru)

 

The Princess Tina covers were drawn by Purita Campos and featured happy girls doing very happy, everyday things; in this case they are eating watermelon. Many Princess Tina covers found their way into reprints on other covers, such as the Katy series and the Dutch Tina.

Princess Tina is best remembered for Patty’s World and The Happy Days. This particular issue is the last to feature Patty’s World in black-and-white. Next issue Patty is going to be produced in colour, “in all its shades from happy sunshine yellow to the blues”. Ooh, nice! In the story itself, Patty is looking forward to leading a majorette’s parade but has to cancel out because of a funeral. At least such a sombre thing should be out of the way in time for Patty to start enjoying her colour episodes.

In “The Happy Days” Sue has to find a missing will but the dog has torn it up. Let’s hope the dog hasn’t eaten it too! At least trying to find the dog helps a man in trouble.

In this issue, John Richardson makes one of four appearances as filler artist for “Clueless – the Blunderdog”. The other dates Richardson drew Clueless are 22 April, 29 April and 15 July 1972. The Richardson artwork for Clueless in this issue appears below.

“No Swimming Allowed!” is, as you might expect, an unreasonable ban on swimming. In this case it’s a headmistress imposing it on an entire school (because her fiancé drowned) instead of a parent or guardian imposing it on the protagonist. Of course the swimming continues in secret, with help from a surprising source: an aristocrat named Lady Squires. She and her husband have wangled it so the team will compete for the junior swimming trophy match, but the unpleasant head girl is suspicious.

Briony Andrews, a shy but good-natured girl who has elevated from “country mouse” to a confident model, finishes her story this week. But next week she starts another, “Designed for Danger”, so she must have been popular.

Jan Ross, a student nurse, is wrongly dismissed thanks to a forgetful nurse, Sister Mott. But now she finds Mott’s forgetfulness is having even more dangerous consequences: forgetting the warning that her car brakes are bust – and now she’s driving it!

“Problem Pony” is such a problem that Hazel Green has run away with him. His problem is that nobody can ride him unless his dog pal, Dodger, is near him. Then, when Dodger runs off, problem pony does the same. This will most certainly mean he will gallop into trouble.

“Freedom Island” is home to a school where children of UN delegates can be free. All the same, one girl, Pauline, is unhappy and sets off – in shark-invested waters. Even after being rescued from all those sharks, Pauline just won’t say why she tried to run off.

Jinny below Stairs is a good-natured maid who agrees to help a fellow maid, Mary, hide her brother Bert, who is on the run from the police. But doing so gets her into trouble and she is now in danger of being sacked. Then there is even worse danger – Bert is forced to come up to the house and it looks like the horrible housekeeper is about to catch them all red-handed.

In “Tina Aims for the Top!”, Tina has been ordered to find out why girls are leaving an office training course at Maire Castle. Tina suspects it is because the trainer, Fay Petrie, is up to tricks. Caught snooping in Fay’s office, Tina has no choice but to confront her with her suspicions. What is Fay going to say next week?

Tammy 23 April 1983

I

• Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)
• Different Strokes – first episode (artist Santiago Hernandez, writer Charles Herring)
• Nanny Young (artist Phil Gascoine, writer Tom Newland)
• The Button Box (artist Mario Capaldi, writer Alison Christie)
• This is Your Road to Fame! – Quiz (artist John Johnston, writer Maureen Spurgeon)
• Menace from the Moor – complete story (artist Peter Wilkes)
• Pam of Pond Hill (artist Bob Harvey, writer Jay Over)
• Fame at Last! (artist Tony Coleman, writer Marianne Nichols)
• The Secret of Angel Smith (artist Juliana Buch, writer Jay Over)
• Make Your Own Container Gardens – feature (Chris Lloyd)

 

April 23 1983 has been selected for 1983 in Tammy round robin. Fame is big in this issue because of the Fame gifts attached. Tammy accompanies the Fame theme with a “Fame” quiz and the complete story “Fame at Last!” Kirsty Brown’s school is having a talent contest but she does not think she is talented at anything. But helping the other contestants gets her a special prize and they tell her she has a gift after all – for starmaking. Maybe Kirsty will become an acting agent when she leaves school?

The issue reprints “Menace from the Moor”, a recycled Strange Story. At this stage in Tammy’s run we get recycled Strange Stories where boring text boxes and drawn-in panels replace the Storyteller and his dialogue.

In new story “Different Strokes”, when teacher hears new girls Jacintha and Samantha Carwen are twins she is dismayed, as that usually means trouble. It does, but not in the way she thinks. The twins are as different as chalk and cheese. The only thing they share is an intense sibling rivalry, and they squabble and bicker all the time. Next door neighbour, Tracy Maine, who befriends the twins, is caught in the middle, and she soon suspects there is a mystery attached to the twins’ rivalry as well.

Bella keeps her savings in her suitcase instead of banking them, saying she does not understand “cheques and things” (insufficient education), despite warnings it is not wise to keep her savings like that. But at the end of the episode she pays the price when a burglar breaks in and her savings are stolen. Well, you were warned, Bella.

Goofy has been having enormous difficulty in shooting a film of Pond Hill for a competition. But now he is well out of it when the school bully vandalises his camera.

Nanny Young has been having problems with a young girl, Barbara, who is jealous of her new baby brother. But in this episode she hits on the solution: get Barbara to take an interest in the baby by allowing her to help with minding him.

In this week’s Button Box tale, Lily hates wearing button boots. Then she encounters a crippled girl who changes her mind about them; she realises she is lucky to be able to wear them because she can walk.

“The Secret of Angel Smith” was Tammy’s last circus story. Abby Fox has always resented Angel Smith, the girl who pushed her way into her father’s trapeze act while Dad won’t allow Abby in it because he does not want to lose Abby the way he lost his wife. Abby has ended up in hospital because of it all, but ironically it is Angel who talks Abby into getting fit again, saying she is going to find a way to help her into the act. When Abby gets back to the circus, she discovers this means taking advantage of Dad being absent on an international tour.