- The Magnet
The Magnet was a
United Kingdom weekly boys story paper published byAmalgamated Press . It ran from 1908 to 1940, publishing a total of 1683 issues. Each issue contained a longschool story about the boys ofGreyfriars School written under the pen-name of Frank Richards. The vast majority of the stories were written by author Charles Hamilton, although substitute writers were sometimes used; The most famous Greyfriars character wasBilly Bunter , of the Remove. Most issues of The Magnet also included a shorter serial story (a variety of detective, scouting, and adventure yarns were featured), and many issues also included a newspaper ostensibly produced by the characters themselves and called the "Greyfriars Herald"; these parts of the paper were not written by Charles Hamilton.= History =
Red Magnet – 1908–1915
It was created by the editor Percy Griffiths, building on the success of
The Gem . The early years saw the creation of nearly all of the Greyfriars characters who would populate Greyfriars for the remainder of its history.Blue and White era - 1915-1922
The cover changed from salmon pink to blue and white, purely as a result of the unavailability of red dye due to the war. This era saw a profusion of stories written by authors other than Hamilton, one of which was the editor JN Pentelow, teh only substitute writer whose work was given preference over that of Hamilton. Paper shortages reduced the size of the stories.
Blue and Orange era – 1922-1937
Blue and Orange covers were introduced and a growing proportion of stories was written by Hamilton as he came to see the Magnet as the main focus of his attention. The idea of a series of several linked stories appearing in consecutive issues started to emerge and become the key ingredient if this period, allowing increased complexity of plotting and stimulating increased literary polish of the writing. Mostof the best remembered stories appeared in this period.
Salmon Pink era – 1937-1940
The use of long serials continued, albeit often recycling the plots of earlier years. The covers changed to salmon pink for the last four years. A decline in circulation coupled with paper shortages meant that the Magnet could not survive the Second World War. The final issue was the opening story in a new series; at least four other issues are known to have been already completed, but these were never published, and are now presumed lost.
Post closure
After 1940, the stories continued to appear in book form until Hamilton's death in 1961 and in a television series that ran from 1951 - 1961 on the
BBC .Most of the Magnets were reprinted in hardback form under the Howard Baker and Greyfriars Book Club imprints from 1969 to 1990.
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List of Issues of The Magnet *
Greyfriars School *
The Gem *
Billy Bunter *
Bessie Bunter *
Tom Merry = External links =
* [http://www.friardale.co.uk/ Friardale] Hamilton material
* [http://magnets.tmtm.com/ Magnets]
* [http://www.collectingbooksandmagazines.com/bunter.html Collecting Books and Magazines] Detailed article
* [http://www15.brinkster.com/hiamie/greyfriars/greyfriars.htm Greyfriars, The Magnet & Billy Bunter] Facts and Figures
* [http://www.greyfriarsindex.co.uk/index.htm Greyfriars Index] Detailed listing of Hamilton material
* [http://www.friarsclub.net/index.htm The Friars Club] Enthusiasts’ Club
* [http://www.magnets.friardale.co.uk/ Friardale] Detailed site about The Magnet
* [http://www.geocities.com/bunterzone/index.html Bunterzone] Enthusiast’s site
* [http://www.philsp.com/homeville/BJSP/0start.htm#TOC Index of Boys Weeklies]
* [http://www.btinternet.com/~andrew.n.jenkins/andrew.n.jenkins/page12.html Map of Greyfriars School]
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