The Celestial Toymaker sent my down a rabbit hole researching Billy Bunter. That was enjoyable. Wish I could watch the whole thing, but I'd need a time machine!
Eons ago, in a small country that was a colony of Britain and eventually member of the Commonwealth, I discovered comics. The only bookstore in the city had lots of them n that was how I was entranced by Billy Bunter. Another comic for girls featured Bessie Bunter, food addict but really funny. In between there was the Beano, and a bad boy we all loved..Denis the Menace and his scruffy dog Gnasher. Ah yes, those were good days I felt...a child's point of view. Thank you for the uploads of Bunter that briefly helped me think of happiness 😊
Surprisingly enjoyable. Of its time, but so well done. I was around for the original viewings but cannot remember how much I did or didn't like them. A definite part of my childhood.
I am sure you know it's called Portsmouth. I think this is the only orchestral version. Of course, the Mike Oldfield version is wildly popular. I assume you know this but on the off chance you did not I thought I would mention it. I do remember loving this version as a child.
I was at this sort of school at this sort of time. How true it all is/was. Although 'bumps' consisted of being thrown into the air then allowed to drop - repeated 6, 9 or 12 times. Seems centuries ago !
I seem to remember watching this on a 7ins TV screen made by a company named PYE. The TV was about 3ft tall and had a wooden cabinet. As mentioned here by others, there was no PC Brigade in those days but people seemed happier and there was no worry about what was said, it was all just part of life and we just got on with it and laughed.
Watching this now, I must say that the writing , directing, production and acting do look very amateur. TV Was very much in its' infancy in the 1950s. It would be interesting to see a modern day adaptation of Billy Bunter. Using modern writing, production, acting , directing and lighting !! This all looks very dark.
@@DennisBloodnokPhotographyVideo The recording is not the best but at least someone did it. I did few recordings using a Bolex 8mm cine camera that had variable shutter and variable frame. It worked out rather well. In those days, studio lighting was very intense and brighter that these days, it was like an oven in the studio. Unfortunately, ten years ago my house was bugled had trashed with films and slides scattered, and equipment stolen.
@@peterw4338 Very sad that you were burgled. Yes, it is great that at least there is a recording of this programme (so sad that the BBC erased so much of their early TV archive). But either way, this Billy Bunter series does look very dated. It would be interesting to see a modern adaptation of this series using up-to-date production, writing, editing, lighting, direction and acting.
I can remember having to write lines at school. The school prefects handed out lines to the lower years for minor infractitons and our teachers handed out the leather strap in abundance, when they belted our hands for the most trivial of reasons.
@@anythingbootneck Yes we had to write lines, normally promising not to repeat again, the offence for which you received the punishment of writing lines. When I became a prefect we still could tell those pupils under us to write lines, and also could issue 'order marks' written on a wall chart. If they gained four 'order' marks within that week, they had to do an hours detention after school on Friday night. Halcyon days LOL!
What I want to know is this: considering Greyfriars is such a strict public school and the boys must wear a uniform, how is it that Bunter was able to get away with wearing check trousers and a bow tie?
OK, so the TV sets were really tiny and no colour except black and white, but those days were brilliant! Only a couple of channels to choose from but there were some classy kids programmes and I was just like all the rest and glued to every second of these great series. Today we literally have hundreds of channels to select our tv tastes and we’re spoiled for choice. I’m definitely not complaining about todays tv, I’m just making a comparison of the different emotions we got then and what we get today. More innocent and happier days when we kids weren’t so knowledgable about the world we lived in. Innocence was bliss and life was pretty good.
I laughed at the reference to Bunter as a "fat ass" which had a different connotation in those days and the pronunciation of the Latin obviously has an obscene undertone. No doubt the scriptwriters were playing a little joke of their own.
I always thought (in this production) the 'Famous Five' (who surely predated Enid Blyton's 'Five' now always referred to as 'famous', but maybe not), in particular, were poorly cast. E.g. Cherry had flaxen hair, not Nugent, Bull was a Yourkshire lad and Wharton didn't come across as the serious captain of the Remove, Henry Samual Quelch wasn't right. I remember later castings as being better (Caven Kendall as Cherry for example). Coker was awful. But I didn't mind much as a kid. Mostly I loved the Cassells book series, fell on them at the public library branch. Fond (but attenuated-with-age) memories. I wonderfully met Gerald Campion years later (mid Seventies) at his restaurant in Brighton/Hove, 'The Seagull' I think. Got his autograph on a photo of him as William George. Still have it, it's special.
this is my 2nd most wanted series to see episodes come back(Doctor Who being the first and "holy grail") but the chances of more billy bunter are pretty much impossible due to it being pre 60s tv. I would love to see any more of this come back, Bunter is such a little shit and amuses me greatly
Billy Bunter went on a cruise drank too much booze, ate too many cakes & on deck slipped on a Danish pastry & along came a shark who found him really tasty. written by Andrew Williams on the 22/9/19/.
Read the stories often. Billy Bunter, the heavyweight chump of Greyfriars remove. If fact the secondary school I went to in the 1970’s actually had a “remove”, they call it a special needs class now.
Ok...we shouldn't be too harsh on children's program acting...that 50's acting was too often very stunted... All that fruit munching going on couldn't be very fatning....Billy came over decidedly gay also...... Thankfully around 1956 rock'n roll came along to lighten things up a bit.....
Mccarthy lock out period when all card holding actors were blacklisted in Hollywood so came over to pinewood England. I think most of the pupils are American. Robin Hood was another example of English TV at that time.
why was Bunter allowed to wear a bow tie and check trousers ? No doubt you could have a special exemption -- for a small financial consideration. would nt be allowed to day of course.
Yes, a few of the Howard Baker books are in the £50 - £100 price range but can be found much cheaper if, say, you just want a reading copy. There are approximately 200 Baker reprint books and about half of these are limited (400) De-luxe editions. If you are a fan of Greyfriars stories and don't mind a bit of plot repetition ('Frank Richards' wrote for The Magnet from 1908 to 1940) some of these books are truly a joy to read. If you started reading the yellow jacketed Bunter books and loved them as I did, and have never read these Magnet stories you may get a bit of a surprise to discover what you've been missing. If anyone donates one of these Baker books to your local charity shop it will almost certainly be sold the day it goes on sale. It will, in all likelyhood be from the estate of a deceased old gentleman who treasured it. Just 3 recommendations from a dozens of the really good books are: The rebellion of Harry Wharton. Billy Bunter and the Courtfield Cracksman. Billy Bunter and the Greyfriars mutiny. If you know nothing about these stories don't let the name Billy Bunter put you off. The real stars of these stories are Wharton and co (The original 'Famous Five'), and a massive cast of other characters. To my mind the greatest 'character' of all is... Greyfriars School itself.
@@user-zo7mr3op8i Matter 'o fact, you've caught me on a Greyfriars binge. I've been haunting Friardale a fair bit lately, just finished the 1990 biography of "Frank Richards", and have started to more consciously imitate his style for a story tentatively called Bluebird Cove, set at a clifftop school just as World War 2 breaks out. I was introduced to these stories by Howard Baker, but not by the Magnet. It was D'Arcy the Runaway that got me. As soon as I was done with it, my mum took of with it, she loves Just William!
Oh, and you will be surprised by some of the storylines in those Magnet tales: In a 1913 issue, for instance, one of Bunter's classmates was found in a drugged stupor in a back room of a nearby pub which was used as an OPIUM DEN! That pupil was Chinese - so that explains that!
@user-zo7mr3op8i Very well said. I absolutely haunted my local library when I was a boy in the 1950s and 60s and read every Billy Bunter on the shelves. At first, you were allowed to borrow two books at a time. But then they increased it to three and I'd trot home with three of the yellow hardbacks on each visit. They are wonderful stories. Recently I picked up a book called Yarooh! which is a collection of Bunter short stories edited by Giles Brandreth published in 1976. It has lots of Charles Chapman's evocative illustrations in it. I was delighted to find it.
I read all the original Bunter books from my local library when I was a kid; no doubt none available now due to the triggering it would cause for today’s delicate snow flakes...
Egads! As an American, I have to confess that Billy Bunter evokes in me an almost irresistible urge to smack him about the head with the back of my hand. What a detestable worm he is! I definitely prefer the characters and their adventures in the GA Henty novels.
I did not mean to suggest that G.A. Henty wrote the Billy Bunter series of books. My point was that B. Bunter (by Chas. Hamilton, aka Frank Richards) is a loathsome character, while those created by Henty are admirable. Henty's characters are worthy roll models for young people. Billy Bunter is not and he evokes a visceral dislike in me. There is one Bunter I do like -- i.e., that one created by Dorothy L. Sayers, viz., the gentleman's gentleman to Lord Peter.
***** most of the other characters (Wharton, Cherry, Bull and the remove in general were all decent chaps though). The point is that Bunter was intended to display less than admirable characteristics so as to serve as a comic foil to the other characters. He did occasionally display redeeming features but they were very few and far between.
When school masters were well spoken and had a good command of the English language. No woke people there. I remember our teachers wearing black gowns and being very stern also after wiping down the chalk board, they had chalk dust all down their gowns, Happy days.
![Billy Bunter Of Greyfriars School [1956] 2/4](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HpS3ILvK_bQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![Billy Bunter Of Greyfriars School [1956] 2/4](/img/tr.png)
The Celestial Toymaker sent my down a rabbit hole researching Billy Bunter. That was enjoyable. Wish I could watch the whole thing, but I'd need a time machine!
As someone born in 2000 I’m pretty sure I’m the youngest one here to have read Billy Bunter. Had no idea there had been a TV show for it too!
Enjoy real nostalgia treat/
And there was me born in 1989 thinking the same thing 😆
Born 1989 love it mum massive fan
I love the Bunter where he goes to the haunted house.
You can't beat a bit of classic british television 👍
Wonderful. Thanks for posting. I loved this programme when I was a child.
Eons ago, in a small country that was a colony of Britain and eventually member of the Commonwealth, I discovered comics. The only bookstore in the city had lots of them n that was how I was entranced by Billy Bunter. Another comic for girls featured Bessie Bunter, food addict but really funny. In between there was the Beano, and a bad boy we all loved..Denis the Menace and his scruffy dog Gnasher. Ah yes, those were good days I felt...a child's point of view.
Thank you for the uploads of Bunter that briefly helped me think of happiness 😊
Surprisingly enjoyable. Of its time, but so well done. I was around for the original viewings but cannot remember how much I did or didn't like them. A definite part of my childhood.
Surprisingly watchable, interesting to see 1950's comedy.
I loved Billy Bunter and never missed it as a child. The smashing Anthony Valentine was in it.
The marvelous theme tune has always stuck in my mind over the years !
Yep , just before you get six of the best !
I am sure you know it's called Portsmouth. I think this is the only orchestral version. Of course, the Mike Oldfield version is wildly popular.
I assume you know this but on the off chance you did not I thought I would mention it. I do remember loving this version as a child.
ruclips.net/video/Mu70EwvHxvQ/видео.htmlsi=ZlOrczAQLLfbpAnW
Ralph Vaughan Williams .Sea songs .
‘The congratfulness is terrific’ is an amazing statement
i'm almost 27, and I read this during my childhood probably one of the younger readers 😃
That’s very interesting, I didn’t know the books were available today, I watched the TV series in the 50’s. Hope the books didn’t offend you!😀
@@anythingbootneck read by good old Martin Jarvis :-)
I'm 37 and thought I was the youngest person in the world who knew what The Magnet was! Been on Friardale? They've got everything!
Excellent. Thank you for sharing
I was brought up on this --my school was just the same
I used to absolutely love this prpgramme, the books were fantastic too.
I used to watch the show & found it funny as a kid.
@@AndrewWilliams-zc1hf Yes, it was the TV for me .
The days when schoolboys were in their late 20s, but dear old Kynaston Reeves was the archtypal headmaster.
So nostalgic. Of course the cane was a REAL threat in those/my day. Bunter would have been given more than the bumps!
I was at this sort of school at this sort of time. How true it all is/was. Although 'bumps' consisted of being thrown into the air then allowed to drop - repeated 6, 9 or 12 times. Seems centuries ago !
We got chucked in the River Wye on our birthday! :)
Gerald Campion, playing Billy Bunter, was 35 years old in 1956!
I was 9 when this was on the only tv channel in existence.
Campion was the perfect Bunter. Kynaston Reeves the perfect Quelch.
In the Dutch version Headmaster Quelch is called Kwel, which means Vex.
Gerald Campion who played "Bunter," gave up acting and became a Cordon Bleu Chef and had his own Restaurant.
I though he was torured to death in the basement of a gay bar in the West End, in that dreadful News of the World story.
A young Anthony Valentine as Wharton
I seem to remember watching this on a 7ins TV screen made by a company named PYE.
The TV was about 3ft tall and had a wooden cabinet.
As mentioned here by others, there was no PC Brigade in those days but people seemed happier and there was no worry about what was said, it was all just part of life and we just got on with it and laughed.
Derek Stocker watched on the old Pyle Continental..........
I remember having to switch the television on about 15 minutes before hand so it warms up and time to adjust the frame sync.
Watching this now, I must say that the writing , directing, production and acting do look very amateur. TV Was very much in its' infancy in the 1950s.
It would be interesting to see a modern day adaptation of Billy Bunter. Using modern writing, production, acting , directing and lighting !! This all looks very dark.
@@DennisBloodnokPhotographyVideo The recording is not the best but at least someone did it. I did few recordings using a Bolex 8mm cine camera that had variable shutter and variable frame. It worked out rather well. In those days, studio lighting was very intense and brighter that these days, it was like an oven in the studio. Unfortunately, ten years ago my house was bugled had trashed with films and slides scattered, and equipment stolen.
@@peterw4338 Very sad that you were burgled. Yes, it is great that at least there is a recording of this programme (so sad that the BBC erased so much of their early TV archive).
But either way, this Billy Bunter series does look very dated. It would be interesting to see a modern adaptation of this series using up-to-date production, writing, editing, lighting, direction and acting.
I used to walk past the home where the writer lived.
Quite an impressive performance by the young Reg Dwight, who couldn't have realized he'd be Elton John one fine day, I say.
Reg Dwight wasn't in it!
@John Saunders Good one hahaha, bet he thought it was jolly good fun
Thankyou for this little gem!!!! gary170459
I can remember having to write lines at school. The school prefects handed out lines to the lower years for minor infractitons and our teachers handed out the leather strap in abundance, when they belted our hands for the most trivial of reasons.
“Lines” Yes, we were made to copy pages from the bible!😀
@@anythingbootneck Yes we had to write lines, normally promising not to repeat again, the offence for which you received the punishment of writing lines. When I became a prefect we still could tell those pupils under us to write lines, and also could issue 'order marks' written on a wall chart. If they gained four 'order' marks within that week, they had to do an hours detention after school on Friday night. Halcyon days LOL!
Ahhh..the Good Old Days!
1:36 a very young Raffles, the gentleman thief.
Brilliant!
What I want to know is this: considering Greyfriars is such a strict public school and the boys must wear a uniform, how is it that Bunter was able to get away with wearing check trousers and a bow tie?
That was the uniform.
That meant you had been buggered by the head boy.
The check trousers were an invention of the artist C. H. Chapman - Magnet artist.
With the brilliant actor Gerald Campion
used love seeing this on our black and white tv.
OK, so the TV sets were really tiny and no colour except black and white, but those days were brilliant! Only a couple of channels to choose from but there were some classy kids programmes and I was just like all the rest and glued to every second of these great series. Today we literally have hundreds of channels to select our tv tastes and we’re spoiled for choice. I’m definitely not complaining about todays tv, I’m just making a comparison of the different emotions we got then and what we get today. More innocent and happier days when we kids weren’t so knowledgable about the world we lived in. Innocence was bliss and life was pretty good.
Oh lord . It's Quelch !
The first boy to stand up I think was Antony Valentine! Where on earth did you get these from!? I was 3 yrs old
When these were about 1956
Tony Hart ("Vision On") did the cartoons in the opening titles!
Those are really old looking little boys ha ha
I was born in 1944 to a dickensian childhood but better then than today
This is a very subjective opinion.
I laughed at the reference to Bunter as a "fat ass" which had a different connotation in those days and the pronunciation of the Latin obviously has an obscene undertone. No doubt the scriptwriters were playing a little joke of their own.
Billy Bunter was older than half the teacher's, looks like he'd been held back 20 year's
That's how he became the UK's Prime Minister to get brexit done .... silly arse!
The kids in the class were actors in there late teens or 20s compared to the later school dramas like Grange hill.or Tuckers Luck.
Billy Bunter - the Body Positive Owl of the Remove!
I always thought (in this production) the 'Famous Five' (who surely predated Enid Blyton's 'Five' now always referred to as 'famous', but maybe not), in particular, were poorly cast. E.g. Cherry had flaxen hair, not Nugent, Bull was a Yourkshire lad and Wharton didn't come across as the serious captain of the Remove, Henry Samual Quelch wasn't right. I remember later castings as being better (Caven Kendall as Cherry for example). Coker was awful. But I didn't mind much as a kid. Mostly I loved the Cassells book series, fell on them at the public library branch. Fond (but attenuated-with-age) memories.
I wonderfully met Gerald Campion years later (mid Seventies) at his restaurant in Brighton/Hove, 'The Seagull' I think. Got his autograph on a photo of him as William George. Still have it, it's special.
this is my 2nd most wanted series to see episodes come back(Doctor Who being the first and "holy grail") but the chances of more billy bunter are pretty much impossible due to it being pre 60s tv. I would love to see any more of this come back, Bunter is such a little shit and amuses me greatly
Eric Cartman's great grandfather.
imagine the different handwriting lines quelch must have had bad eyesight
Is that Anthony Valentine as the first schoolboy to reply to the teacher?
This makes me think: What if Billy Bunter was affected by PC? Damn.
Gerald campion was perfect
All schoolboys in their 30s
Brilliant author Frank Richards, made a fortune writing about Grayfriers and the "fat owl of the Remove" & Co.for over forty years.😂👍
Billy Bunter went on a cruise drank too much booze, ate too many cakes & on deck slipped on a Danish pastry & along came a shark who found him really tasty. written by Andrew Williams on the 22/9/19/.
It's striking that Bunter was labelled as "The Fat OWL" but today he would only be classed as moderately obese.
Today they'd be more concerned that a 35 year old was still in high school haha
Albert Tatlock ....wouldn’t learn anything anyway.
@@alberttatlock5237 Not if he had arrived in Kent by dinghy.
Read the stories often.
Billy Bunter, the heavyweight chump of Greyfriars remove.
If fact the secondary school I went to in the 1970’s actually had a “remove”, they call it a special needs class now.
Lots of 40 year old half-witted public school men in short-trousers and school caps . . . . location shooting in today's cabinet room ?
Or the current opposition given their idea of economics?
Very cute show
Very good
Who is here thanks to Mark Bowden
It's hard to believe that the first couple of minutes used to represent a "good education" which people actually paid large sums of money for!
Why was Bunter allowed to deviate from the school uniform with his check pants and bow tie?
George Orwell brought me here.
All right, who is worse, Billy Bunter or George from Seinfeld?
Crikey! I didn't expect to see Che Guevara.
oof a kids book character turned tv show turned chippers
1:32 So that's the shrimp that Alan Moore chose to be Big Brother.
Ok...we shouldn't be too harsh on children's program acting...that 50's acting was too often very stunted...
All that fruit munching going on couldn't be very fatning....Billy came over decidedly gay also......
Thankfully around 1956 rock'n roll came along to lighten things up a bit.....
Hilarious when the Famous Five rough up grown-up baddies!
Bunter Boris
What an insult to Bunter!!!
Is that Anthony Valentine?
23:22 Jolly good, Inky. Ha, ha, ha.
Mccarthy lock out period when all card holding actors were blacklisted in Hollywood so came over to pinewood England. I think most of the pupils are American. Robin Hood was another example of English TV at that time.
Mike Oldfield used the opening riff.
Called 'Portsmouth'.
I though this is a documentary about Boris Johnson
Sadly this is probably true !!
Very good 😃😃😃
What an insult to Billy Bunter!
Boris was in the 3rd Remove
LoL so did i
In Holland he is known as Billy Turf .........
I wrote dozens - if not hundreds-of Billy Turf cartoon strips.
Actually, they wrote themselves!
why was Bunter allowed to wear a bow tie and check trousers ? No doubt you could have a special exemption -- for a small financial consideration. would nt be allowed to day of course.
I'll, er, stick to the story papers. Even the Howard Baker reprints are getting thin on the ground and expensive these days, though!
thank you for the link
Yes, a few of the Howard Baker books are in the £50 - £100 price range but can be found much cheaper if, say, you just want a reading copy.
There are approximately 200 Baker reprint books and about half of these are limited (400) De-luxe editions.
If you are a fan of Greyfriars stories and don't mind a bit of plot repetition ('Frank Richards' wrote for The Magnet from 1908 to 1940) some of these books are truly a joy to read.
If you started reading the yellow jacketed Bunter books and loved them as I did, and have never read these Magnet stories you may get a bit of a surprise to discover what you've been missing.
If anyone donates one of these Baker books to your local charity shop it will almost certainly be sold the day it goes on sale. It will, in all likelyhood be from the estate of a deceased old gentleman who treasured it.
Just 3 recommendations from a dozens of the really good books are:
The rebellion of Harry Wharton.
Billy Bunter and the Courtfield Cracksman.
Billy Bunter and the Greyfriars mutiny.
If you know nothing about these stories don't let the name Billy Bunter put you off.
The real stars of these stories are Wharton and co (The original 'Famous Five'), and a massive cast of other characters.
To my mind the greatest 'character' of all is...
Greyfriars School itself.
@@user-zo7mr3op8i Matter 'o fact, you've caught me on a Greyfriars binge. I've been haunting Friardale a fair bit lately, just finished the 1990 biography of "Frank Richards", and have started to more consciously imitate his style for a story tentatively called Bluebird Cove, set at a clifftop school just as World War 2 breaks out.
I was introduced to these stories by Howard Baker, but not by the Magnet. It was D'Arcy the Runaway that got me. As soon as I was done with it, my mum took of with it, she loves Just William!
Oh, and you will be surprised by some of the storylines in those Magnet tales:
In a 1913 issue, for instance, one of Bunter's classmates was found in a drugged stupor in a back room of a nearby pub which was used as an OPIUM DEN!
That pupil was Chinese - so that explains that!
@user-zo7mr3op8i Very well said. I absolutely haunted my local library when I was a boy in the 1950s and 60s and read every Billy Bunter on the shelves. At first, you were allowed to borrow two books at a time. But then they increased it to three and I'd trot home with three of the yellow hardbacks on each visit. They are wonderful stories. Recently I picked up a book called Yarooh! which is a collection of Bunter short stories edited by Giles Brandreth published in 1976. It has lots of Charles Chapman's evocative illustrations in it. I was delighted to find it.
I read all the original Bunter books from my local library when I was a kid; no doubt none available now due to the triggering it would cause for today’s delicate snow flakes...
Money money money
Is it Christopher Biggins as Bunter?
no.
Shunty woo woos
reminds me of boris
I say chaps what a jolly old jpe, what?
Grown men acting as school boys of its time I suppose.
Martin Jarvis does a way better job than all of these actors put together
Egads! As an American, I have to confess that Billy Bunter evokes in me an almost irresistible urge to smack him about the head with the back of my hand. What a detestable worm he is! I definitely prefer the characters and their adventures in the GA Henty novels.
Henty? The Bunter books were written by Frank Richards.
I did not mean to suggest that G.A. Henty wrote the Billy Bunter series of books. My point was that B. Bunter (by Chas. Hamilton, aka Frank Richards) is a loathsome character, while those created by Henty are admirable. Henty's characters are worthy roll models for young people. Billy Bunter is not and he evokes a visceral dislike in me. There is one Bunter I do like -- i.e., that one created by Dorothy L. Sayers, viz., the gentleman's gentleman to Lord Peter.
***** most of the other characters (Wharton, Cherry, Bull and the remove in general were all decent chaps though). The point is that Bunter was intended to display less than admirable characteristics so as to serve as a comic foil to the other characters. He did occasionally display redeeming features but they were very few and far between.
When school masters were well spoken and had a good command of the English language. No woke people there. I remember our teachers wearing black gowns and being very stern also after wiping down the chalk board, they had chalk dust all down their gowns, Happy days.