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Billy Bunter's Centenary - Billy Bunter first appeared in print in the Magnet on 15th February 1908. Hamilton had actually created the character a number of years earlier but when an Editor turned down Bunter Hamilton slipped him back into his pocket and Bunter was placed on hold for a time. A few articles of interest are listed below-

A brief article celebrating 100 years of Billy Bunter appeared in the Metro on 15th Feb 2008. You can read the article here.

A Times Online article on Bunter's Centenary can be found here. (will only open with Internet Explorer)

A Telegraph Online article on Bunter's Centenary can be found here. (will only open with Internet Explorer)

In 1948 Charles Hamilton wrote an article for his local Parish magazine called "Thoughts of a Boys' Writer. You can read it here

George Orwell wrote an essay for the Horizon magazine in 1950 in which his views on the works of Hamilton could hardly be described as complimentary. He went as far as to suggest that a number of writers must be involved as it was not possible for one man to produce so much output. The essay can be read here and Hamilton's reply here.

On his retirement as President from the Private Libraries association in 1974 the author Raymond Lister addressed the audience with "Charles Hamilton, Greyfriars and Myself". You can read it here.

The "Picture Post" of 11th May 1946 carried an article by Sidney Jacobson entitled "Do you remember Billy Bunter?" It is claimed that Charles Skilton read this article in a hotel in Oban while on his Honeymoon and decided to approach Hamilton about reviving Greyfriars. You can read the article here.

Frank Richards was asked to write an article on his works for the "Boys' Writer" You can read it here.

A brief article describing the works of Charles Hamilton and the exhibition of his work for the "Celebrity Connections" festival of 1998 and 1999 appeared in the magazine "Bygone Kent" in 2001. You can read the article here.

Following the death of Charles Hamilton at the age of 86 on Christmas Eve 1961 a number of newspapers published obituaries. You can read some of them here.

The Daily Mail 27th Dec 1961  here.

Guardian 27th and 28th Dec 1961 here.

Times 27th Dec 1961 here.

Daily Telegraph 27th Dec 1961 here.

After GR Samways died at the age of 101 in 1996 a number of obituaries were published, you can read them here.

Daily Telegraph 26th August 1996. You can read it here.  

The Independent 24th Aug 1996, you can read it here.

After his death at the age of 65 on obituary to Howard Baker appeared in The Times on 16th Feb 1991. You can read it  here.

The Story Paper Collector was the fore runner of the Collectors Digest and was incorporated into the CD when Bill Gander died in 1966. Bill was plagued by ill health for many years and had decided that issue 100 would be the last but unfortunately he passed away suddenly after the publication of issue 95. You can read an obituary from an unidentified Canadian newspaper here.

In the Radio Times dated 20-26th Aug 1994 an article entitled "That was the Week" featured the Billy Bunter TV show from 1958. You can read it here.

On the 27th Dec 1961 an article featuring Peter Bridgemont and the play "Billy Bunter Shipwrecked" appeared in the Daily Telegraph. You can read it here.

Keith Waterhouse featured Bunter and the Co in his column in the Derby Evening Telegraph on 26th Jan 1995. You can read it here.

Maurice Hall was a huge fan on the works of Charles Hamilton and spent 18 years producing one of, if not the best biography of them all. Unfortunately he breached copyright by using extracts from Hamilton's diaries and after legal action by Hamilton's niece the books were withdrawn and pulped. You can read the story from the Daily Telegraph dated 20th May 1991 here.

You can read a review of the book from the Times of 19th May 1990 here.

In 1982 Quiller press decided to reprint an updated version of four of the Cassell books. Kay King was asked to edit them for a more modern audience. The books were a failure, they didn't appeal to either new or old readers. You can read a short article from the Times of 1982 here. You can compare the new with the old here.

In 1970 the chief librarian at Ipswich Library decided that the Bunter books were not suitable reading for children so they were removed from the shelves. A meeting of the Libraries committee later had them restored. You can read the both the original article article from The 13th Feb 1970 and the follow up article from 12th March 1970 here.

In a short article in the Sunday Telegraph on Sept 19th 1962 John Wernham reveals his plans to start a Hamilton Museum. You can read the article here.

At the age of 90 CH Chapman thought that Bunter should be brought back! you can read the article here.

Norman Shaw allegedly had the largest collection of Children's books and Story Papers in the world. You can read a few newspaper articles about his collection  here, here and here.

An interesting article on Charles Hamilton and the 'All Blacks' can be found here. (will only open with Internet Explorer)

A light hearted article from the Yorkshire post on the 27th Oct 2007 suggests that Frank Richards may have based the character of Henry Quelch on local schoolmaster William Quelch. You can read the article here.

Two articles appeared in the Guardian on 11th July 2002 following the death of Gerald Campion at the age of 81. The first article, the obituary can be read here. In a separate article Michael Simkins recalls an evening spent at the French home of the former fat owl of the Remove, you can read it here.

Twenty five years after the death of Frank Richards the BBC and Saturday Night Theatre adapted the fifth of the Cassell books the classic tale of Billy Bunter's Christmas party. You can read the preview from the Radio Times here and you can listen to the play here.

An article appeared in Book & Magazine Collector on the Cassell / Skilton books on 30th September 1986. You can read the article here.