| bc |
Bill Lofts, of the Lofts and
Adley literary investigation team.
Any photos or illustrations of Bill
would be appreciated.
| A loss to the world of popular
children's and crime fiction occurred in June of
1997. William Oliver Guillemont Lofts, 'Bill'
Lofts as he was known throughout the literary
world, passed away on June 27. Bill, in
partnership with his long-time friend the late
Derek Adley, authored among many other
publications bibliographies on Edgar Wallace (The
British Bibliography of Edgar Wallace, Howard
Baker, Lon 1969) and Leslie Charteris (The
Saint and Leslie Charteris, Hutchinson, Lon
1971) His juvenile bibliographies included The
Rupert Index, William, DC Thomson and John Leng
Annuals, The Hotspur, Gem, Magnet, The Detective
Weekly, Boys Friend Library and The Thriller. The
two books I use more than any others are The
Men Behind Boys' Fiction and Old Boys'
Books - A Complete Catalogue.
A decade ago when I'd published my first foray
into children's book collecting, namely Golden
Years, a Sydney collector suggested that I
send Bill a copy. That done, I was surprised to
receive a friendly and encouraging reply from
Bill within little more than a week. At the time
he was working as a freelance researcher for a
London publisher, having left his engineering
post at Zenith Carburettors in the late 1960s.
From that day until early this year, we exchanged
regular letters. Early on, my letters consisted
mostly of questions which Bill was only too happy
to answer, no matter how much work was required
on his part. Later on he began sending me any
news clippings he thought would interest my
readers and continued to do so regularly.
Bill Lofts was born at St
Marylbone, London, in 1923. He joined Zenith
(then Solex) Carburettors immediately upon
leaving school but the war arrived and saw him
posted to Burma. Trevor Adley in his special
tribute to Bill back in the hundredth issue of Book
and Magazine Collector (July 1992) stated
that Bill, while imprisoned in A Japanese POW
camp, located a tattered copy of the Sexton
Blake Library "in a dimly lit
corner". Thus was his enthusiasm for
juvenile literature re-born. Following his return
home Bill began collecting the SBL,
together with The Magnet, Gem and
other boys' weekly story papers. He became
curious about the writers behind the stories,
having heard that some were famous authors making
extra money behind pseudonyms. Bill began
submitting articles to The Collectors' Digest and
it was through one article in particular on SBL
author John Hunter, that brought him and Derek
Adley together. Eventually the two became a
unique team dedicated like Holmes and Watson (or
Sexton Blake and Tinker?) to solving every
mystery which came their way. Bill would do the
investigating while Derek would collate the
information received, eventually turning it into
a readable format.
Bill not only solved literary mysteries of the
above type: he found people, often writers who
had long since disappeared from the public. I
hope to give you examples in future issues but
can attest to his talents. So far as I knew my
father was an only child. Eighteen months ago
Bill sent me a copy of a birth certificate
attesting to a younger sister. That's another
story and a mystery now left for me to solve.
NOTE: Tributes from those of you
who knew Bill would be appreciated, and will
appear on this page with future updates. (John:
July 17, 1997)
VISITORS
WRITE:
I met Bill in the middle 1960s when as a 16
year old I joined the London Branch of the Old
Boy Book Club. I remember Bill as a tall, bear
like man with a balding head. He was a mine of
information about children's literature.
I was very sorry read of his death but pleased
that both the London 'Times' and 'The Daily
Telegraph' carried obituaries.
Nicholas Bennett, Reading UK
VIOLET
DAVIES - [I asked Violet, Bill's
sister, what she could recall of Bill, so far as
his childhood and hobby interests were concerned
-John]
"He
was a quiet boy; he liked to read the usual boys'
comics ... he sang solo in the church choir and
belonged to the Cubs and Scouts. Although he
joined in the school sports I don't remember him
excelling in them. He went to Ballow Hill School,
not far from Lords Cricket Ground. My father took
us on numerous occasions to see the cricket
matches and had a drink in The Lords Tavern. One
of his interests since being a small boy had been
steam trains. He used to be taken to Paddington
Station to see them. Up until the end of last
year [1996] my son would take him to steam train
venues. Bill collected pictures of them. He liked
to watch all sports on the television: cricket,
football, snooker and athletics. He went to
football matches in his earlier days; also
wrestling, but came to the conclusion that the
[wrestling] matches were fixed.
Bill was very modest about his hobby and told us
snippets on his visits. He once had lunch with
Robert Mitcham, who invited him to America, but
he didn't go. I have a nice photograph of Bill
with Leslie Charteris taken at the house of Lords
when Bill gave a speech on behalf of Leslie
Charteris who was being honoured. Although Bill
did not drink or smoke he liked a modest flutter
on the horses. He got on well with children and
would have made a fine father. We also got on
well together, although we had different
interests."
[The London Telegraph ran an article
on Bill following his death and I've extracted
the following pertinent facts from it.]
* One of Bill's biggest surprises
came when Brian O'Nolan (novelist 'Flann O'Brien'
and Irish Times columnist 'Myles na Gopaleen')
admitted to him that he'd penned a couple of
Sexton Blake stories in the 1950s.
* Relevant dates: Bill's date of birth was
September 2, 1923. He left Zenith and joined
Fleetway House as official researcher in 1968.
* Bill's most memorable discovery: a long-lost
story of Winston Churchill's, written back in
1899 and called 'Man Overboard'.
* In Bill's estimation his most pleasing
publication was 'The New Rupert Index', a list of
all Rupert Bear stories, published in 1979.
* Bill left unfinished a bibliography of Enid
Blyton.
* He refused to have a telephone installed in his
small flat in north London and relied on a rather
decrepit manual typewriter.
[This
update: September 1, 1997 -John]
I'm sorry to say that the news
of Bill Lofts' passing, on June 27, 1997, have
just reached me. Bill was a great resource for
Saint information, and one of England's most
tenacious researchers. I corresponded with him
for a number of years, but lost contact with him
about three years ago. I never got a chance to
meet him, or talk with him. He didn't have a
phone. I do, however, consider myself lucky as I
read through my marvelous folder of letters from
him. He was a Saint.
-- Dan Bodenheimer - see my page at http://www.saint.org/
|
Bill's Articles
During the
decade I published Golden Years, Bill sent me many
articles for inclusion, so many in fact that they were my
sole purpose in keeping the magazine going for the final
couple of issues before folding in 1996. I hope to load
all of these articles onto this page, eventually. Some
may have appeared elsewhere but as Bill generously gave
me permission to use everything that he enclosed with his
regular correspondence, I have no hesitation in placing
his work (generally in collaboration with the late Derek
Adley) before you. Publication history and date written,
if known, will be included. Bill did mention that some of
the following were used as the basis for talks he gave at
club meetings. Some names have been changed or deleted.
The Eccentrics
Over
the last thirty years, I must have met hundreds if not
thousands of collectors of juvenile literature. Nearly
all have not only been highly intelligent, and friendly,
but perfectly normal people in every way. I mention this
because it is unfortunate that some people who are not
collectors regard the collecting of 'comics' as they call
them, as being a bit strange for an adult, or to put it
more broadly they must be eccentric. The word according
to the dictionary means 'to do things in a manner that is
not accepted as normal behaviour', but then what is
normal behaviour? Something that is probably normal to
one person, is not normal to another. It is only in
extreme cases that a person can really be classed as
eccentric, the classic example being the American
billionaire, who lived by scrounging scraps of food out
of dustbins, and slept in old newspapers to avoid buying
bedclothes. A more recent case was with the coming of
colour TV a man was seen in Piccadilly wearing a tin
helmet, Scots kilt, with a pair of flippers on his feet.
In his right hand he held aloft a stick of rhubarb. When
asked what he was doing he replied: "I'm trying to
get the BBC in colour."!
Many
collectors whom I met told me that I was the only other
enthusiast they had seen, including most of those
mentioned in the following essays. These seven I did find
slightly odd - though the reader may think otherwise! As
I met them now over 25 years ago, and they were at least
30 years older than me, one must presume that all have
now passed on. To avoid any embarrassment to relatives I
have changed their names and localities. With the
exception of Colonel Whithington-Spooner, I really liked
them very much. At the same time I would like to assure
the reader that everything written is perfectly true, and
exactly how it happened.
The Man Who Pinched
My Chips
Tom
Smith was a Cockney. A small wizened man of about 80. He
was dressed in the traditional cloth cap and muffler, and
lived over in South London. Tom was what I called the
last of the old brigade: that is to say collectors who
remembered and read such papers in their youth as 'Boys
Standard' and 'Boys of Great Britain' which flourished in
the 1870s. This group was fast dying out when I started
my interest in juvenile literature in 1950. At that time
I had written quite a few articles dealing with the
Victorian papers, and Tom had obviously read most of them
and had written to me with some queries.
In one
of his letters he mentioned that he was an Old Aged
Pensioner, and with his savings now gone, he could not
afford to buy his favourite papers any more. Should I at
any time have some odd copies spare, it did not matter
how tattered or incomplete they were, he would be pleased
to have them. As it happened I did have a pile of the old
papers, bought very cheaply because of their bad
condition and which I decided he could have with my
compliments.
With
Tom living only at Elephant and Castle, a place direct on
the Bakerloo line where I live, I suggested that I
deliver them in person, and at the same time have a cup
of tea somewhere, and a chat. He readily agreed, and at
6.00pm one evening, he was awaiting me in the manner
described. He held out a rather grubby hand and said
"Pleased to meet you, Guv" - 'Guv' being my
title from then on. He knew a nice cafe not far from
where he lived, and so down the Old Kent Road we went, up
a side street and within a few minutes we were sitting in
one of the traditional working men's type of eating
houses, then a bit deserted because of the early evening.
As I had come straight from work and was feeling a bit
peckish, I ordered a pie and chips, and asked Tom
"if he would like the same." "Thanks
Guv", he said. "Don't get much chance to have
extra nosh these days". Shortly afterwards with two
big cups of hot, steaming tea, we were tucking into a big
plate of hot pie and chips. Now I should explain here
that I am a very slow eater, and take my time over food.
While Tom was doing justice to his meal and eating it as
fast as Billy Bunter - I had not eaten a third of my meal
while he had finished. Being trained in detective work, I
also have a trait of seemingly looking at some object,
while still noticing anything happening from the corners
of my eyes. With my eyes fixed on a playbill posted on
the wall in front of me, I suddenly saw Tom's hand
quickly go to the side of my plate and pinch a chip! My
first reaction was one of amusement, thinking he was a
sort of practical joker, but keeping a poker face I
pretended that I had not noticed. A rather grimy hand
took another chip, and another. I decided that the poor
chap was short of food with his small pension and said
nothing. But now put off from finishing the rest of my
meal, I pushed the plate back and said I was full. Tom
looked at the plate and asked if he could finish it off,
so of course I said I did not mind at all!
After
this amusing experience, Tom suggested I might like to
see his place and 'collection' which was just round the
corner, and soon we were outside a small terraced house
that looked as if it was due for demolition anytime. Tom
opened the door and a smell of musty old paper came
reeking out. In the passageway and both sides were piles
and piles of bundles of old newspapers, and books, all in
a state of decay and damp. Tom lit an old gas-lamp and
threw the lighted match behind him, almost causing me
heart-failure. In his front room with newspaper on the
floor was just an old wooden table while and round the
room were piles and piles of more musty old books. Also
in the room was a fire place with a small fire burning.
Tom threw on it some large pieces of wood, and soon
sparks were flying out into the room. I was frightened
that anytime the place would be alight - though he did
not seem to notice. Upstairs were two rooms that used to
belong to his brother, who had died some years
previously, and these likewise were full up to the
ceiling with old newspapers, and huge volumes of books
only fit for waste-paper. After he lit a cigarette rolled
from an old tobacco tin and threw the lighted match
behind him, I decided it was time to say goodbye to Tom,
and next I heard he had died.
It
took the local council's two large lorries to remove his
collection as waste-paper, but often I wondered if among
that pile he did have some valuable old papers, and I
would have liked to have gone through them. The money he
could have got from the sale of these may have saved him
the trouble of having to pinch my chips!
If you want to discuss Bill's
contributions, we suggest you join our
CB&M newslist on YAHOO GROUPS.
Sign
our Guestbook View our
Guestbook
Back to Collecting
Books & Magazines Index page
Page author - John opsbooks @
aol.com
|
bc |
