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| Everybody's 24 April 1954 p.25 "The trout rushed hither and yon... and leapt skywards after June bugs and mayflies" |
I've updated Playing For The School as I've been sent the cover, which was indeed drawn by Raymond Sheppard
Anyway today's assortment of images are from the weekly magazine Everybody's, published in the UK - with Raymond Sheppard illustrating many articles and stories during the 1950s. The first is from:
Everybody's 24 April 1954 (p.25) "The chastisement of Horsey" by Kerry Wood.
The "true story is about a bull-frog, a big fish and a Mr. G. G. Brown, known as Horsey" starts the tale. We learn of how the frog, knowing he must be very careful not to wash himself near the deep pool where the trout monster lives, keeps himself stuck to the high rock. But along comes a Mr. Brown to fish on his land which includes "Snob Creek". The frog and the trout have a harmonious relationship - if the frog misses a fly, it dips down and gets caught by the trout. They are grateful to each other. The tale ends with Mr, Brown catching the large frog in his hands and trying to wash it over the deep pool. The trout springs and bites into Mr. Brown's hand which releases the frog! Mr. Brown took up horseshoe pitching instead of fishing.
Edgar Allardyce Wood C.M. (2 June 1907 — 25 July 1998) - Kerry Wood was his pen-name - was a Canadian who wrote many books and articles published around the English-speaking world.
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| Short bibliography |
Christine Sheppard shared these sketches by her father and I love the quickness of Sheppard's line work in some of these - reminding me of his advice when drawing moving animals and birds, don't worry they are not like still life, but they will most likely return to the same position at some point.
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| Pencil sketches of frogs - Raymond Sheppard |
Everybody's 31 July 1954 "Desert Aristocrats" by Joseph Braddock
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| Everybody's 31 July 1954 p20 |
The illustration above illustrates a large group of Arab hounds (Saluki) and a separate illustration of an Arab rider on a rearing horse. The article by Braddock tells of the history of how the Arabs bred horses so finely as well as the hunting Saluki - this is to accompany a show at the Roehampton Club, London where both would appear in 1954.
Everybody's 21 August 1954 "Ghost ships of the arctic" by Larry Forrester
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| Everybody's 21 August 1954 p14 |
"The explorers staggered into a blizzard and oblivion. Their ships may still be afloat" is the title above Raymond Sheppard's drawing showing a group of men forcing their way headlong through a blizzard, with one of the men on crutches! The tale is that of HMS Terror and HMS Erebus as they tried navigating the Northwest passage. The article also has a photo of Sir John Franklin and also a picture of the Erebus stuck in pack ice by T. Picken (after I E Davis). The next page has a copy of "the bottle paper" which was found in a cylinder plus a mezzotint of Sir Leopold McClintock If you don't know the story, Wikipedia has an excellent overview and the BBC dramatised it with The Terror starring Ciarán Hinds. The two missing ships were not found until 2014 and 2016 - 170 years after they set out!
It appears that Larry Forrester, (1924-1988) wrote at least 7 books and more popular were his screenplays - see Mubi for more details which confirm he wrote several early ITC TV production episodes and more famously the 1967 film "Tora! Tora! Tora!"
- Unsolved Mysteries: A collection of weird problems-from the past. Edited by Valentine Dyall, London: Hutchinson, 1954
- Fly for your Life: The story of R. R. Stanford Tuck, London: Frederick Muller, 1956
- Skymen: heroes of fifty years of flying. London: Collins, 1961
- A Girl called Fathom. London: Heinemann, 1967 [See Wikipedia]
- Battle of the April storm. London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1969
- Three great air stories: Reach for the sky; Skymen; The man in the hot seat. London: Collins, 1970
- Diamond Beach: A novel. London: Harrap, 1973
But could he also have written the story for a Star Trek: The Next Generation magazine (vol. 4, April 1988) "The Battle" adapted from the TV script by Herbert Wright, with the story by Larry Forrester?
Next time: I'd like to show more Everybody's illustrations
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The Kerry Wood photo and bibliography are taken from Something about the author by Anne Commire, Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research, 1980
