Ramond Sheppard and Elizabeth Cruft (Part 1)

Girl 23 April 1952
Pets Corner No.1 “Choosing a puppy"

A children's 'magazine' programme, Telescope, ran from 1950-1951 on BBC TV (the only TV channel at the time) and, as Nostalgia Central tells was hosted by Cliff Michelmore and alternated every Saturday with Whirligig.

How does this relate to Raymond Sheppard? Well, he illustrated a half page in colour called "Elizabeth Cruft's Pet Corner" for 26 issues in Girl during 1952. Girl, of course, was the second comic produced by Marcus Morris and team to accompany their bestselling Eagle.

Elizabeth Cruft and Cliff Michelmore c.1955 in All your own

Elizabeth Cruft (born c.1938) presented  a slot called "Your puppy" on the above-mentioned Telescope programme. She was the great-granddaughter of Charles Cruft, the founder of the eponymous Dog Show. In 1957 Elizabeth Cruft appeared in a programme narrated by Doris Langley Moore called "Men, Women and Clothes: How Fashions Come and Go" which was broadcast on 21 April 1957.  Incredibly the BBC have saved it and made it available online - all 15 minutes that were first broadcast at 22.00! It also starred Ron Moody - easy to spot, and Vanessa Redgrave - not so easy. The series is on YouTube and this episode has, I think Elizabeth Cruft appearing in the crinoline (around 5.00 minutes in). Later 1950s photos exist of Elizabeth in fashion shoots.She married John Moore and had 2 children 'Alexa' Alexandra Elizabeth Moore, and 'Tiggy' Catherine Louise Moore.

Thanks to the generosity of David Slinn we have a complete set of scans of all 26 episodes. 

Girl 30 Apr 1952
Pets Corner No.2 “Care of your cat”

Girl 7 May 1952
Pets Corner No.3 “Where your dog sleeps”

Girl 14 May 1952
Pets Corner No.4 “Care of your budgerigar”

Girl 28 May 1952
Pets Corner No.5 “Angora rabbits”

Girl 4 Jun 1952
Pets Corner No.6 “Feeding your dog”

Girl 11 Jun 1952
Pets Corner No.7 “Train your dog to walk to heel”

Girl 9 Jul 1952
Pets Corner No.8 “How to look after your tortoise”

Girl 16 Jul 1952
Pets Corner No.9 “Travelling with your dog”

Girl 23 Jul 1952
Pets Corner No.10 “Goldfish”

Girl 30 Jul 1952
Pets Corner No.11 “Bathing and grooming”

Girl 13 Aug 1952
Pets Corner No.12 “Dogs at holiday time”

Girl 20 Aug 1952
Pets Corner No.13 “Golden hamsters”

Girl 27 Aug 1952
Pets Corner No.14 “Teaching your dog to sit and stay”

Part Two to follow soon