Raymond Sheppard and Unlawful Cargo

 

Unlawful Cargo, p.7

 I want to share the drawings from another children's book illustrated by Raymond Sheppard.  This time for Oxford University Press as part of a school reader scheme "Stories Told and  Retold".

The series, formerly known as Stories Retold, was extended to include newly-written adventure stories. As the South Pacific Commission reviewer in SPC Quarterly Bulletin.(Vol. 7 No. 4, October 1957) says:

Overseas students often wish to read material with a local background; they also often wish for something which is a little more up-to-date and faster-moving than the somewhat dull fare of bygone days which is so frequently served up to them. This series is now beginning to cater for this need, and these three titles provide well-written, fast-moving adventure stories which we feel sure will be welcomed in tropical areas by students who have completed six years of an English course.  

Unlawful Cargo is an exciting story about diamond smuggling in the Middle East and Africa. The Crocodile Dies Twice has Singapore and Malaya as a background and is about a school-boy’s discovery of a wartime treasure trove. Adventures at Dabanga School has an African background and comprises two short stories.   

Unlawful Cargo, p.28

The story tells of the Head of Police, Ronald Wilson's meeting with Sir George Leatherstone "one of the British Civil servants whose names do not get into the newspapers" in a "British West African colony". Sir George wants Wilson to find a suitable candidate to infiltrate a diamond smuggling gang.  He does and the adventure begins - with Sullivan being arrested and meeting the local lawyer - Mr. Amerilla (pictured on page 7). Sullivan manages to ingratiate himself with the lawyer who happens to be the organiser of the smuggling ring locally. he uses a beautiful woman to smuggle diamonds to the Middle East from West Africa and Sullivan tags along fooling the traffickers by not getting caught with the diamonds.

 In Khartoum Sullivan follows the woman and witnesses the swapping of handbags at a market stall. (page 28). He eventually lands in Beirut and meets the head of the organisation, whom he persuades, to organise an expedition to Nigeria to collect three quarters of a million pounds of raw diamonds Sullivan allegedly has hidden. In truth he wants the lawyer, Amerilla and the Boss, Mr Fuad, to cross the Nigerian border so they can be arrested. On page 49 we see the meeting between Sullivan and Faud - who wears sunglasses. He falls for Sullivan's plan and they head off. But trouble pursues them and someone recognises Sullivan's local accomplice as a police officer. (page 77). But just in time the French police arrive to arrest the smugglers and free Sullivan and his friend. What happens to the woman, is not mentioned.

STORIES TOLD AND RETOLD

The cover of Unlawful Cargo

On the back cover are listed other titles in the series - my copy of Unlawful Cargo is a 1958 reprint, the original was printed in 1955 with Sheppard's illustrations. 

Unlawful Cargo, p.49

• Stories from Shakespeare Retold by H. G. Wyatt
• More Stories from Shakespeare Retold by H. G. Wyatt
• Tom Brown’s Schooldays by T. Hughes. Retold by H. D. B. Harford
• A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Retold by E. Smith
• Treasure Island by R. L. Stevenson Retold by G. F. J. Cumberlege
• Beau Geste by P. C. Wren Retold by R. C. Goffin
• The Hound of The Baskervilles by A. Conan Doyle. Retold by B. M. Chester
• The Tale of The Bounty by H. G. Wyatt
• The War of The Worlds by H. G. Wells Retold by L. Brander
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe Retold by A. S. Hornby
• Adventures At Dabanga School by P. H. C. Clarke [Illustrated by Jack Matthew]
• The Crocodile Dies Twice by Shamus Frazer [Illustrated by Richard Walker]
• Unlawful Cargo by S. F. Stevens [Illustrated by Raymond Sheppard]
• The Message from The Tomb by F. J. F. Tingay [Illustrated by A. S. Douthwaite]

Notice the last four are the newer tales and are illustrated, I couldn't find any evidence whether the others are or not.

Unlawful Cargo, p.77

According to the British Library and others, S.F. Stevens is Sydney Frank Stevens. Now I assume as he has written for Oxford University Press school readers that he has an interest in simplified English - i.e. for non-native speakers. If this is the case we might assume too that he is the person mentioned in the Queen's Birthday Honours list of 1960, where we learn about "Sydney Frank Stevens, lately English by Radio Manager, British Broadcasting Corporation". The English language teaching department "English by Radio" within BBC World Service began in 1943 and listings in the Radio Times don't mention Stevens unfortunately.. Looking for other works by Stevens I think I have a basic list below in which I make the assumption this is the same person, several published in Florence, Italy.  

• The Missing Scientist, etc. (Illustrated by Raymond Briggs.), London: Oxford University Press, 1958
• Business in English [Audiobook] London: BBC, 1960
• The Odhams Series of Language Courses. [A series of text books with gramophone records in French, German, Italian and Spanish.], London: Odhams Press, 1960
• Twelve American-English conversations, Madrid: Omnivox, 1961
• A Christmas Carol, Firenze: Valmartina ed., 1963
• Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Firenze: Valmartina ed., 1964
• Arms for sale. Originally broadcast in the B.B.C.'s English by radio programmes as The past tense of murder [Published unknown] 1964
• Relaxed English, Firenze: Valmartina ed., 1965
• Spoken English Firenze: Valmartina ed., 1967
• Highlights of English history and Civilization , Firenze: Valmartina ed., 1967
• Treasure Island Firenze: Valmartina ed., 1968
• Business in English : a guide to English commercial practice and correspondence, London: Chatto and Windus Ltd Published in association with the British Broadcasting Corporation London, 1968