Raymond Sheppard and Elizabeth Cruft (Part 2)

Girl 10 Sep 1952
Pets Corner No.15 “Canaries”

The previous 14 episodes of "Pets Corner" can be found here. Today we are looking at episodes from #15 to #26, the end of the series. Drawn by Raymond Sheppard in Girl comic in 1952 - thanks again to David Slinn - these delightful episodes may appear a bit dated but still read well.

Girl 17 Sep 1952
Pets Corner No.16 “White mice”

Girl 24 Sep 1952
Pets Corner No.17 “Guinea-pigs”

Girl 1 Oct 1952
Pets Corner No.18 “Pigeons”

Girl 8 Oct 1952
Pets Corner No.19 “If your dog is lost”

Girl 15 Oct 1952
Pets Corner No.20 “Tropical fish”

Girl 22 Oct 1952
Pets Corner No.21 “Your dog and visitors”

Girl 29 Oct 1952
Pets Corner No.22 “Hedgehogs”

Girl 5 Nov 1952
Pets Corner No.23 “Your dog's health”

Girl 12 Nov 1952
Pets Corner No.24 “Your dog when winter comes”

Girl 19 Nov 1952
Pets Corner No.25 “Ferrets”

Girl 26 Nov 1952
Pets Corner No.26 “Showing your dog”

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

AUCTION: Black Beauty in Girl comic

Raymond Sheppard illustrated a little seen strip in Girl comic, a companion for....girls, to the famous Eagle comic begun by Rev Marcus Morris and Frank Hampson, the creator of "Dan Dare".

Heritage Auctions, in the United States, has an original artwork by Sheppard from this strip.

"Black Beauty" by Raymond Sheppard
Girl Volume 1:8, 21 Dec 1951

The series ran from the first issue of Girl on 2 November 1951 (Volume 1: 1) until 29 February 1952 (Volume 1: 18). It was published on the centrespread of the comic (down the left hand column) along with John Ryan's "Lettice Leef" among other features. Ryan, of course was the creator of "Captain Pugwash". As can be seen this is episode 8 of the story by Anna Sewell.

This gives me the opportunity to show you all the pictures I have of this series. If anyone wants to share any other parts, I'd be enormously grateful

Part of the original centrespread for Girl Volume 1:1

Girl 23 Nov 1951 Volume 1:4

Original art from an eBay picture of issue 7

Issue 7 artwork

Unknown episode

The auction ends on Sunday 27 August and I'll record here how much it sells for

Black Beauty Girl Volume 1: 8
WHERE?: Heritage Sunday Internet Comics Auction #121735
LOT #: 14103 
SELLER:Heritage
STARTING BID:$
ENDING PRICE:$131.45 (inc. Buyer's Premium) = £101.66
No of bids: 3

END DATE: 27 August 2017