Christmas 1959
TEDDY TAIL ANNUAL.
Teddy is on a go-cart, blowing a bubble
bigger than himself. His friends are round him. The background is yellow.
There are 81 pages.The price 7/6 is printed inside.
On page 22 there
is a picture showing a “new train engine for 1959”. This tells us the year.
The inside cover features the Whiskertown Flyer. The Flyer appears again on
page 18 in a story called “Trains Cross”.
The first story in the annual
is “ Whiskertown’s Bridge in the Sky” and has Arlington Green as background,
and the fireplace in the cottage features as well on page 5 and pages 7 and
10. +
Donnatilla illustrated :
R.W.R's poem on page 25-”The Day I get my Bicycle.”
A poem on page 32
“School Days” .
A Picture to paint on page 39.
A poem of R.W.R’s “Have
you a budgie in your House?” on page 65.
The characters that appear
on the inside covers are nearly all characters created by Glenn. The
original Teddy Tail had far fewer characters.
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Christmas 1960.
TEDDY TAIL ANNUAL.
Teddy is coming out of a sweet shop and his friends are waiting. Yellow
background. There are 81 pages. The price is 7/6 inside.
This annual
seems to be illustrated only by W. St.J.Glenn and Donnatilla.
The
Daimler that Glenn finally bought from Illingworth in the spring of 1958 is
on page 23,
Donnatilla illustrated :
A Page for very Young Readers-page 17.
Gone
with the Wind-page 33.
A page to colour based on Spain-page 59.
Picking Flowers-page 65.
Blowing Bubbles on the Green-page 71.
This annual also has a story with Father Christmas who has a daughter called
Merry. She appears in the later Fun Book. The story is called “With the Help
of the Rebrab.”
There is also a story about Princess Prunella on page
41and she too appears in The Fun Book published later.
These are
reasons for thinking that this is the last Teddy Tail Annual.
THE TEDDY TAIL FUN BOOK.
Teddy Tail and some friends are
greeting the Whiskertown Flyer vintage steam train. The background colour is
yellow. On the back cover there are more characters having fun.The cost is
7/6. There are 81 pages. Inside it says:”A YEAR OF FUN with Teddy Tail and
his Whiskertown chums- and including picture stories from the Daily Mail.”
W. St. J . Glenn was still working for a Teddy Tail Annual in September
1960, but the newspaper stopped the character in the paper in December. In
June 1961 a letter shows he was giving Associated Newspapers the rights to
use characters he had invented so that further publication could continue.
This included, among a long list of characters, the Whiskertown Flyer,
veteran railway loco, and Mrs Whisker's cottage, based on a real one in
Gloucestershire.
In June 1963 in reply to a letter from W.St J.Glenn, the
Daily Mail said that “The last Teddy Tail Book produced was called Teddy
Tail Fun Book. We omitted the word annual.”
It is unclear whether the Fun
Book was produced in late 1961 or late 1962.
Why a copy of the Fun Book
from New Zealand should have a dedication as late as Christmas 1964 is
strange. Maybe the Daily Mail reissued it.
The Fun Book has a story
about Little Miss Merry who featured in the last Teddy Tail Annual and a
story about Princess Prunella who also featured in the last Teddy Tail
Annual.
Donnatilla illustrated five pieces.
“If I were a Boy.
If I were a Girl” on page 25.
“Doing Things” on page 35.
“Make this
the Best Picture...”on page 59.
“Home”
“Me and My Homework.”
The Fun Book was bright and jolly and was a “FUN” way for Teddy Tail to stop
.
