Daily Mirror, 15 February 1937
Men Behind the "Next Instalment" – 1
In 20 Years of "Thriller," Billy Bunter’s Creator Types 25,000 Words a Week
By a Special Correspondent
Words… words… words… millions and millions pouring into the magazine printing presses every week to satisfy the hundreds of thousands of readers, young and old, who can scarcely wait for this week’s "thrilling instalment." Have you ever thought of the men who supply this need? In the days and days of ceaseless toil necessary before Sexton Blake can bring another criminal to heel, or Billy Bunter satisfy his hunger at Greyfriars School?
For twenty years Billy Bunter has been in the Remove. So have his chums, Harry Wharton & Co. Even the inscrutable Hurree Jamset Ram Singh, I see, is not yet in the Sixth.
There must be millions of readers who have affectionate memories of the Famous Five. Every week there are high jinks at Greyfriars; and one man is responsible for them all.
Frank Richards, in spite of a following that a best-selling novelist would envy, remains incurably modest. At his home, in Broadstairs he types out on his own machine 25,000 words of Greyfriars adventures every week, posts them to the Magnet, and starts on the next 25,000.
This he has done for over twenty years, and thinks nothing of it.
Can’t expel Billy. "I started when I was seven," he told me. "Mostly pirate stories. Sold my first story when I was seventeen.
"I’ve changed the characters at Greyfriars over and over again, but of course the originals, like Billy Bunter, have had to remain there all the time. I’ve tried to expel him once or twice, but he never goes.
"The boys themselves have naturally grown more modern, even though they’ve never gone up a class.
"As for plots, I’ve never had the slightest difficulty yet in getting these boys into trouble: and they themselves seem to have a genius for getting out of it."
Now for next thrill. In their own ageless way these schoolboys are always up to date. Last week, for instance, they started a sit-down strike, which looks like having dire consequences, as I see it means that young Bunter can’t get at the tuck shop.
Kipling, in Stalky and Co., immortalised one group of schoolboys: but the boys of Greyfriars have probably endeared themselves to a greater and more affectionate public than has ever happened to schoolboys before.
Their invincible impudence is as powerful today as ever it was. In fact I am genuinely sorry for the new head, Mr. Hacker.