ROY ROVERS. Stuff. Real OF THE

Transcription

1 Real ROY THE ROY OF THE ROVERS Stuff

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3 CONTENTS Roy s Unofficial True Story...7 Roy s Press Releases All Change At Roy Of The Rovers!...87 Famous Faces...89 Roy Stamps! Comparisons The Staff The Characters How It All Worked Life After Roy Caught on Camera...177

4 ROY S UNOFFICIAL TRUE STORY In 1987, when the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh visited the headquarters of IPC Magazines, the publisher of Roy of the Rovers, the Duke asked me, This Roy of the Rovers. Is it a soap opera? I thought for a moment and then I said, Yes, sir it is! Previously, I had not realised that I had turned the Roy story into a soap opera. He had also become the most famous footballer in Britain and the phrase Real Roy of the Rovers stuff had become a way for commentators to indicate that a certain piece of football action was in the character of Roy of the Rovers. There have been a few attempts to tell Roy s story but I feel I am in a unique position to place on record all I know about Mr Roy Race. I was lucky enough 7

5 Real Roy of the Rovers Stuff! to meet and work with the wonderful people who were involved with Roy of the Rovers in the very early years. I can tell you in some detail all the things which happened to Roy during the years I was in charge of the title. I might be a bit critical about what happened afterwards so I will concentrate on my time with Roy, which covered over 28 years. This is Roy s true story, as seen by me, working with him as a sub-editor, editor and later as group editor. I was his agent, his PR man and his best friend. We went through a lot together but what happened turned him into a character that is still loved and admired by millions of football fans all over the world. People who grew up reading the adventures of Roy of the Rovers are now adults themselves and many are fathers, or even grandfathers. Spanning three generations at least, it s little wonder that Roy has such a special place in the hearts of the British people. I was so lucky to be involved with Roy for so long. I think I had a very special job and it is one I am proud of. I first worked with the great Roy Race in the early 1960s, when I became a sub-editor on the Tiger comic. Roy s story was top of the Tiger popularity charts. He had appeared in the very first issue in September 1954 and had immediately become the readers favourite character. 8

6 ROY S UNOFFICIAL TRUE STORY Derek Birnage was the first editor of Tiger. I shared an office with Derek and the Tiger staff just after I joined Fleetway Publications in I became a sub-editor on Lion, under the editorship of Bernard Smith. The Lion and Tiger staff shared the same large office. Derek and Bernard were true gentlemen and great friends. Bernard taught me the editorial system an editor should use. It was a system that I followed throughout my career. The aforementioned large office contained three Lion staff, three Tiger people, the sports editor and the department junior. It was a big office, so big that at lunchtime, when I was a sub-editor, we would play a game of cricket in it, using a wooden ruler, with a cardboard tube stuck on the end of it as a handle, which made a bat, three cardboard tubes (used for sending artwork) as stumps and a roll of sticky tape as a ball. The games were vigorous, causing one senior editorial man to remark, at the end of one lunchtime, It smells like a jockstrappers convention in here! It was in 1954 that Derek Birnage commissioned freelance author Frank Pepper to write the opening episode of the Roy story. Frank had vast experience in writing comic strips for boys and was the ideal choice. He was already writing the Captain Condor strip in Lion, as well as other stories. 9

7 Real Roy of the Rovers Stuff! But a good story needs a good artist and Derek hit the jackpot when he persuaded artist Joe Colquhoun to illustrate Roy s adventures. Joe was one of the very best artists employed by the comics and he later became famous for his brilliant interpretation of the Charley s War story in Battle, which showed the First World War as it really was. The detail in all Joe s drawings, on whatever subject, was amazing. Pressure of work meant that Frank could not continue to write the Roy story and Joe took over the scripting, as well as the illustrating. Then Derek wrote scripts himself and later the story was credited to none other than Manchester United and England striker Bobby Charlton. I think this was one of the first commercial tie-ups between a footballer and a publication. Derek created a precedent which I was to follow, many years later. Eventually, Frank returned to writing Roy and did the script for many years, with great results. WHO CHRISTENED ROY? Who thought up the name Roy of the Rovers? Many people have claimed that they came up with the title idea and I have heard many different versions. The one I like to go with is that the idea came from Lion editor Bernard Smith. Many years after he retired, Bernard wrote to me and said, When they were looking for a title to the 10

8 ROY S UNOFFICIAL TRUE STORY series, it was I who suggested Roy of the Rovers. So what? That letter arrived in 1994 and Bernard went on to celebrate 104 birthdays! He had worked on Champion comic and one of the main characters in that publication was a footballer called Danny of the Dazzlers. Perhaps that was an inspiration! I can remember reading Danny of the Dazzlers myself. It was a written story, published before the onset of picture-strips. It was also written by Frank Pepper, as was the famous Rockfist Rogan story, which was also in Champion. THE EARLY DAYS Issue one of Tiger had Roy of the Rovers on the front cover. Roy was a young lad playing in a local cup match. Unknown to Roy, the game was being watched by Alf Leeds, manager of the Melchester Rovers A team. Mr Leeds was smoking a pipe! In later years, smoking would be banned from the publication. Roy scored a sensational goal, with his right foot (he was to become famous for his left-footed shot!). Alf was impressed. Very impressed! Roy was soon to sign for the famous First Division team and the rest, as they say, is history. The first words Roy ever uttered in a comic were, WHY YES, SIR! Roy was replying to Alf, who had asked to have a word with Roy. Our hero would have 11

9 Real Roy of the Rovers Stuff! a lot more to say for himself in later instalments but it was never to be an easy ride for him. Everything that could happen to a footballer, happened to Roy. Often many times over! Roy s first visit to Melchester Stadium was eventful. He went in the main entrance and was told by the doorman, Juniors aren t allowed to use this entrance! He was quickly directed to the doorway used by the juniors. Also signing for Melchester Juniors was Roy s schoolboy pal Blackie Gray. The two of them delivered some classy performances for the youth side and eventually found themselves in the Melchester Rovers first team. Roy scored twice in their first game, once with his right foot, once with his left. Both his goals came from Gray passes but Rovers only managed a 3-3 draw. In a later game, Roy shows a fiery temper when a team-mate accuses him of not giving of his best. A very angry Roy grabs his accuser by the scruff of the neck and looks as if he is about to thump the guy, saying, I d like to knock your thundering block off! In years to come, Roy Race wouldn t have acted like that. As a football icon he had to always be on his best behaviour. I ll put it down to the fact he was very young! Getting over that incident, Roy took over as captain in 1958, which was generally greeted with great enthusiasm by just about everyone, including the team s mascot, Billy the Goat! 12

10 ROY S UNOFFICIAL TRUE STORY Reading through the early instalments of the Roy story, I was impressed with the skill which went into the stories, in scripts and drawings. Roy of the Rovers was built on a very solid foundation! I was transferred from Lion to Tiger in the mid- 1960s, working with David Gregory, who had replaced Derek Birnage as editor. I worked closely with David as Tiger moved to offset printing, which gave a much better reproduction. I went on a web offset course. As the printing was so much better, I suggested introducing big full-page photos of sports stars and that proved to be popular. When Tiger merged with Jag comic in 1969, I can recall David telling me that a Jag story would be on the cover of the merged title. I protested, saying that Roy of the Rovers just had to be the story on the cover. David agreed and Roy was on the cover of the first merged issue. As always, Roy was the top story in the new title. Of course, by this time the Roy story was well established. Roy was now captain of Melchester Rovers and working alongside manager Ben Galloway. There were so many memorable characters in the story. Blackie Gray I ve already mentioned. But can you remember trainer Taffy Morgan, the millionaire player Jumbo Trudgeon, goalie Tubby Morton, Tony Storme, Tom Dawson, Ossie Jones and Buster Brown? More on them later. 13

11 Real Roy of the Rovers Stuff! Frank Pepper was still scripting. Various artists were used on the Roy story, including the famous Paul Trevillion, who added gritty realism to the illustrations. Yvonne Hutton drew the story after Paul and she was the only lady artist ever to work on the Roy strip. She later drew the Roy story in the Daily Star. Eventually, Joe Colquhoun returned to illustrate the story, which delighted everyone. In 1969, David Gregory was invited to launch a weekly football feature magazine, which was to be called Shoot! This meant that Tiger would be needing a new editor. Shoot! went on to have enormous success. The management considered a number of people to take over Tiger but, fortunately, David recommended The four people who edited Tiger: left to right: David Gregory (second editor); myself (third editor); Derek Birnage (first editor); Paul Gettens (fourth editor). 14

12 ROY S UNOFFICIAL TRUE STORY myself and I became the comic s editor. One of my first decisions was to make Tiger an all-sports publication. I felt that stories such as Olac the Gladiator did not really fit in with the high sports content in the title and the changes went down well with the readership and Tiger continued to prosper. Later, mergers with Scorcher (1974) and Speed (1980) brought in some good picture-stories, including Billy s Boots and Hot-Shot Hamish but Roy continued to be top of the league for popularity. By 1975, I had decided that Roy should become player-manager of Melchester Rovers. The great Ben Galloway was made general manager and was always there to offer advice and support to Roy. THE PR YEARS I knew I was editing a good product and I wanted to see the title advertised but, alas, there was no money for an advertising budget so I decided to get my own, free, publicity! In 1975 I read an article in the Daily Mail, which mentioned Roy of the Rovers. With tongue firmly in cheek, I penned a letter from Roy, as follows: I was shattered to read your Chelsea v. Birmingham report by Peter Moss in Monday s Daily Mail. After giving 15

13 Real Roy of the Rovers Stuff! his impressions of the match, Mr Moss concluded by saying, Suggest author tries this Roy of the Rovers rubbish on some boys magazine. For 20 years I have been appearing in Tiger and this is the first time my style of football has been called rubbish. Only the other day I scored four goals in a league match against Highwood Athletic and the crowd were most certainly not chanting rubbish! I ve really got enough on my plate at the moment, having just become playermanager of Melchester Rovers following our early exit from the FA Cup. I m glad to say we are still in the European Cup Winners Cup. Perhaps Peter Moss would like to visit the Press Box, to see our style of play is anything but rubbish. Yours sincerely, ROY RACE Player-Manager, Melchester Rovers The paper printed the letter under the heading, ARRRGH! SPORTSMAIL UPSETS THE NEW PLAYER-MANAGER OF MELCHESTER ROVERS 16

14 ROY S UNOFFICIAL TRUE STORY I was delighted with the feature and it inspired me to look out for other opportunities to publicise Roy. Just a few months later, Roy got a mention in the London Evening Standard and once again he fired off a letter complaining about what was said in the article, which was written by the famous Bernard Joy. The Standard headed the feature, ROY v. JOY THE ROVERS HERO TACKLES THE STANDARD S SOCCER MAN! Once again, I was pleased with the coverage and the way the newspaper treated Roy as a real person. That was quite right because for me, and millions of fans, Roy Race is as real as any of the major stars of world football. In 1975, Roy celebrated 21 years in football. After consultations with Roy I decided to make the anniversary the subject of a special issue of Tiger. Of course, the press was told about the anniversary and typical headlines were: STILL SCORING SOCCER S AGELESS HERO Reveille ONE PLAYER IS HAPPY! London Evening Standard ROY OF THE ROVERS 21 YEARS NOT OUT! IPC News 17

15 Real Roy of the Rovers Stuff! On the cover of the special issue we showed Roy running out on to the pitch at the start of a 21st anniversary game. Waiting for him was Dickie Davies, from ITV s World of Sport programme. He did a sort of This is Your Life presentation and introduced messages from top sports people. England cricket captain Tony Greig, who I signed to write for Tiger, said this: I can remember reading your stirring deeds for Melchester when I was a lad in Queenstown, South Africa. You play sport as it should be played hard but fairly. And you ve never forgotten that the soccer fan must be given full entertainment at all times! From the world of football, England manager Don Revie had this to say: You are a very exciting player. I hope that Roy of the Rovers goes on for many more years! There was this from Malcolm Macdonald, the striker whose on-field performances were often likened to Roy Race: 18

16 ROY S UNOFFICIAL TRUE STORY I hope I m still rattling in the goals after 21 years in the First Division! Guess what, I even appeared in that Roy story myself, going on to the pitch as Tiger editor and telling Roy: You deserve all the praise, Roy because for 21 years you ve entertained millions of readers. Now many of your original readers have families of their own. What I said was a clue to Roy s continued success. Those original readers in the 1950s now had children of their own and many dads encouraged their sons to read each new issue of Tiger, so they could have a sneaky peek at what was happening in the Roy story in the 1970s. For that very reason, Roy of the Rovers was very well established in the minds of the media, so I made the momentous decision that in future I wouldn t wait until newspapers just mentioned Roy in a general feature. I would create situations in the Roy story which would bring their own publicity! In future, I wouldn t just wait for anniversaries. In order for my new plan to succeed, I would have to work very closely with the writer of the Roy story. 19

17 Real Roy of the Rovers Stuff! Roy and myself, in the editor s office at King s Reach Tower. 20

18 ROY S UNOFFICIAL TRUE STORY By this time, the author was Tom Tully, a prolific writer who had written many top stories in boys comics. We worked well together and Tom saw what I was after and wrote things into the story which would keep him, and Roy, very busy for years to come. The first event was Roy s wedding! Roy first met Penny when she was secretary to the Melchester manager, Ben Galloway. She had occasionally been featured in the story and I thought it was time Roy proposed, which he did! Shock! Horror! A boys comic hero was about to get married. It was unheard of! Roy and Penny married in 1976 and I sent a press release to the nation s media, with great results. The papers loved the story. Some typical headlines: GET OUT OF THAT! Sunday Times NO MORE ROVING FOR ROVER ROY! The Herald ROY MEETS HIS MATCH! IPC News FOOTBALLING SENSATION OF THE YEAR! London Evening Standard 21

19 CAUGHT ON CAMERA The first issue of Tiger and Roy s first appearance. 177

20 Real Roy of the Rovers Stuff! Cover of a Tiger free gift booklet, from Roy s coaching certificate from the Football Association. 178

21 CAUGHT ON CAMERA Roy and his wife Penny at the birth of their daughter Diana. Rovers celebrating an FA Cup Final win at Wembley. 179

22 Real Roy of the Rovers Stuff! Eric Morecambe is Santa on the front of the 1976 Christmas issue. 180

23 CAUGHT ON CAMERA Ernie Wise on the Christmas cover of Tiger, in