Adventures for Rupert the Bear

5 April 2012

Being the creator of a much-loved fictional character is not always a blessing. The unwanted fame that A. A. Milne heaped on his son resulted in years of estrangement.

Arthur Conan Doyle did his best to kill off Sherlock Holmes, and only grudgingly bowed to public pressure by rescuing him from a watery grave in the Reichenbach Falls.

Alfred Bestall - who wrote and illustrated the Rupert stories in the Daily Express for 30 years - had no such misgivings about 'our little bear', as he endearingly referred to him.

But then, Rupert was not actually his creation. It was Mary Tourtel who, in November 1920, was commissioned by the editor of the Express to tell young readers a daily picture story in verse entitled The Adventures Of The Little Lost Bear.

After 15 years and 105 stories about this 'ingenious, cool, kind, confident but not cocksure, and mischievous' little hero, Mary Tourtel's eyesight began to fail, and, rather than let her readers down, she handed over to Bestall.

At first he had serious doubts about undertaking what he saw as a heavy responsibility. Capturing Rupert's character and appearance was no problem - he was, by then, a prolific contributor to Punch and a variety of what he called 'the big shinies', especially Tatler.

What worried him was when he discovered just how fond the bear's young fans had become of him over the years and what enormous influence he had over millions of lives.

Mary Tourtel's later work had begun to 'follow the brothers Grimm rather than Hans Andersen - having no humour and showing an occasional streak of cruelty in her treatment of Rupert'.

As a devout Christian (his father the Reverend Arthur Bestall was a Methodist missionary in Burma, where Alfred and his sister Mary, known as 'Pop', were brought up), Alfred was concerned to avoid evil characters and to aim at 'livelier action, better continuity, frequent gentle humour... and more chance for Rupert's initiative, while resisting the temptation to make him in any way clever.'

At the same time, Bestall was at pains to stick to Mary Tourtel's one fixed rule - namely that Rupert's adventures must always begin and end in or near his own cottage, thus making his wonderland more real.

One of his own rules was that Rupert was never to be shown in a bathing costume. The little white hands are one thing, but what goes on underneath that red pullover and those yellow check trousers does not bear examination.

Algy Pug, Bill the Badger and Bingo the Brainy Pup are also better left in their bow-ties and Eton collars and jackets. Indeed, the old-fashioned outfits of all concerned have never changed over the years. Nor have they detracted a jot from the characters' lasting popularity.

According to Hilda Coe, who for many years wrote the verses for the Rupert stories, the reason Bestall thought they were so popular was ' because right always wins'. Indeed, his chief difficulty was how to keep Rupert 'doing right without making him a prig'.

But though Bestall's reputation rests entirely on Rupert, fewer than 60 pages out of 330 are devoted to the little bear.

Caroline G. Bott, who is Bestall's goddaughter, is keen to show us that there was a lot more to this modest and self-effacing man than might be realised.

Thus, in addition to many examples of his romantic and dreamy watercolours - including travel posters and magazine and book illustrations (Enid Blyton was a particularly well-pleased author) - there are lengthy extracts from his journals, with sketches, covering visits to Wales in 1912 and 1913 and a sea trip to Egypt and the Middle East with his parents in 1924.

The drawings speak louder than the words, though there are some enjoyable descriptions of places such as Cairo and one or two rather interesting asides during his travels.

Can it really be true, for example, that Lord Kitchener introduced kites (the birds, that is) into Egypt 'for scavenging purposes'?

There are also a couple of chapters on Bestall's early life, including touching letters from France where he served from 1916-18 in the 35th (Bantam) Division - initially formed to accommodate men below the general weight limit required for active service.

Mrs Bott has indeed mostly allowed others to tell the story of this kindly, generous-spirited and very talented artist.

Hers is a real labour of love. The 35-page index lists every single piece of artwork that Bestall ever produced, plus fee - including all the Rupert stories and 40 years' worth of origami figures which were included in many of the Rupert Annuals.