'GREYFRIARS'

"I have indeed a great affinity with those friends of St. Jim's and Greyfriars who meant and did so much for me during my schooldays, and the older I get the more my affection and nostalgia grows for those happy days of yesteryear, and the very real companionship afforded me through the works of Charles Hamilton (otherwise Frank Richards/Martin Clifford).

"I do hope it won't sound insufferably smug, but I can honestly say that The Gem did keep me on 'the straight and narrow' when I was at school.

"My hero was Tom Merry, and I tried to mould my way of life according to his tenets.

"Today's youth cannot miss something they have never known, but I fear that there are no current fictional characters whose impact and influence will last with such abiding affection into their 'sore and yellow' as this splendid man's creations have in mine!"

                                                                                                                - PETER CUSHING