Scorcher
Encyclopedia
Scorcher was the name of a football
-themed British comic magazine
published by IPC
between January 1970 and June 1971. In July 1971, it joined with another football-themed comic, Score, to form Scorcher and SCORE, before finally merging into Tiger
to become TIGER and Scorcher. The word Scorcher started with almost equal prominence to TIGER on the title page, but as usually happens with such mergers the title size was reduced in November 1975, and again in February 1978 before finally being dropped from the title of the comic after the issue dated August 30, 1980. Scorcher featured various well-known comic strips, such as Billy's Boots
, Bobby of the Blues and Lags Eleven, a story about a prison football team. In addition, the Nipper story was absorbed from Score comic and Hot Shot Hamish
made its first appearance in the Scorcher and SCORE period. Some of these stories later found homes in Roy of the Rovers
in addition to Tiger
.
IPC Magazines, the publishers of Scorcher, always referred to it as a "paper" rather than a comic in its editorials, to distinguish it from more child oriented publications such as The Beano
or The Dandy
. In addition to its realistic and comedic football themed stories, it contained factual items about British professional football, and advertisements not only for contemporary toys, games and confectionary, but also others aimed at an older readership, such as for the Charles Atlas
body building method, and recruitment advertisements for the Police
, Royal Air Force
and Royal Navy
.
haircut, sitting at a typewriter (although on one occasion when he was unwell he was depicted lying in bed with his typewriter on his lap), but in later years changed to just a grinning face, with Kevin Keegan
hairstyle and waving a football scarf.
It was revealed over the years that Pete was a West Ham United F.C.
fan who attended their matches home and away, had spent some of his youth living in South Africa, had a sister, and played football regularly as a striker
for his local club, scoring 22 goals in one season, although he had previously played as a goalkeeper
until conceding 6 goals in one match.
Other office characters whose antics featured regularly were Ian the Office Junior, a Portsmouth F.C.
fan who played for the same club as Pete, and the paper's editor (Dave Hunt), a.k.a. the Old Man, a Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
fan who was regularly portrayed as a minor tyrant who became angry if Pete didn't make him 48 cups of tea every day. Various other members of the editorial or art staff were mentioned from time to time.
Each week, Pete answered a handful of readers' questions on any aspect of football, often settling bets or other disputes over matters of football fact, and paid £1 to the reader for each letter featured. Despite all this, he often had to reassure concerned readers that he was a real person and not just an invented cover-all name for whoever's duty it was to answer the letters that week.
After joining with Tiger Pete's function was to select a dozen of the readers' best jokes to feature as cartoons on his page, and no longer answered questions.
14 editions of Scorcher Annual were published from 1971 to 1984, and Scorcher or Scorcher and SCORE Holiday Specials each summer from 1970 until 1978.
This issue contained 32 pages, included a free-gift wallchart which allowed you to plot your favourite team's progress in the League
over the last 20 years, and cost 7d
. All photographs in the first issue were black and white.
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
-themed British comic magazine
Comic magazine
Comic magazine may refer to:*A periodical containing comic strips, in the UK referred to as comic.*In the U.S., more commonly referred to as a comic book.*In Japan comic magazines are called manga.*See also Franco-Belgian comics magazines....
published by IPC
IPC Media
IPC Media , a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc., is a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a large portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year.- Origins :...
between January 1970 and June 1971. In July 1971, it joined with another football-themed comic, Score, to form Scorcher and SCORE, before finally merging into Tiger
Tiger (comic)
Tiger was a British comic magazine published from 1954 to 1985. The comic was launched under the editorship of Derek Birnage on 11 September 1954, under the name Tiger – The Sport and Adventure Picture Story Weekly, and featured predominantly sporting strips...
to become TIGER and Scorcher. The word Scorcher started with almost equal prominence to TIGER on the title page, but as usually happens with such mergers the title size was reduced in November 1975, and again in February 1978 before finally being dropped from the title of the comic after the issue dated August 30, 1980. Scorcher featured various well-known comic strips, such as Billy's Boots
Billy's Boots
Billy's Boots was a popular British comic strip by writer Fred Baker and artist John Gillatt, later continued by Mike Western. There was an earlier, humour series called Billy's Boots, written and drawn by Frank Purcell, which appeared in Tiger between 1961 and 1963, with a similar premise to this...
, Bobby of the Blues and Lags Eleven, a story about a prison football team. In addition, the Nipper story was absorbed from Score comic and Hot Shot Hamish
Hot Shot Hamish and Mighty Mouse
Hot Shot Hamish and Mighty Mouse were two popular British football-themed comic strips, which later merged together, and which appeared in various publications from the 1970s to the 1990s. Both are amongst the best remembered football characters from the "golden age" of British boys' comics. Both...
made its first appearance in the Scorcher and SCORE period. Some of these stories later found homes in Roy of the Rovers
Roy of the Rovers
Roy of the Rovers is a British comic strip about the life and times of a fictional footballer named Roy Race, who played for Melchester Rovers...
in addition to Tiger
Tiger (comic)
Tiger was a British comic magazine published from 1954 to 1985. The comic was launched under the editorship of Derek Birnage on 11 September 1954, under the name Tiger – The Sport and Adventure Picture Story Weekly, and featured predominantly sporting strips...
.
IPC Magazines, the publishers of Scorcher, always referred to it as a "paper" rather than a comic in its editorials, to distinguish it from more child oriented publications such as The Beano
The Beano
The Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...
or The Dandy
The Dandy
The Dandy is a long running children's comic published in the United Kingdom by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. The first issue was printed in 1937 and it is the world's third longest running comic, after Detective Comics and Il Giornalino...
. In addition to its realistic and comedic football themed stories, it contained factual items about British professional football, and advertisements not only for contemporary toys, games and confectionary, but also others aimed at an older readership, such as for the Charles Atlas
Charles Atlas
Charles Atlas, born Angelo Siciliano , was the developer of a bodybuilding method and its associated exercise program that was best known for a landmark advertising campaign featuring Atlas's name and likeness; it has been described as one of the longest-lasting and most memorable ad campaigns of all...
body building method, and recruitment advertisements for the Police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
, Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
and Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
.
Pete
The weekly editorial column was featured on the Goal Post page, subtitled Pete's Page, and under the byline of Pete was usually around 200-300 words in a jokey, friendly style, describing recent amusing or chaotic events in the Scorcher office, or upcoming features in the paper. Pete was depicted in a line drawing in early issues as a male in his 20s with a Bobby MooreBobby Moore
Robert Frederick Chelsea "Bobby" Moore, OBE was an English footballer. He captained West Ham United for more than ten years and was captain of the England team that won the 1966 World Cup...
haircut, sitting at a typewriter (although on one occasion when he was unwell he was depicted lying in bed with his typewriter on his lap), but in later years changed to just a grinning face, with Kevin Keegan
Kevin Keegan
Joseph Kevin Keegan, OBE is a former international footballer and former manager of the England national football team and several English clubs, most notably Newcastle United....
hairstyle and waving a football scarf.
It was revealed over the years that Pete was a West Ham United F.C.
West Ham United F.C.
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...
fan who attended their matches home and away, had spent some of his youth living in South Africa, had a sister, and played football regularly as a striker
Striker
Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...
for his local club, scoring 22 goals in one season, although he had previously played as a goalkeeper
Goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, a goalkeeper is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by intercepting shots at goal...
until conceding 6 goals in one match.
Other office characters whose antics featured regularly were Ian the Office Junior, a Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...
fan who played for the same club as Pete, and the paper's editor (Dave Hunt), a.k.a. the Old Man, a Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....
fan who was regularly portrayed as a minor tyrant who became angry if Pete didn't make him 48 cups of tea every day. Various other members of the editorial or art staff were mentioned from time to time.
Each week, Pete answered a handful of readers' questions on any aspect of football, often settling bets or other disputes over matters of football fact, and paid £1 to the reader for each letter featured. Despite all this, he often had to reassure concerned readers that he was a real person and not just an invented cover-all name for whoever's duty it was to answer the letters that week.
After joining with Tiger Pete's function was to select a dozen of the readers' best jokes to feature as cartoons on his page, and no longer answered questions.
Publication history
In total, 548 weekly comics were published with Scorcher in the title, with the following cover dates (the comic usually appeared for sale one week before its cover date, and capitalisations are as they actually appeared on the title bar of the comics):- 77 issues of Scorcher from January 10, 1970 to June 26, 1971
- 171 issues of Scorcher and SCORE from July 3, 1971 to October 5, 1974
- 300 issues of TIGER and Scorcher from October 12, 1974 to August 30, 1980 (Industrial actionIndustrial actionIndustrial action or job action refers collectively to any measure taken by trade unions or other organised labour meant to reduce productivity in a workplace. Quite often it is used and interpreted as a euphemism for strike, but the scope is much wider...
prevented publication of 3 issues in December 1978 and a further 5 in May and June 1980)
14 editions of Scorcher Annual were published from 1971 to 1984, and Scorcher or Scorcher and SCORE Holiday Specials each summer from 1970 until 1978.
Scorcher #1
Issue No. 1 of Scorcher was dated January 10, 1970 and contained the following features and stories:Picture Strip Stories
- Royal's Rangers: the story of Caxford Rangers and their manager, Ben Royal.
- Sub.: a comedy story about a perpetual reserve and his efforts to get a game.
- Kangaroo Kid: Redstone Rovers' coach breaks down in the Australian OutbackOutbackThe Outback is the vast, remote, arid area of Australia, term colloquially can refer to any lands outside the main urban areas. The term "the outback" is generally used to refer to locations that are comparatively more remote than those areas named "the bush".-Overview:The outback is home to a...
after a summer tour, and they discover a boy with amazing football abilities living wild. - Bobby of the Blues: Bobby Booth plays for Everpool City, nicknamed "The Blues" because of their colours.
- Billy's BootsBilly's BootsBilly's Boots was a popular British comic strip by writer Fred Baker and artist John Gillatt, later continued by Mike Western. There was an earlier, humour series called Billy's Boots, written and drawn by Frank Purcell, which appeared in Tiger between 1961 and 1963, with a similar premise to this...
: long-running story about a boy who finds a pair of antique football boots in his gran's attic which seem to make him able to play better. Although one or two of the other picture stories had some single colour in the drawings, this was the only multi-colour story, and had an excellent drawing of an old fashioned pair of football boots in the title banner. - Paxton's Powerhouse: Vince Paxton, the ruthless soccer dictator who vowed to build a team of world-beaters, using scientific methods.
- Byrd of Paradise Hill: Richard Byrd prefers to take up a teaching post at Paradise Hill Secondary Modern School, rather than the offer of a trial for Hampton Orient reserves.
- Lags Eleven: (Humorous) Willie Smith, known to his friends as "Brilliant Genius", was the greatest super-crook in Britain, having been the master-mind behind numerous bank-raids, jewel-robberies and wage-snatches. Unfortunately for him he'd been caught and was doing a ten-year stretch in Bankhurst Prison, where he decides to start a football team as part of a master plan to escape during the first away match.
Prose Story
- The Goal Thief: 16 year-old Kenny Banks is taken on as an apprentice by 2nd division Tandridge Town. Then his father breaks into the ground to steal the trophies...
Football Features
- How I Began: each week the story of how a different top star got started in the game. This week: Jack CharltonJack CharltonJohn "Jack" Charlton, OBE, DL is a former footballer and manager who played for Leeds United in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and was part of the England team who won the 1966 World Cup...
. - Roll of Honour: a team picture of the CelticCeltic F.C.Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
team which won the European CupEuropean Champion Clubs' CupThe European Champion Clubs' Cup, also known as Coupe des Clubs Champions Européens, or simply the European Cup, is a trophy awarded annually by UEFA to the football club that wins the UEFA Champions League...
in 1967. - Floodlight On: photographs and mini-biography of a different star each week. This week: Dave Mackay of Derby CountyDerby County F.C.Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...
. - Big Match Preview: illustrated preview of a big match for the following week-end. This week: SouthamptonSouthampton F.C.Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...
versus EvertonEverton F.C.Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
. - Football Club Badges: "Start your collection today". Colour illustrations of club badges. This week: NorwichNorwich City F.C.Norwich City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. As of the 2011–12 season, Norwich City are again playing in the Premier League after a six-year absence, having finished as runner up in the Championship in 2010–11 and winning automatic promotion.The...
; TorquayTorquay United F.C.Torquay United Football Club, nicknamed the Gulls, are an English association football club based in the tourist resort town of Torquay, Devon. They played in the Conference National in 2008–09, but were promoted to Football League Two after a 2–0 win over Cambridge United on 17 May 2009 at Wembley...
; ArbroathArbroath F.C.Arbroath F.C. are a Scottish football club currently playing in the Scottish Second Division. They were founded in 1878 and currently play their home matches at Gayfield, Arbroath, Angus. They play in maroon strips, and are nicknamed "The Red Lichties" due to the red light that used to guide...
; LiverpoolLiverpool F.C.Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
; Oldham; RangersRangers F.C.Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
; HeartsHeart of Midlothian F.C.Heart of Midlothian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Gorgie, in the west of Edinburgh. They currently play in the Scottish Premier League and are one of the two principal clubs in the city, the other being Hibernian...
; West HamWest Ham United F.C.West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...
.
Other Features
- Scorcher Team of the Week: a different schoolboy team featured each week has their team photograph published and wins a Scorcher football.
- Goal Post: Pete, "the office junior", answers readers' letters, and each one published wins £1 for the sender.
- Know-All: Know-All, "Soccer's Mister Big-Head", makes 10 statements about football and the reader has to spot where he goes wrong.
- Challenge Your Chum to quiz football: a quiz for readers to move a ball up and down the printed pitch into the goal by answering football questions.
This issue contained 32 pages, included a free-gift wallchart which allowed you to plot your favourite team's progress in the League
The Football League
The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...
over the last 20 years, and cost 7d
£sd
£sd was the popular name for the pre-decimal currencies used in the Kingdom of England, later the United Kingdom, and ultimately in much of the British Empire...
. All photographs in the first issue were black and white.