Cricket Witness No 6 - His Captain's Hand on His Shoulder Smote

35 The Template; The Fifth Form At St Dominic’s BOP and a devout Christian worker, pulled no theological punches about the outcome sought: ‘our prayer is that God may abundantly bless the book to the building up of our schools and families of strong Christian characters who in the after days shall do valiant service for Christ and humanity’. The Beano it wasn’t. From the standpoint of this text, it is noteworthy that the educational magazine, Look and Learn , produced between 1962 and 1982 by Fleetway Publications, included a serialised classic such as JD Blackmore’s Lorna Doone or HG Wells’ The First Men on the Moon. In 1979-81 Reed’s novel was numbered amongst the greats, although, in terms of the value of good reading, some of the gilt is scraped from the gingerbread by the knowledge that these tales were presented by way of pictorial comic strips with captions. Reed’s novel was made into a silent film in 1921 but never enjoyed the screen coverage of Tom Brown. There was a 1941 Hollywood version of Tom Brown’s exploits, featuring Sir Cecil Hardwicke as Dr Arnold and a 1951 English equivalent, withRobert Newton in the role of the headmaster. A television part-adaptation in 1981, with Ian Cuthbertson in Arnold’s chair, demonstrates the longevity of interest in the book. These screenings centred on the Flashman/Brown feud, which, in fact, is but a strand of the story, and, whilst Arnold’s authority is emphasised, the religious message, perhaps understandably, is faint. However, a television adaptation of ‘Dominic’s’ in four half-hour episodes was broadcast during February and March 1961. Over the generations Reed’s works were read with delight and recalled with affection. Among hundreds of commendations, there are the words of FJ Harvey Darton, doyen of the scholars of children’s literature during the inter-wars years: ‘very few people have written schoolboy stories for schoolboys anything like so well’, Or Ian Hay, author, playwright and soldier, himself the writer of more adult novels, some of which had a school ingredient, such as Pip; a Romance of Youth (1917). Of Reed’s works he said: ‘in their own particular line they have never been bettered’.