Claud Eustace Teal

Claud Eustace Teal
character
Ivor Dean as Teal.
First appearance	Daredevil (1929)
Created by	Leslie Charteris
Portrayed by	Ivor Dean Campbell Singer Gordon McLeod Charles Victor David Ryall Alun Armstrong
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Chief inspector Scotland Yard
Nationality	British

Claud Eustace Teal is a fictional character who made many appearances in a series of novels, novellas and short stories by Leslie Charteris featuring The Saint, starting in 1929. A common spelling variation of his first name in reference works and websites is Claude, however in his works Charteris uses the spelling without the 'e'.

Teal was a London-based police detective for Scotland Yard, with which he initially held the rank of Inspector. He first appeared not in a Saint story, but in a 1929 novel entitled Daredevil as a friend of that book's hero, "Storm" Arden. When Charteris decided to launch an ongoing series of stories featuring his Robin Hood-inspired anti-hero, Simon Templar (a.k.a. The Saint) in late 1929, he imported the character of Teal though it's not known if Daredevil plays any role in the actual continuity of the Saint series. (The first Saint story, 1928's Meet - The Tiger!, predated Daredevil and featured a character named Detective Carn, who was a template for the later Teal).

Teal first appeared opposite Simon Templar in several novella-length stories that appeared in the UK magazine Thriller in the spring and summer of 1929; several were published in 1930 as the collection Enter the Saint (which is where most readers were first exposed to Teal), though the earliest stories in the series would not be published in book form until they were rewritten and included in a later collection, Featuring the Saint.

At some point, Teal received a promotion to Chief Inspector and he is identified with this rank for the first time in the short story collection The Brighter Buccaneer.

Teal is described as a heavy set, blue-eyed, perpetually weary policeman who, instead of smoking (a common behaviour during the era), chews gum incessantly. Little if any family life is indicated for the character. According to Daredevil, however, he had married at the age of 22. It isn't known whether Teal chews gum in an attempt to quit smoking; the Wrigley's Spearmint brand is frequently mentioned by name (and even illustrated on the cover of some editions of Saint books that involve Teal).