Sexton Blake
| Sexton Blake | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| First appearance | The Missing Millionaire |
| Created by | Harry Blyth (as Hal Meredeth) |
| Portrayed by |
Langhorn Burton George Curzon David Farrar Geoffrey Toone William Franklyn Laurence Payne Jeremy Clyde Simon Jones |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Detective |
| Nationality | British |
Sexton Blake is a fictional character, a detective who has been featured in many British comic strips, novels and dramatic productions since 1893. Sexton Blake adventures were featured in a wide variety of British and international publications (in many languages) from 1893 to 1978, comprising more than 4,000 stories by some 200 different authors. Blake was also the hero of numerous silent and sound movies, radio serials, and a 1960s ITV television series.
The first Sexton Blake story was "The Missing Millionaire". Written by Harry Blyth (using the pseudonym Hal Meredeth), it was published in the story paper The Halfpenny Marvel number 6, on 20 December 1893. He featured thereafter also in a few more stories by Meredeth.
His adventures were published subsequently in a variety of publications, primarily the magazine Union Jack, published first during April 1894. Blake featured in Issue 2 of Union Jack (with the title Sexton Blake, Detective) and beginning 1904 the character was featured regularly until Union Jack became Detective Weekly during 1933. Blake continued as the main feature until Detective Weekly ended during 1940.
Blake also featured in a number of serials in the magazine The Boys' Friend beginning 1905 and in the magazine Penny Pictorial from 1907 to 1913 (when that magazine ended). The Boys' Friend introduced the first truly lengthy stories (of as many as 60,000 words), allowing for greater plot and character development.
During 1907, a story entitled "Sexton Blake's Honour" dealt with Blake's pursuit of a criminal who turned out to be his brother, Henry Blake. Another bad brother, Nigel, was revealed during 1933 in the first issue of Detective Weekly, in a story titled "Sexton Blake's Secret".
With the popularity of school stories during this era, Blake's assistant Tinker had his schooldays chronicled in issues 229 and 232. Perhaps most famously, Blake featured in his own long-running magazine, The Sexton Blake Library, from 1915 to 1968 which was published in five "series". Publication was constant at 2–4 issues per month until the end of series 4 during 1964. Series 5, starting 1965, was a sporadic series of paperbacks.
The first issue of The Sexton Blake Library was published on 20 September 1915, entitled "The Yellow Tiger" and written by G.H. Teed. This issue introduced villains Wu Ling and Baron de Beauremon in an eleven chapter story, costing 3d (1.25p). The story is 107 pages; a second story, "The Great Cup-Tie!" (not featuring Blake) completes the remainder of the issue's 120 pages. The second issue, "Ill Gotten Gains (The Secret of Salcoth Island)", had Blake fight Count Carlac and Professor Kew. Issue three was entitled "The Shadow of his Crime" and issue four "The Rajah's Revenge". The last edition, "Down Among The Ad Men" written by W.A Ballinger (Wilfred McNeilly), was published during October 1968. Some additional Sexton Blake books were published during 1968 and 1969 that were not labelled explicitly as part of the Sexton Blake Library.
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Wikipedia