"I say, Chummers!"

"I say, Chummers!"

I've always enjoyed a bit of Basil Brush, of course, though his constant interruptions to the story at the end always used to make me fret that he'd delay the start of 'Doctor Who'.

A quick search of BBC Genome soon unearths some oddities such as 'Basil Brush's Christmas In Norway' from Saturday 20th December 1975, which features none other than Olaf Pooley, hopefully not in charge of a dangerous drilling project this time. Although the idea of an Evil Universe Basil with an eyepatch does appeal.

But the 'TV Comic' strips are a whole different world of weird when it comes to the Brushiverse and I was reminded of this when we added a couple of 'TV Comic' annuals to our collection a while ago.
In these, Basil is not confined to a desk with a helper in the vein of Mister Derek or Mister Roy (you can tell my era for watching the show!), but instead lives in a stately home with a Cockney butler going by the name of Chummers, who refers to his employer as 'guv'.

There's one story where a rent collector turns up, which surprised me as I'd always assumed Basil was a fox of property, but his financial state of affairs does seem to vary wildly.

Sometimes he complains about the number of bills he has to pay and the roof is in dire need of repairs. But he's still got enough spare cash to go skiing and take a trip to Spain.

We hear of his relatives from time to time, as his red hankie (used in the bullfighting sequence) was a present from Aunt Rachel. At the ski resort, Basil relates a possibly tall tale about his ancestor Titus Brush who reached the pole centuries before Scott. Allegedly, he did the journey whilst wearing a suit of armour, which was attracted by the magnetic pole, though Chummers doesn't believe a word of it.

Basil's wardrobe is definitely more varied than on the telly and we see him dressed for playing golf and cricket. Although still not exactly the talles of chaps, Basil in the comic strips is larger than his TV incarnation, being able to hold a full-sixe cricket bat quite happily.

He also owns a (not very) sprightly red roadster, going by the name of Bessie, which may or not explain why Jon Pertwee's own car was renamed Betsy in 'TV Comic' to avoid confusion.

I've got a rather battered Corgi version of what I presume is meant to be it (simply named 'Basil Brush's Car') but sadly there is no sign of Chummers on board. Not even in the boot. Although, having now checked, the boot is actually sealed shut which does seem slightly suspicious, now I come to think of it...

Maybe Basil just got fed up with being called 'guv' every hour of the waking day...

(Written by Andrew Trowbridge)