How I met Alf
I'm
not sure of the exact year when I first met Alf. The first comic I read
as a kid was TV Comic (anyone remember Beetle Bailey?) Then, when every
self-respecting cool kid was into Thunderbirds, I swapped to TV21. When
Captain Scarlet took over as the lead story, I changed allegiance
again. I think it must have been my older brother (by six years) who
was actually a Hotspur reader, who helped me switch, probably in 1967
(I would have been eight, he was fourteen). I never stopped taking the
Victor after that (well, until I went away to college).
One of the most enduring and pleasurable memories of childhood is that
absolute sense of freedom felt when just being able to RUN!
Impersonating Alf Tupper gave an imaginary twist to what is one of
life's greatest pleasures. I regret not being able to do it any longer
(only middle age and flat feet I hasten to add), but that eight year
old would run all the way into to town (downhill mostly) to the
newsagent to collect my copy!
Alf Tupper was undoubtedly my favourite (though Braddock and Doyle were
pretty good too). What was his appeal to the young reader? He loved
chips. He was a winner. And even at such a tender age, I sensed that he
was an outsider (though presumably because I had no real understanding
of the notion of inside/outside). He was special because he was an
Ordinary Joe who could do remarkable things, despite the most
tremendous odds - spikes that would spike him, having to give his
opponents a 100 yard start only because he was too late to be there at
the gun, toffs in blazers - and his vocabulary belonged to another
world. I still get strange looks now if I go "Coo!" And who was
"(Bloomin') Ada" ? (which my younger brother, the Willoughby and Farmer
to my Tupper, would pronounce as 'adder').
Whilst I can't say that he inspired me to take up athletics, his feats
were as much a part of my childhood as Vision On, Thunderbirds, Belle
and Sebastian and Captain Zeppos, Twizzle and The Singing Ringing Tree.
My wife says I lived in a black and white world (she was born in Hong
Kong where they must have had colour!) and the Tough of the Track was
an integral part.
Sandy Cameron
UK
