My Little Gnudren,

There is a very important centenary anniversary about to break upon us. In anticipation, Old Gnu has recently canonized Arthur Bestall [1892-1986]. He has not asked the permission of Pope Francis, Archbishop Justin, nor Karekin II Catholicos of All Armenians [and Gnus], but I am sure they will forgive him.

Arthur Bestall was a Methodist and a very kind Christian man. Perhaps that was his downfall from achieving canonisation.

Mr. Bestall was a member of Surbiton Hill Methodist Church for 60 years. He sang in the choir for 44 years, was the Sunday School pianist, chapel steward, pew rent collector, secretary of the tennis club and a church trustee from 1928-67, and performed many other minor duties within the church.

Information about him about him can be found in this excellent biography by his god-daughter:

He wrote and illustrated many Rupert Bear Annuals, 38 in their entirety, and 270 stories with illustrations that were published day by day in the Daily Express from 1935 to 1965. Thereafter he continued illustrating the stories and the annuals while others wrote the stories, and provided illustrations until he was in his early 90s.

Rupert stories are not in the class of great literature, neither do their rhyming couplets rival the Sonnets of Mr. Shakespeare or even the poetry of Mr. Wordsworth.

But what the Rupert Stories do convey in great quantities are magical imagination, a love of nature and an inclusiveness that is transcendental. A world in which animals and humans communicate on a par to work together for the common good. These stories are imbued with implicit environmentalism. And they achieve this magical quality without any of the gimmicks of the modern technology. In Rupert we have a character who returns good for evil – read, for example, Rupert & The Snuff Box [p.103ff 1952 Annual]. In this and many other respects Rupert is very much like Jesus. Old Gnu is minded to write a tome on The Spirituality of Rupert one day.  

Rupert, by sheer enchantment and supra-natural forces is able to access the Kingdom of the Birds which is definitely in the Sky:

Furthermore there is a shunning of greed and personal material gain. Rupert’s life style is a good model for creating a new order for the World Economy. Old Gnu must write to Mr. Rushi Sunak.

Because of the work and imagination of Mr. Bestall, Rupert’s influence has become worldwide and touched millions of people. But until 1970 he was relatively unknown. That year Rupert Bear became 50 years old, and Alfred Bestall now 78 began to worry. Anna Coote wrote in the Observer: “….last year [1969] …[the Rupert Bear Annual] sold 450,000 copies [by 2006 the Annual was selling 1.7 million worldwide and was one of the top 3 selling annuals in the world].   Yet Rupert hasn’t made Mr. Bestall rich. He lives in a tiny cluttered room [in Surbiton], stuffed full of papers, photos, momentos in cardboard cases, with a larder and bed bind a green brocade curtain.” No doubt the Daily Express was putting any spare cash it had into scientific research for its unparalleled front page weather forecasting.

But Mr. Bestall was not in the least worried about money.  His cause for considerable anxiety was a proposed Rupert TV series for the American market, merchandising, licensing of toys, jigsaws, pjamas, Rupert on cereal packets  and Rupert becoming some sort of cult figure. Over these things he had very little control and he became a worried man. He detested all this, but was resigned to the fact that he was fighting a losing battle.

Mr. Bestall’s real concern and anxiety is recorded by his god-daughter: “He was always conscious of what he calls his appalling responsibility. He told me: ‘The thought of Rupert being in people’s homes and in so many children’s heads was a perpetual anxiety to me’. ”

For 35 years he was happy with anonymity and getting on with the job.

Indeed Rupert was not his creation. It was the creation on Mary Tourtel, wife of the sub-editor of The Daily Express, in 1920. Rupert’s initial purpose was to win sales from the rival Daily Mail and Daily Mirror. [This is very akin to the bringing about of The Reformation in England in the Church of England. It was kick start by the greed and tyrannical monarch and his desire to have a son accede him. This violent thug of a man also unwittingly helped bring about the eventual translation of the Bible into English.]

Mrs. Tourtel didn’t like Rupert much but got on with the job, her husband providing the captions for the stories. Mr. Bestall took over in 1935, providing the stories, captions and the pictures. He enlarged and enriched the plots of the stories and proposed the publication of the first Rupert Bear Annual which appeared in 1936 which has become a worldwide success, being translated into several languages and selling 50 million to date.

 With the arrival of Mr. Bestall the future of Rupert was assured.

And if ever there was a man who by his life spurned the cult of personality, stardom and celebrity, it was Mr. Bestall. His name never appeared under story titles or anywhere save on the artwork of the front cover and end papers of his Rupert Bear Annuals. See if you can spot it:

Yes alas, Rupert was put into film, and he even had an appalling warship song written about him:

Here are some of the words:

Rupert, Rupert the Bear, everyone sing his name.
Rupert, Rupert the Bear, everyone come and join in all of his games.

Old Gnu suggests that it is best to insert Jesus in place of Rupert and change a few words and you have a song you can sing in Church:

Jesus, Jesus is Lord, everyone sing his name.
Jesus, Jesus is Lord, everyone come and join to sing out his praise.

Sing it to the tune and you will see what Old Gnu means. Fits a treat! And I’m sure Mr. Bestall and Rupert would far rather you sang that rather than the original song; because both were committed to the business of living life fully and not promoting themselves.

Mr. Bestall lived to the age of 93. He spent his last 30 years, 1956-1986,  living and working at a cottage in Beddgelert which he purchased with his enormous wealth that he earned from Rupert. Not surprisingly it’s positively  palatial:

It’s now rented out as a holiday let; prices start from £238 per week, and the owners say dogs are welcome. Presumably bears are welcome too.

He called the cottage Penlan. This welsh place name was given to a hymn tune written by David Jenkins in 1898. This tune was used to words by Anne Letitia Waring written in 1850. Since 1898 this hymn has been sung in Methodist Churches and churches of different denominations throughout the land. The first lines of the hymn are:

In heavenly love abiding, no change my heart shall fear;
and safe in such confiding for nothing changes here…

It may be this thought, plus other experiences linked with the name Penlan which induced Mr. Bestall to thus name his cottage. He certainly would have been aware of this hymn, and most probably sung it and played it many times. Old Gnu went on a pilgrimage to Penlan Cottage in Beddgelert a couple of years ago and subsequently composed the Penlan Waltz [you can find this here under orchestral works] in memory and honour of the wonderful Mr. Bestall [and Rupert Bear].

Vetus Pater Gnu
Bronyllys, Dylife
Cymru
XXIV Mense Augusta MMXX