Rubovia Comic Strips & Annuals
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The
PIPPIN in Playland comic carried Rubovia stories for several
years, starting about the same time as the 1976 stop-motion
“Rubovia” television series. Rubovia stories also featured prominently in the
PIPPIN annuals of the time, with colourful illustrations of
Rubovian scenes and situations. All were illustrated by Neville
Main. Fortunately the characters in PIPPIN more resembled the
more life-like marionette puppets in the earlier “Rubovian Legends”
television series, rather than the simpler ping-pong ball (Trumpton-style) puppets of
the later stop-motion series. Nevertheless, for those who were
brought up on the “Rubovian Legends” marionette television
series, perhaps the most conspicuous difference in the comic-book
version of Rubovia concerns MacGregor, who was pictured as a Red Indian, rather than a turban-wearing
Indian from India. This mirrored the change made for the stop-motion
series, which, according to Gordon Murray, was an attempt by the BBC
to be a little more politically
correct in light of the increasing ethnic diversity of the 1976 UK
television audience.
The PIPPIN in Playland comic strips were scripted by one of PIPPIN’s own writers, rather than Gordon Murray. Although it is possible that some of the tales may be based on Gordon Murray’s scripts or story ideas, nowhere in the PIPPIN comics is any credit is given to Gordon. Therefore these were very likely produced by private arrangement between Polystyle Publications and the BBC. Gordon Murray says that as far as he remembers he was not consulted, despite the fact that he retained the rights to the Rubovia characters and scripts. This is in contrast to the PIPPIN in Playland comic versions of Camberwick Green, Chigley and Trumpton, which were all credited to Gordon. Which is not totally surprising since unlike Rubovia, for which he held some of the rights, Gordon Murray held sole rights to the Trumptonshire trilogy. Although the PIPPIN in Playland comics (like the stop-motion “Rubovia” series) were definitely aimed at a younger age group than the original “Rubovian Legends” television series, they do give us further opportunities to appreciate how the Rubovia characters might have behaved in various situations outside of Gordon Murray’s own television scripts. It’s as if Gordon, having breathed life into his characters, could not prevent them from developing an independent life of their own. (This remind me of the young preschool daughter of friends of ours, who when asked who she belonged to, replied with haughty indignation, "I belong to me. I am mine!" -ajr) As indicated by the five years of PIPPIN annuals shown below, Rubovia had a long run in PIPPIN in Playland comics, especially for a television programme that only ran for six episodes in its 1976 stop-motion remake. Part of the explanation for this must lie in the enduring popularity of the original black-and-white 1950s/1960s marionette series, which was repeated frequently on British television until the advent of “Camberwick Green” in 1966. Therefore, since there are a very large number of PIPPIN in Playland comics containing Rubovia stories, we haven’t attempted to describe more than a handful below. Hopefully they are fairly representative. Note for non-UK readers: Like many other UK children’s comics, PIPPIN in Playland was published weekly, while the PIPPIN Holiday Special was published just before the summer holidays, and PIPPIN Annual was published in time for Christmas. UK children’s annuals are dated for the year after publication, probably because the majority of annuals were given as Christmas gifts just a few days before the cover date, which would have given them a more lasting value during the following year. |
| PIPPIN
in Playland comic / PIPPIN Holiday Special Copyright 1980, Polystyle Publications Ltd. |
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| # |
Date |
Story Synopsis |
| -- | Holiday Special 1976
|
At least one Rubovia story. |
| 523 | Week ending 25th September, 1976 | All efforts to improve the Queen’s awful singing fail to produce results, but Mr. Weatherspoon’s idea of playing a gramophone, while the Queen pretends to sing, is not what she wanted to hear. |
| 1 | ||
| 525 | Week ending 9th October, 1976 | King Rufus takes advantage of Albert Weatherspoon’s wish to be King of Rubovia. Weatherspoon soon discovers the affairs of state are no picnic, but picnicking is exactly what the King has in mind. |
| 21 | ||
| 547 | Week Ending 12th March, 1977 | Pongo flies off from the Queen. Mr. Weatherspoon thinks he has found him…but it is MacGregor. |
| 548 | Week Ending 19th March, 1977 | The King gets cross when Mr. Weatherspoon beats him at chess and so holds an archery contest so he can win something. King Boris of Borsovia wins and King Rufus is furious. |
| 549 | Week Ending 26th March, 1977 | The Queen gets bored after supper every day when King Rufus falls asleep. She dances with the King, gets tired, and falls asleep herself. |
| 550 | Week Ending 2nd April, 1977 | The King can’t sleep and so tries to count sheep. This doesn’t help so he demands to have real sheep. All night is spent trying to get the sheep out of his bedroom. |
| 551 | Week Ending 9th April, 1977 | The King tries, and fails, to learn a musical instrument. |
| 552 | Week Ending 16th April, 1977 | The King uses Mr. Weatherspoon’s wand to make an Easter Egg bigger, but it becomes huge and fills up the courtyard. |
| -- | Holiday Special 1977
|
Rubovia characters appear on the
front cover and in a two-page Rubovia story.
Front cover: A full-colour illustration by Fred Robinson showing many of the Pippin comic characters including King Rufus, Queen Caroline, and Albert Weatherspoon of Rubovia. Page 20: A two-page Rubovia story, told in captioned pictures (six black-and-white illustrations by N. Main).
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| 20 | ||
| 573 | Week Ending 10th September, 1977 | King Boris of Borsovia's idle boast about the speed of his new carriage makes King Rufus turn to Albert Weatherspoon for some magical help in the transportation department, the result of which is completely lost on all concerned! |
| 574 | Week Ending 17th September, 1977 | The need for more taxes to pay for the repair of Rubovian roads has King Rufus doing a dare-devil tight-rope stunt in front of a cheering crowd! |
| 575 | Week Ending 24th September, 1977 | King Rufus turns to Albert Weatherspoon for help when Queen Caroline's elegant pair of brand-new high-heeled shoes make it appear that he has shrunk. |
| 576 | Week Ending 1st October, 1977 | A walking and camping trip over the mountains to Borsovia is cut short due to King Rufus' desire to bring along too much kit, all of which Albert Weatherspoon has to carry. |
| 577 | Week Ending 8th October, 1977 | Unusually strong wind gusts in Rubovia are traced to court magician, Mr. Albert Weatherspoon, who was trying out a new spell, oblivious to the chaos he was creating around him. |
| 578 | Week Ending 15th October, 1977 | King Rufus tries to avoid his responsibilities by hiding in his old tree hut in the castle grounds wilderness, where he used to play as a young prince. |
| 579 | Week Ending 22nd October, 1977 | Mr. Weatherspoon conjures up a balloon in which he and king Rufus take a ride. Gentle breezes blow them to Borsovia, in time for lunch with King Boris. |
| 580 | Week Ending 29th October, 1977 | After burning the carpet with his fiery breath, Pongo flies off. and Mr. Weatherspoon learns that if you want to catch a baby dragon with a butterfly net, it should be fire proof! |
| 581 | Week Ending 5th November, 1977 | King Rufus follows Albert Weatherspoon's advice to get more exercise, and ends up so exhausted he has to take a hot bath and sleep it off. |
| 19 | ||
| 600 | Week Ending 18th March, 1978 | Queen Caroline asks Albert Weatherspoon to make her a new spring hat. "Something unusual and amusing," she said. However, when King Rufus sees the hat he bursts out laughing, which is not quite the reaction she had expected! |
| 601 | Week Ending 25th March, 1978 | The King's new springtime hobby is bird watching, but with Albert Weatherspoon's "help", things get off to a scary start, at least as far as the birds are concerned! |
| 602 | Week Ending 1st April, 1978 |
Pongo's efforts at scorching the palace calendar leads to an unnecessarily strong dose of Mr. Weatherspoon's magic, and a most unsuitable Easter present for Queen Caroline. |
| 603 | Week Ending 8th April, 1978 |
Farmer Bottle delivers an invitation from MacGregor to Albert Weatherspoon, inviting him to spend the weekend in MacGregor's spare wigwam. The ground is hard and he doesn't sleep a wink. Back home again, the Queen says he looks tired and sends him straight to bed. |
| 604 | Week Ending 15th April, 1978 |
King Boris' fear that there are spies about upsets plans for holding a Borsovia/Rubovia spring Summit Conference in Rubovia Castle. MacGregor's suggestion that Summit Conferences should be held on a summit does not work out either, as halfway in the climb up to the conference tent, King Rufus announces that he can't stand heights. |
| 605 | Week Ending 22nd April, 1978 | A royal argument over where Albert Weatherspoon's pot plant should go leads to an arrow being shot into the air, magic plant food, and a call for MacGregor to bring his tomahawk! |
| 606 | Week Ending 28th April, 1978 |
Warm spring weather leads King Rufus to consult MacGregor on how to live a simple life outdoors. |
| 607 | Week Ending 5th May, 1978 |
Rubina, Mr. Weatherspoon's cat goes missing one night, only to be found next morning at McGregor's camp, where she has spent the night eagerly awaiting a tasty breakfast of grilled kippers! |
| 608 | Week Ending 12h May, 1978 |
The peace and quiet of a seaside holiday at the Rubovian royals' Summer Palace is soon shattered by on escaped bull belonging to Farmer Bottle. |
| 609 | Week Ending 19th May, 1978 |
A story about magic vegetable food and how it was used with great success to grow a giant marrow, and how MacGregor stole the marrow to make himself a canoe. |
| 610 | Week Ending 26th May, 1978 |
To mark the annual Sports Day, King Boris challenges King Rufus to a fight in old-fashioned armour with maces. However, after being injured by MacGregor during practice, King Rufus assigns MacGregor to fight King Boris in his stead. |
| 611 | Week Ending 2nd June, 1978 |
The Royal weight is up, and Albert Weatherspoon is commanded to help King Rufus get more exercise to help reduce it. Fencing is tried and rejected due to a small scratch on a finger. Boxing is tried next, but when Queen Caroline points out that it is treason to strike the King, that doesn't work either. That leaves him with the Queen's suggestion of losing weight by eating less. |
| 4 | ||
| 616 | Week Ending 7th July, 1978 |
While Queen Caroline is away visiting her sister, King Rufus becomes bored, to the point of not wanting to see King Boris of Borsovia showing off his new horse. Mr. Weatherspoon devises a solution to the problem, but it doesn't work as planned. |
| 617 | Week Ending 14th July, 1978 |
Desiring to walk on the palace ceiling like a fly, King Rufus engages the Magician services of Mr. Weatherspoon. The King achieves his objective, but as the magic wears off, Mr. Weatherspoon and Lord Chamberlain arrive with mattresses to break his fall. |
| 618 | Week Ending 21st July, 1978 |
King Rufus' plans to join King Boris of Borsovia on a week-long walking holiday get no further than a trial walk around the castle grounds, due to very sore feet caused by his ill-fitting brand-new walking boots. |
| 27 | ||
| 646 | Week Ending 2nd February, 1979 | When Queen Caroline resigns from the one domestic job she enjoys, Mr. Weatherspoon is appointed Royal Cook. He accidentally chooses a cooking recipe from a magic spells book, with unfortunate results. |
| 647 | Week Ending 9th February, 1979 | Mr. Weatherspoon asks King Rufus to teach him a few simple conjuring tricks. This leads to the puzzlement of Farmer Bottle, and the amazement of the Queen.
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| 10 | ||
| 658 | Week Ending 27th April, 1979 | King Rufus thinks he has discovered a new star in the night sky, only to find that it is a flying saucer traveling to Earth, intent on taking a closer look at Rubovia Castle. |
| 3 | ||
| 662 | Week Ending 25th May, 1979 | King Rufus’s idea for a new way to take swimming lessons soon sends him to the bottom of the lake, and in need of rescue by the Lord Chamberlain. |
| 3 | ||
| 666 | Week Ending 22nd June, 1979 | A holiday at the seaside in Borsovia leads to sailboat trouble for King Rufus and King Boris, and a double royal rescue by Mr. Weatherspoon.
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| 667 | Week Ending 29th June, 1979 | During a bathing mishap at the Borsovian seaside, Mr. Weatherspoon does his best to swim to the Queen’s aid, but ends up being rescued by her instead. |
| -- | Holiday Special 1979
|
Rubovia characters appear on the
front cover, on the contents page (not shown), in a colouring picture, and
in two
one-page stories.
1st Story: King Rufus decides that the only way to win the Great International Vegetable Marrow Contest is to employ some of Mr. Weatherspoon’s magic. Unfortunately the magic works too well, and the marrow is too big to move. 2nd Story: During a visit to the kingdom of Borsovia, King Rufus is somewhat overshadowed by King Boris’s self-proclaimed list of physical accomplishments. Wondering what can he do that Boris can’t do better, he asks Weatherspoon who teaches him how to pull white rabbits from a hat. Rufus demonstrates this to Boris, but can’t stop the rabbits coming.
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| -- | Holiday Special 1980
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Mr. Albert Weatherspoon appears on the
front cover. He appears together with other Rubovia characters in two
one-page stories.
1st Story: When King Rufus doesn't return from an after-supper evening stroll by ten o'clock, Queen Caroline sounds the alarm, and sends for Albert Weatherspoon. Weatherspoon engages the assistance of Lord Chamberlain, and hearing a strange noise from the other side of the garden wall, they none too figuratively flush out the King, who is fast asleep on a bench outside the wall. The strange noise had been his snoring! 2nd Story: Farmer Bottle's newly purchased fine, fat, spotted pig unexpectedly takes Albert Weatherspoon and King Rufus on a wild ride on its back. The King enjoys the ride so much, he has Lord Chamberlain stamp the pig with the royal seal. This makes Farmer Bottle very proud of his pig! |
| PIPPIN
Annuals Copyright 1980, Polystyle Publications Ltd. |
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Year |
Cover |
Publication details & story synopsis |
| 1977 |
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Page 52: A two-page story, told in captioned pictures (eight full-colour illustrations by Neville Main). Mr. Weatherspoon buys a tractor from MacGregor (the Red Indian with a Chinese accent) to clear snow from the palace’s royal pathway. The problem is that the tractor belongs to Farmer Bottle, and MacGregor had no right to sell it!
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| 1978 |
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Page 18: A
two-page illustrated text story (seven 2-colour illustrations by Neville Main).
Page 54: A two-page story, told in captioned pictures (six full-colour illustrations by Neville Main). Faced with the prospect of sweeping up autumn leaves in the palace gardens, Mr. Weatherspoon uses a magic sweeping spell which works well until the brooms try to sweep Queen Caroline away along with the dead leaves!
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| 1979 |
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Page 32: A two-page story, told in captioned pictures (eight 2-colour illustrations by Neville Main). A disagreement between Queen Caroline and Farmer Bottle over the colour of egg yolks results in too many omelets and the king losing his temper.
Page 54: A two-page, mainly text story (six full-colour illustrations by Neville Main). A gift from King Boris of Borsovia results in a dunk in the lake for Albert Weatherspoon, as well as a new title to add to his name.
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| 1980 |
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Page 29: An illustrated text story (three 2-colour illustrations by Neville Main). King Rufus is bored and then paints a portrait of Queen Caroline, which she smashes over his head
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| 1981 |
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Page 25: A one-page story, told in captioned pictures (eight 2-colour illustrations by N. Main). Albert Weatherspoon decides to use Farmer Bottle’s pigs to eat up the leaves and weeds in the palace gardens, but the cakes on the Queen’s tea table look much more inviting. The Queen faints at the sight of her uninvited table guests and needs to be revived with smelling salts.
Page 37: A one-page story, told in captioned pictures (seven 2-colour illustrations by N. Main). King Rufus slips into the garden for a quiet read only to find that his book has burst into flames, set on fire by Pongo’s fiery breath.
Page 45: A one-page story, told in captioned pictures (seven 2-colour illustrations by N. Main). King Rufus organizes a tournament, and gets ready to participate, but cancels it after tripping over the Queen’s pet dragon, Pongo.
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| 1982 |
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Page 19: A one-page story, told in captioned pictures
(six 2-colour illustrations by N. Main). Queen Caroline enlists Albert
Weatherspoon's help to brighten up King Rufus. Using some hints from a
famous book, "Hints on Amusing Monarchs" by Yorick late of ye
Danish Court, Albert tries his best. Nothing amuses the King until Albert
accidentally trips over the cat and spills ink all over.
Page 30: A one-page story, told in captioned pictures (six 2-colour illustrations by N. Main). Queen Caroline decides that it's high time that King Rufus should learn to swim. Rufus enlists the help of Albert Weatherspoon, but finding the water in the swimming pool uncomfortable, adjourns indoors to continue the swimming lessons in a bath full of hot water.
Page 44: A one-page story, told in captioned pictures (six 2-colour illustrations by N. Main). Albert Weatherspoon uses a book, "Ye Art & Ye Craft of Coarse Fishing", to help the King achieve more success at fishing. However, Queen Caroline does not approve, saying that "Kings are never coarse!"
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