Robert Martin

[Debbie]

I will not be tempted...

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'm still reading the Joey books and enjoying the little observations as well as the adventures. Reading Joey and the Square of Gold, I had a chuckle at the following conversation about police procedure:

The office...was still in the same dishevelled state.

"Coo!" Clapper exclaimed disgustedly. "You'd think the coppers would have straightened things up a bit, wouldn't you?"

"They wouldn't have time to do any cleaning up. I read somewhere that the police like to leave things just as they are so that they don't miss any clues. If someone goes around moving things after a robbery, the police might miss a lot of fingerprints, or anything else."

"Well, it's a good excuse for not doing it, anyway," Clapper grumbled.

Joey and the City Ghosts sees Joey and some friends exploring crypts and passages beneath the City of London. It doesn't involve anything supernatural despite the title but there's a spooky atmosphere to it and some dramatic moments even though the crooks are curiously "off-stage". There's a great deal of concern about the ancient dust the children might have swallowed while underground. They have to go to hospital and undergo a brief examination followed by a strong carbolic bath and then a more thorough inspection:

...some intricate and, to Joey, interesting instruments were used.

"Got to find out how much of that dust you swallowed," the doctor explained. "We've taken samples of it, and I should say it's pretty old dust."

"What's the difference whether it's old or new?" Nutty asked. "Dust is dust, isn't it?"

"Oh, there's a big difference," said the doctor. "This old dust can contain germs we know nothing about. I think your fathers did a very wise thing in bringing you along here; not only to get cleaned up but so that we can find out if you've done yourselves any harm. The few cuts and scratches have been cleaned, but as for the dust you've swallowed  and its effect upon you - well, we'll just have to experiment with it to see if it is harmful. I hope not, for your sakes."

Crumbs! I found that alarming and it reminds me that I always worry about the long-term effects of the boys' apparent exposure to radiation in Enid Blyton's The Secret of Moon Castle.

Incidentally, Joey's friends are mainly boys but Joey and the City Ghosts has a girl named Trudy as a main character, while Joey and the Blackbird Gang features a girl called Patsy.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Just finished Joey and the Royalist Treasure, a hair-raising adventure which takes place outside London, in marshes in Kent.

While on a treasure-hunting expedition, Joey and his friend Ben come up against a criminal who points a gun at them (he's by no means the first to do so!), ties them up and threatens to return and throw them "in a patch of bottomless marsh. You'll sink down and down without leaving any trace. As I say, it's a great pity, but there it is. Now I've work to do, so I'll leave you to wish you'd never seen me. But that won't worry you for much longer."

Considering these stories are probably aimed at readers aged about 8 - 11, many of the crooks are chillingly ruthless.

There are some lighter touches, e.g. when Joey gets the chance to whip out his camera and make the criminal pose for a photograph, and also some extremely interesting-sounding gadgets, two of which are described as "a small electronic brain" and "an electronic sounding and distance computor" (suggesting that "computor" was a variant spelling of "computer" at the time).

A gripping and ingenious story. I look forward to reading more Joeys!

[Anita Bensoussane]

Last night I finished reading Joey and the Smugglers' Legend (1958), in which Joey and his friend Clapper go to stay with a young couple, Roger and Molly, in the fictional village of Milsea Magna by the sea. They have an adventure revolving around smugglers' tunnels and I found this quite lengthy passage interesting as it explores the ambivalence that was felt towards smugglers:

"A lot of people think that smugglers are romantic," said Roger. "But, of course, I suppose they were crooks just the same as any others who try to avoid paying their taxes."

Clapper looked puzzled. "But there's heaps of books been written about smugglers, and in them they're supposed to be proper heroes."

"They were heroes to the villagers and people who knew them," Roger admitted. "But the truth is they were outside the law, even though many of them were brave and otherwise honest men."

"They only smuggled goods that were taxed very high, didn't they?" Joey asked. "That's why other people thought a lot of them and made them sort of heroes. Smitty says that when a government taxes too much they turn honest men into crooks. He says that people can't live properly when there's too many taxes because the Government takes all their money."

Roger smiled ruefully. "Smitty could be right. No one likes paying taxes, but we all have to pay some because a government can't run a country without money, and all its money comes from taxes and investments. But history is full of stories about greedy governments who have squeezed too many taxes out of the people. No wise and honest government does that, any more than a wise and honest man turns himself into a crook. The trouble is, Joey, that all governments are not wise and all men are not honest. If they were, then you'd have prosperous and healthy countries; and probably no wars either... Smugglers brought in goods from other countries for which there was a demand here. They landed their cargoes on lonely coasts and brought them inland by all sorts of cunning ways. The most usual was by tunnels like these." He tapped the maps spread out on the floor. "Once the goods reached the contraband-importer and the smugglers received the money for them, their job was done."

"What's a contraband-importer?" Clapper asked.

"A nice-sounding name for another crook," Roger replied. "He was the man who distributed the smuggled goods all over the country. The risk was fairly high, but so were his profits. The smugglers didn't become very rich, although many made a good living, but it was the importer who made big profits."

"For a big risk?" Joey asked.

"He risked discovery, a heavy fine, or imprisonment and confiscation of his goods - so did the smuggler. But the smuggler often risked his life in a small, heavily laden boat and was drowned in a storm, or a high sea, or had his boat smashed against the rocks. Oh yes, the smuggler was a man who took real risks, and that's why he was respected locally. The importer took risks, but he was usually a very crafty individual who paid other people to do the dirty work while he took the profit."

"Sort of a spiv?" Clapper suggested.

Roger smiled. "You could call him that. It wasn't always a 'he' either."

"Were there women contraband-importers?" Joey asked in surprise.

Roger nodded emphatically. "There was one at The Wayward Wind. A very notorious lady named Marie Vasaleer... Quite a character, it seems. She was a Frenchwoman who married a Vasaleer, who later died at sea. Marie took over The Wayward Wind and ran it until about 1680, when she returned to France. She never came back. It was a real inn in those days and Marie held a special position in the village community. The Vasaleer family were smugglers and the leading family of the village. Marie was an importer and a banker for the smugglers."

"A banker!" Joey exclaimed in surprise.

Roger nodded. "A banker, a money changer, a contraband-importer, owner of the inn; the mother of four husky sons and, by all accounts respected and feared by the whole community. As I say - quite a character."

In another thread I mentioned that I picked up a copy of Pocomoto and the Night Riders (1953) for £1 in a Gloucester charity shop the other day. It's by Rex Dixon, who is the same person as Robert Martin (his real name was Reginald Alec Martin but we wrote under a number of pseudonyms). The Pocomoto books are Westerns so they don't appeal to me the way the Joey series does, but it's interesting to have a sample. I knew Reginald Martin had lived in America and worked with cowboys but the harshness of that sort of life only hit home when I read the following on the back of the dustwrapper:

Rex Dixon spent many years of wandering life in Texas, Colorado, Arizona. He lived among, as his friends, the sort of characters he writes about. There was 'Six-shot Peter', for instance, who, as a boy, had seen his father and mother murdered by 'bad men', and who spent the rest of his life wiping out the debt, yet remained, to others, as gentle and kindly a man as the Seb of the 'Pocomoto' stories. It is because he once knew and loved these real men and women - and boys - that Rex Dixon is able to make the characters in his books real. Just as all the things they do, all their adventures, all the dangers they have to face, were real in the West of not so very long ago.

[John Pickup]

I love the front cover of the wrapper from Smugglers Legend. It's one of the books I need.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I hope you're able to find a copy, John. It's a really evocative cover even though it's not the most hair-raising adventure.

[John Pickup]

I've seen a couple of copies of that book, Anita, but the wrappers on both were quite tatty. I am rather particular with dustwrappers.
I remember years ago refusing a fine copy of Strangers At Snowfell in a nearly fine wrapper. All the red had faded on the spine and it looked awful with the title nearly blank. I've since acquired a lovely copy though.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Fingers crossed that you manage to get hold of a super copy of Joey and the Smugglers' Legend, John. I've currently got one lying on the table next to me, but unfortunately it's only staying with me temporarily!

[Anita Bensoussane]

I've read another couple of 'Joey' books and I had a chuckle at the following remark by Joey in Joey and the Magic Pony (1958):

"I've read books about a big Satellite moored in the sky a thousand miles above the earth. People live on it - children as well. I think that's a wonderful idea, and by the time I'm grown up there may really be an inhabited Satellite in space."

I'm pretty sure this must be a reference to the Kemlo 'Spaceworld' series written by E. C. Eliott - i.e. Robert Martin under another name! His real name was Reginald Alec Martin but he used quite a few pseudonyms.

By the way, I'm appreciating T. R. Freeman's illustrations more and more. They're attractive, lively and full of detail, portraying the characters, locations, action and atmosphere perfectly. Joey and the City Ghosts features an unnamed church but the pictures reveal that Freeman at least used London City Presbyterian Church as a model (one illustration clearly shows the pattern on the church floor, the wooden pews with curved ends and the border with scroll patterns above the altar).

[Anita Bensoussane]

My latest 'Joey' was Joey and the Master Plan (1961), which is unusual in that Joey's father (who is called Smitty by everyone, even his son) becomes involved in the adventure. After a relative's car is stolen (along with a number of cars belonging to other people in the Covent Garden area), Smitty gives a passionate speech about fighting crime which shows that, unlike some Enid Blyton parents who are worried about their children getting into danger, he fully supports Joey and his friend Clapper doing whatever it takes to make sure villains are brought to justice:

"It upset me at first and made me feel very sad because of your aunt and uncle's loss. Then slowly I got angrier and angrier. I thought what a thundering shame it is that people work hard to get a little bit of pleasure in the shape of a car - or anything else for that matter - only to lose it. If they work hard for a car, they're entitled to it, and they're certainly entitled to keep it in safety and not have some dirty sneak-thief whipping it from under their noses."

"Coo, we feel just the same!" Clapper exclaimed.

Joey didn't answer, because he almost sensed what his father was going to say.

"Glad you do," said Smitty briskly... "We're going to scour these streets for hour after hour looking for a dragman who's going to knock off a car. I'm going to ask questions of all the friends I've got, and there's plenty of them around this area. You two have sharp eyes and young legs, so you can help. We've got a real purpose here, mates. If the police can't do anything about stolen cars, maybe us ordinary citizens can. What d'you say? Are you with me?"

Exciting events unfold as a result.

I've read fifteen of the nineteen Joey books now and I'll miss them when I reach the end of the series.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I'm still enjoying the Joey books as much as ever. Some are a touch experimental, like Joey, Soap Box Driver (which revolves around a go-kart race) and Joey and the Magic Pony (which has a hint of the supernatural). My favourites are the ones with plenty of detecting and danger.

I've just read Joey and the Detectives, in which Joey enlists the help of numerous boys to track down some villains. Funnily enough, Nobby and Ben don't appear. They were firm friends with Joey at the beginning of the series, along with Clapper, but only Clapper has stayed the course. Nobby and Ben simply stopped being mentioned after the first few books!

Colourful characters are an important part of this series and in Joey and the Detectives I liked Spiker, who speaks in rather a learned manner. Some of the other boys find this a little off-putting at first, but Spiker proves to be an affable fellow:

Joey liked Spiker the moment they collided on a corner of Jasmine Street when Joey and Clapper were dashing off on some errands so that they could finish quickly and get back to a game.

"Wotcher!" Clapper had said when all three had picked themselves up. "You're a new bloke, ain't you?"

"I am a tolerant stranger in your midst," Spiker had replied.

Clapper had goggled wide-eyed at this snooty-sounding statement.

"Get him!" Clapper observed to Joey. "Swallowed a flippin' dictionary!"...


...He squared up to Spiker with raised fists.

"I don't hold with all that clever talk," Clapper growled. "How would you like a punch on the snoot?"

"Not at all," said Spiker. "Why should you wish to impel one of those grubby fists on my proboscis?"

[Clapper draws back his fist in a menacing gesture, only for Spiker to block him with a Judo hold. Joey asks if Spiker is a Judo expert but Spiker says the word "expert" is used too carelessly.]

"You don't half like talking, don't you?" said Clapper, mixing up his grammar with his usual brilliance.

"As a matter of fact, I do," Spiker admitted. "I like thinking. I like problems. I like working things out. I like people. I like ice-cream. I like a lot of things - don't you?"

Some of the action takes place in Hampstead and illustrator T. R. Freeman seems to have based the Hampstead tea-shop (page 103 of Joey and the Detectives) on what has until recently been 'Les Filles' in Heath Street (though 'Les Filles' has possibly now closed). The corner door, the little balcony above the door with the iron railing (it has a distinctive pattern), the positioning of the windows and the curve (above the door and the main window) all fit. The flagpole in the distance can be seen if you follow the curve of the road on Google Maps, and the terrace above the street (not quite the same as in the illustration) can be seen eventually if you follow the road back the other way. In reality the distance is a little greater and there are more buildings in between these features, but T. R. Freeman appears to have truncated things to include the most attractive features of Heath Street.

Elsewhere in the book, a pub called 'The World Turned Upside Down' is mentioned (situated in Old Kent Road). The pub was real and existed until 2009 but sadly it has now been turned into flats and a pizza place.

[John Pickup]

This has reminded me to step up my search for the titles I need to complete this series.

[Anita Bensoussane]

I hope you've managed to get some more 'Joeys', John. Having just read Joey and the Magician and Joey and the Pickpocket, I've now only got one Joey book left (boo hoo!)

Joey and the Pickpocket is great as it's set in the centre of London (around Holborn) and has mystery, emotion and touches of humour, with a clever twist.

Joey and the Magician is atypical, involving a circus which isn't quite as friendly as Galliano's (sabotaging other performers' acts to serve one's own purposes appears to be accepted as part of circus life!) It's far from being the best story but Polonius Sefton the magician is an interesting character and I like the account of how he sends postcards to himself from places he visits:

"There!" Polo thrust the completed postcard in front of Joey and Clapper. "That will satisfy your curiosity."
Joey read aloud:

"Dear Self. Today met Joey and Clapper. Joey lives in Jasmine Street, Covent Garden, London. Clapper lives in the flats close by. Bright lads. Good fun. Going to be friends. Tell you more later. Look after yourself. There's only one of you!

Yours,

Polo."

"I'd never think of writing to myself. But it's interesting," Joey admitted.

"It's crackers!" said Clapper bluntly. "I don't see the sense of it."

"Simple," said Polo. "Like a diary. Tells me when I met you. The picture of Chichester tells me where. My own words tell me what I thought of you and remind me of where you both live."

"But you can remember all that," Clapper argued. "You don't need to send yourself a postcard."

"Ah! The innocence of the young! Memory is a wonderful thing, a precious thing, but it plays tricks on you. Some days it remembers things you don't want it to remember. Memory will tell me what I had for breakfast in Moscow fifteen years ago, but will forget the number of the bus I travelled on yesterday from Chichester to Goodwood."

Joey returned the postcard. "Do you always tell yourself to look after yourself?"

"Oh, yes," Polo replied seriously. "If I don't, no-one else will. It's very sad, but there it is."

On Wednesday I had a hospital appointment in London so after that I went to Covent Garden and Charing Cross and took a look at some of the streets and buildings featured in the Joey books, which was fun.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Sadly, I've now had to say goodbye to Joey as I've finished the last book in the series, Joey and the Train-Robbers. Although most of the story takes place outside London, it's very interesting from a historical perspective as it's set in 1965 when it was known that the traditional Covent Garden Market selling fruit, vegetables and flowers would soon have to move to a new site out of the centre of London - and that there would also be other changes to Covent Garden affecting houses, flats, etc. The story is shaped by these events and is really rather poignant.