Where else could you possibly enter a site dedicated to Bristow than at.....
The Staff Entrance
For here is where we enter the headquarters of the massive Chester-Perry Organisation, founded by Sir Reginald Chester-Perry himself. And here one man shows a spirit of defiance, individuality and humour that typifies the human condition in the face of oppression and tyranny. Well, up to the point that the wages come round anyway.
This is the story of that man.
Bristow is drawn by Frank Dickens. He has produced more than 12,000 strips since 1961, the majority published in the London Evening Standard between 1962 and 2001. Visit his website for a new Bristow strip each day. And here is a video of the great man at work, seen drawing Bristow and displaying the very first strip. Taken, I estimate, during the 1970s at the offices of the Standard and put onto Youtube in November 2009.
Every page within the Staff Entrance is linked to below and also in the drop-down menu that appears on each page. These pages are part of Guter.org
New for 2010
Still more edits based on research into strips published in the 1980s. New article on Robin Chester-Perry. More to come in due course.
New in 2009
pictures now "float" rather
than opening up in a new window and you can open as many strips as there
are links to them (on one page at a time). Use the mouse to click the
strip numbers, or the arrow keys, to pop up the pictures and drag with
the mouse to arrange them on the screen if you want to compare them.With
thanks to Torstein Hønsi of Highslide.com
for making this code freely available
.
There are more hyperlinks - following the example of Wikipedia, the first
time on a page that there is a mention of a character or theme that has
its own page, there will be a hyperlink to that page
New articles on Miss Rouge, Muscles Maddox (the firm's bully), Mr Meeke (the firm's scapegoat), the Sick Bay, Mr Tracer (the firm's amateur sleuth) and the Dreaded Hulines, as well as many extra pictures and textual revisions.
| Bristow - the man | |
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The Soul of
a Buying Clerk |
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| Life in the dreaded Chester-Perry Building |
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The colossal business empire founded by Sir Reginald, the Chester-Perry empire embraces many diverse businesses. The Head office is a huge, monolithic brick building, parts of which are still being explored, bricked up, flooded by tea trolleys or used for many nefarious purposes. Sometimes people work there as well. |
| Inside
the offices
How Big is C-Ps?
The Buying Department The Firm's
Canteen Where is C-Ps located?
The Typing Pool The
House Journal The Sick Bay Other departments The firm's colours Sir Reginald' s standard Sexism in C-Ps The Great Tea Trolley Disaster of '67 Other Disasters The Northern branch Two men in the corridor |
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| Meet some of Bristow's colleagues |
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A mixed bag of crawlers and skivers, drunkards and layabouts, oily little gits and aggressive intolerant pen-pushers. Ah, the joy of office life. |
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| Jones
Dimkins Hewitt
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| There's more to life than Chester-Perrys - but is it life as we know it? |
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| Myles
& Rudge Gun
& Fames
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| Even a humble buying clerk may feel superior to some people - here's a selection |
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Bristow
cultivates and seems to be on good terms with the underclass at
C-Ps - the tea ladies, the liftboy, the post boy, the janitors,
the switchboard operators and most significantly the factory workers.
Do they regard him as one of their own, or do they see him as inferior,
someone to be pitied rather than respected? Things are different
with the sharp-tongued girls of the typing pool, who will call him
"creep" behind his back. But that may because he wastes
so much of their time with his writings, singing into the Dictaphone
and practical jokes (from Joe’s Joke Emporium).
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| The Bosses - a tribute |
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Why does Bristow stick it
at Chester-Perry's? He is 18th in line for Chief Buyer, remember.
One day he might actually become Chief Buyer. If he does then he will
join the hallowed ranks of Management at whom he has spent so much
time thumbing his nose (often literally). Here you will find a few
of the people he hopes to rub shoulders with eventually.. Sir Reginald Fudge Barker Robin Chester-Perry The Lady Chief Buyer Miss Glockling Directors of the C-P organisation Softy Palmer Mr. Flint WJ Turner (the firm's hatchet man) Mr. Wilkington Mr. Taylor
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| What does a buying clerk do when he is not at work? |
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There is more
to life than slaving away at a desk for eight hours a day. The firm
provides wholesome and uplifting activities through the ever popular
Sports and Social Club. The clerks while away many an idle hour with
a relaxing game of desk-top football. Once a year Bristow fires up
the old motor car and tootles off for two blissful weeks of sea, sand
and sunburn. But the ultimate escape is to make it as a best selling
writer and Bristow misses no chance to add to his impressive list
of works. The Sports & Social Club Holidays The Collected Works of Bristow The Poetic Urge Desk-top Football Paper Aeroplanes Brain Surgery for Beginners A song or two The Glee Club The Works brass band
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| Bristow on the Radio |
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In 1999 and 2000 the BBC broadcast 14 half hour programmes, starring Michael Williams as Bristow, Rodney Bewes as Jones and Dora Bryan as Mrs. Purdy. Transmission details and script transcripts are here, and only here, on Guter.org.
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| Bristow in Print A number of collections of the cartoon
strips have appeared in book form. |
Bristow
in colour After nearly
40 years in black and white, he finally appeared in full (okay,
partial) colour -
strip 10589
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| Bristow
1962 - April 2001 is copyright ©Associated Newspapers Limited,
who have kindly given their permission for the reproduction of the
images in this website. |
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It's
always busy around the Chester-Perry Building. If its not Messrs
N Walters & Son trying out another desperate business venture,
it's the Blondini Brothers ("Scaffolding to the Gentry")
putting up another floor to the long awaited Myles & Rudge extension.
The Traffic warden dispenses parking tickets whilst the bureaucrats
of various "hi-speed" Government bodies plot to ruin everyone's
life. Its a wonder that Bristow can get to work at all.
