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| Scorcher | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | IPC Magazines Ltd |
| Schedule | Weekly |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Genre |
|
| Publication date | January 1970 – 5 October 1974 |
| No. of issues | 248 |
| Main character | Pete |
| Editor | Dave Hunt |
Scorcher was the name of afootball-themed Britishcomic magazine published byIPC between January 1970 and October 1974.Scorcher featured various well-known comic strips, such asBilly's Boots,Bobby of the Blues andLags Eleven, a story about a prison football team. In addition, theNipper strip was absorbed from theScore comic, andHot Shot Hamish made its first appearance after that. Some of these stories later found homes inRoy of the Rovers and inTiger.
IPC Magazines, the publishers ofScorcher, always referred to it as a "paper" rather than a comic in its editorials, to distinguish it from more child-oriented publications such asThe Beano orThe Dandy. In addition to its realistic and comedic football-themed stories, it contained factual items about British professional football, and advertisements not only for contemporary toys, games and confectionery, but also others aimed at an older readership, such as for theCharles Atlas body building method, and recruitment advertisements for thePolice, theRoyal Air Force and theRoyal Navy.
In July 1971,Scorcher joined with another football-themed comic,Score (initially calledScore 'n' Roar, launched in September 1970), to formScorcher and SCORE, before finally merging intoTiger to becomeTIGER and Scorcher. The wordScorcher started with almost equal prominence toTIGER on the title page, but as usually happened with such mergers the title size was reduced in November 1975, and again in February 1978 before finally being dropped from the title of the comic after the issue dated 30 August 1980.
In total, 548 weekly comics were published withScorcher in the title, with the following cover dates (the comic usually appeared for sale one week before its cover date, and capitalisations are as they actually appeared on the title bar of the comics):
14 editions ofScorcher Annual were published from 1971 to 1984, andScorcher orScorcher and SCORE Holiday Specials each summer from 1970 until at least 1980.
Issue No. 1 ofScorcher was dated 10 January 1970 and contained the following features and stories:
This issue contained 32 pages, included a free-gift wallchart which allowed readers to plot their favourite team's progress in theLeague over the last 20 years, and cost 7d. All photographs in the first issue were black and white.
The weekly editorial column was featured on theGoal Post page, subtitledPete's Page, and under the byline ofPete was usually around 200-300 words in a jokey, friendly style, describing recent amusing or chaotic events in theScorcher office, or upcoming features in the paper. Pete was depicted in a line drawing in early issues as a male in his 20s with a shortBobby Moore haircut, sitting at a desk with atypewriter (although on one occasion when he was unwell he was depicted sitting up in bed with his typewriter on his lap), but in later years changed to just a grinning face, with a longerKevin Keegan hairstyle and waving a football scarf.
It was revealed over the years that Pete was aWest Ham United F.C. fan who attended their matches home and away, had spent some of his youth living in South Africa, had a sister, and played football regularly as astriker for his local club, scoring 22 goals in one season, although he had previously played as agoalkeeper until conceding 6 goals in one match.
Other office characters whose antics featured regularly were Ian the Office Junior (possibly Ian Vosper, future editor ofRoy of the Rovers magazine), aPortsmouth F.C. fan who played for the same club as Pete, and the paper's editor (Dave Hunt), a.k.a. the Old Man, aTottenham Hotspur F.C. fan who was regularly portrayed as a minor tyrant who became angry if Pete didn't make him 48 cups of tea every day. Various other members of the editorial or art staff were mentioned from time to time.
Each week, Pete answered a handful of readers' questions on any aspect of football, often settling bets or other disputes over matters of football fact, and paid £1 to the reader for each letter featured. Despite all this, he often had to reassure concerned readers that he was a real person and not just an invented cover-all name for whoever's duty it was to answer the letters that week.
After joining withTiger Pete's function was to select a dozen of the readers' best jokes to feature as cartoons on his page, and no longer answered questions.