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Post by dem bones on Dec 23, 2007 12:05:12 GMT
Richard Carpenter - Catweazle (Puffin, 1970-80) Catweazle was a magician who lived in the eleventh century but however hard he tried, his spells hardly ever worked.
Then one day was different. First of all he had two bad omens - a bad dream and an owl hooting in daylight. Then Norman soldiers tried to capture him, so in desperation he used some magic, and it worked! The only trouble was that it had worked in the wrong way. Catweazle flew through Time instead of Space, and ended up in a place called Hexwood Farm, nine centuries later, where of course he thought everything he saw – motor cars, telephones, electric light ("Electrickery") – all happened by magic.
How Catweazle is befriended by the farmer's son, Carrot, and how he finds his feet in the twentieth century, while hiding from the world in a water tower, makes a riotously funny story, as anyone who has watched the London Weekend Television serial of Catweazle' will know: We are delighted to have George Adamson's illustrations to go with it, and to tell you that all the spells are taken from collections of real witches.
For readers of eight and over.
Also in Puffins: Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac.Richard Carpenter - The Ghosts Of Motley Hall (Puffin, 1977) No one lives in the empty old mansion any more, but Motley Hall is still home to a thriving community of ghosts who are more than a match for any psychic investigators or building speculators who come nosing around. Another hilarious comedy by the author of 'Catweazle'.The spectres of Sir George, Bodkin the clown, Sir Francis of the gambling addiction, Matt the stable lad and the White Lady learn that the Hall is to be sold and torn to the ground! It is not unlikely this plot was used more than once in the series. They had their own song. "Sing we all of Motley Hall Motley Hall! Motley Hall! Home for us whatever may befall! Ding Dong! Ghosts All!"
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Post by sean on Dec 23, 2007 12:34:54 GMT
He also did the 'Dick Turpin' and 'Smuggler' novelisations, didn't he?
Used to have them, but no longer...
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