Tag Archives: Stefa’s Heart of Stone

Princess #25, 10 March 1984

1984, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
  • The Haunted Station (artist Julio Bosch) – first episode
  • Horse from the Sea (artist Rodrigo Comos)
  • Rusty, Remember Me (artist Eduardo Feito) – first episode
  • Stefa’s Heart of Stone (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)
  • The Secret Swimmer (artist Phil Gascoine) – first episode
  • How Honest Are You? – Quiz
  • The Dream House (artist Mike White)
  • Day and Knight (artist Juliana Buch) – first episode
  • The Runaway Clown (artist José Canovas? or Miguel Faster?) – final episode
  • Flight from the Romanys (artist Maria Dembilio) 
  • Sadie in Waiting (artist Joe Collins)

Princess is on the countdown to the merger with Tammy on 7 April 1984, the last of the six titles Tammy absorbed in her lifetime. How is Princess building up for it? She has the advantage in that she had always been one for short serials, around five to eight episodes, though some serials were longer. So finishing one serial fast and starting another as a filler isn’t difficult for her in getting ready for the merger.

This week Princess begins four serials, two of which will conclude in the merger with Tammy. The ones that will go into the merger are “Rusty, Remember Me” (Donna Martin finds an injured fox cub) and “Day and Knight” (Sharon Day is being picked on by Carrie Knight, the school bully who looks set to become her stepsister). The other two are “The Haunted Station” (time travel to the 1930s via a train station and meeting a girl in danger) and “The Secret Swimmer” (Liza is wrongly blamed for her friend’s accident and becomes an outcast at school). Also set to go into the merger because of its length is “Stefa’s Heart of Stone”, a reprint from Jinty. After the devastating loss of her friend Joy, Stefa Giles freezes up to avoid such hurt again, but she is taking it to extreme levels that not only hurt everyone around her but are the heights of stupidity as well. This week she pretends to be sick to avoid Ruth’s party because Ruth is a near look-alike for Joy. She manages to dodge the party, but it doesn’t look like she’s going to get away with it.

Other reprints, “Horse from the Sea” (Jinty) and “The Dream House” (Tammy) are still running but will finish in Princess. Finishing this week is “The Runaway Clown”, who is finally reunited with her father. Lydia has made her “Flight from the Romanys”, the gypsies who kidnapped her, but she still has a way to go before her story ends. As she is still wearing the rags her kidnappers forced her to wear, the authorities take her for a ragamuffin and don’t believe her story. She finds herself thrown into a workhouse. From one goddam situation to another.

In “Sadie in Waiting”, Grovel the grovelling butler tries his hand as a painter. Predictably, the results are not exactly Rembrandt. He is advised to “chuck that rubbish”.

Princess #24, 3 March 1984

1984, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
  • The Saddest Dog in Town (artist Eduardo Feito) – final episode
  • Stefa’s Heart of Stone (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)
  • Laura in the Lyon’s Den! (artist Bob Harvey) – final episode
  • Horse from the Sea (artist Rodrigo Comos)
  • The Runaway Clown (artist José Canovas? or Miguel Faster?)
  • Sheena and the Treetoppers (artist Rodrigo Comos) – final episode
  • How Much Do You Know about Your Favourite Princess? – quiz 
  • Rowena of the Doves (artist Peter Wilkes) – final episode
  • The Dream House (artist Mike White)
  • Flight from the Romanys (artist Maria Dembilio) 
  • Sadie in Waiting (artist Joe Collins)

Princess has four issues to go before she merges with Tammy and is on the countdown towards it. Four stories finish this week. “The Dream House”, a reprint from Tammy, is being reprinted as a filler. New stories are set to start in the next issue, to be used as fillers for the remaining issues or carryovers into the merger. But Princess isn’t forgetting her biggest selling point from her earlier issues: Princess Diana. This week she runs a Princess Diana quiz.

The Runaway Clown is on its penultimate episode, with our runaway clown now finding a clue as to who her father is when she finds a locket matching her own after an accident at the circus. Is it Mr Brunelli the high wire artist? If so, what a terrible time to discover it. Brunelli has finally paid the price for refusing to use a safety net. He’s now in hospital, and it looks so bad his circus career seems finished. But she’s forgetting someone else was injured in that accident – a circus hand called Nobody. So it could be either of them, but which one is it?

In “Flight from the Romanys”, Lydia finally makes her flight from the gypsies who kidnapped her. Jacob, who helped her, says it’s not the first time they’ve done that kind of thing. But Lydia soon finds that escape is only the first part. Now there’s the matter of finding her way back and getting help, plus getting through a forest in the dead of night! And we know forests can be dangerous at that hour. 

“Stefa’s Heart of Stone” is a reprint from Jinty and was one of Jinty’s most popular stories. This week Stefa runs away to her aunt’s, just to get away from Ruth, who is a near double of Joy, the girl she grieves for – only to come crawling back because she missed her precious statue too much. Thought you had a heart of stone, Stefa, to avoid being hurt again after losing your friend? A head of stupidity more like! She doesn’t give a hoot about the trouble she caused back home or worrying her parents, and they are furious when they hear what happened.

Sadie in Waiting sees Grovel grumbling at Cook for not keeping the kitchen clean enough, but it ends up in an even worse state after his lousy fly-swatting. He is the one who has to clean up the kitchen now, with a bashed nose and a lump on his head from all his swatting hijinks. He didn’t even get the fly. Cook had to do it – right on top of Grovel’s head.

Princess #22, 18 February 1984

1984, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
  • Sheena and the Treetoppers (artist Rodrigo Comos)
  • The Saddest Dog in Town (artist Eduardo Feito)
  • Rowena of the Doves (artist Peter Wilkes)
  • Flight from the Romanys (artist Maria Dembilio) – first episode
  • How Trendy are You? Quiz
  • Horse from the Sea (artist Rodrigo Comos)
  • The Runaway Clown (artist José Canovas? or Miguel Faster?)
  • Stefa’s Heart of Stone (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)
  • Sadie in Waiting (artist Joe Collins)
  • Laura in the Lyon’s Den! (artist Bob Harvey)

Princess is now running on the same print as Tammy, and her stories are a mix of her own and reprints from Tammy and Jinty. Former Jinty readers would have been crying if they knew “Stefa’s Heart of Stone” was being reprinted here, as she was one of Jinty’s most popular stories and there was huge demand for a reprint in the 1980 Pam’s Poll. As Stefa, a long serial, is still in her early episodes in a title that will merge with Tammy in six issues, it is no wonder she carried over into the merger. Other reprints are Jinty’s Horse from the Sea (which enabled some of the original artwork to survive) and Tammy’s Rowena of the Doves. 

Sheena has a lead to save her treehouse from being demolished. It’s the old lost will scenario that could save the property if found, but where the %#$*!@ is it? Sheena decides to go and check the old mansion on the property, but what a spooky place it is. It’s a test of nerves.

Sammy, the saddest dog in town, can’t find his original owners. He has good friends to help, but their hopes of finding Sammy’s owners are dashed again this week. 

Spoiled, rebellious Laura is put to work in the kitchen of Mrs Lyon’s store. She is beginning to surprise herself in enjoying the work and even defending old battle-axe Lyon. 

The Runaway Clown is now training as a wire walker. But her trainer won’t let her use a safety net and she’s only a beginner. Yikes! 

An upcoming merger isn’t stopping Princess from starting new stories. This week it’s Flight from the Romanys, where a high-class girl, Lydia Parks, gets kidnapped by gypsies to be their slave. What a shock to the system for such a sheltered, pampered girl. At least Lydia is not a spoiled brat, so she’s an instant sympathetic character. 

In Sadie in Waiting, Grovel the grovelling butler tries his hand at cooking because Princess Bee is entertaining an Eastern princess. Desert rat stew, scorpion soup, sheep’s eyes and camel steak are on his menu and the gags for the story (including the gagging we readers are doing already).

Jinty and Lindy 27 November 1976

1976, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Go on, Hate Me! (artist Keith Robson, writer Len Wenn) 

Gertie Grit, the Hateful Brit! (artist Paul White)

Stefa’s Heart of Stone (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)

Rose among the Thornes (artist Jim Baikie) – final episode

Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)

Sue’s Fantastic Fun-Bag! (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)

The Big Cat (artist Ana Rodriguez)

Girl in a Bubble (artist Phil Gascoine, writer Pat Mills)

Is this Your Story? (artist John Richardson)

Daisy Drudge and Milady Maud (Ken Houghton)

In part two of “Go on, Hate Me!”, Carol dies in hospital, and her last words to Hetty are to win a race at their athletics club. But now we begin to see what the title’s about: Carol’s sister Jo wrongly blames Hetty for Carol’s death and she’s turning everyone at the club against her.

Ruth Lee has vowed to get back the family horse, Captain, who has been sold as part of a rough eviction. Her gran has passed, and her dying words were “take care of the big cat”. Now what’s that about? This week “The Big Cat” makes its appearance: a circus cheetah!

Sue has figured out there’s something about her new handbag, which she has named Henrietta. Whenever she puts something in it, something strange – and hilarious – happens…

Of late, Stefa’s efforts to turn her heart into stone have been really laughable. She runs away from home but can’t part herself from her precious statue – so she takes it with her on a wheelbarrow! Needless to say, that soon gets her tracked down. Now she’s sleeping on the lawn beside her statue rather than in the same bedroom as Ruth – even though she damn well knows it’s cold outside. She wakes up soaking wet and shivering from the dew, the silly girl. Then Stefa is taken aback to discover that Ruth has suffered an even greater loss than hers – three family members, yet Ruth is taking it far better and more bravely than Stefa is with just one loss. Will this finally melt that stubborn, stony heart of hers? It’s certainly time enough. 

In “Is This Your Story?”, Georgie Jones has a very bad temper and flies off the handle like nobody’s business, and her classmates suffer for it. They give her a day in Coventry to drive the point home that she must work on her temper. After that, Georgie counts to ten more when she feels her temper rising. 

The title “Rose among the Thornes” takes an unexpected twist in this week’s final episode: Rose and the Thornes work together to stop a cylinder containing poison from releasing its deadly contents. Then the Thornes beat a fast exit from the village once people begin to realise what they’ve been up to, so our Rose is now Thorne-less. Let’s just hope the Thornes don’t get up to the same tricks elsewhere.

In “Daisy Drudge and Milady Maud”, Maud is learning to ice-skate at the posh finishing school, but an employee named Georges has realised she’s not Lady Daisy De Vere. And from the looks of things, he’s going to pull blackmail on her. Meanwhile, the real Daisy, mistaken for a servant, is trying to escape from the cruel household she’s landed up in. After several failed attempts at escape she’s now going for the extremely dangerous one that’s been on hold for some time – climb the household chimney! 

Gertie Grit visits the court of King Arthur this week. Caractacus declares a wizards’ strike to demand Gertie back, so Merlin can’t intervene when arch-enemy Mordred marches on Camelot. Gertie tries her own hand at wizardry to help King Arthur win, but instead of her messing things up as usual, Caractacus sabotages her efforts.

After escaping from the bubble Helen has reached home – only to find another girl in her place. And her parents call this girl Helen too! Miss Vaal informs Dad that our Helen has escaped from the bubble, but he isn’t saying a word to Mum. In fact, he doesn’t even want Mum to see our Helen. Weirder and weirder! Then Mum really does spot our Helen. What will her reaction be?

We’ve heard of concrete shoes, but this is ridiculous – Alley Cat lands his feet in two buckets of wet cement and they get stuck. Fortunately he manages to make use of it, but we think it would be a good idea if he can get his feet back by next week. 

Jinty and Lindy 13 November 1976

1976, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jassy’s Wand of Power (artist Keith Robson) – final episode

Gertie Grit, the Hateful Brit! (artist Paul White)

Stefa’s Heart of Stone (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)

Nature’s Wonderful Ways (feature)

Rose among the Thornes (artist Jim Baikie)

Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)

Sisters at War! (artist Trini Tinturé) – final episode

Girl in a Bubble (artist Phil Gascoine, writer Pat Mills)

Is this Your Story? (artist John Richardson)

Daisy Drudge and Milady Maud (artist Ken Houghton)

“Heap big Injun trouble for Gertie Grit” says the cover. Heap big trouble for the Injuns more like, knowing our Gertie. Sure enough, she unwittingly causes another historical catastrophe, which in this case is Custer’s Last Stand. And it’s all because Custer put her on KP duty.

“Jassy’s Wand of Power” and “Sisters at War!” both end this week. The drought breaks when the power plant that’s causing it is shut down. Blimey, it’s been so long since a rainfall that Jassy’s little friend Mark doesn’t even realise what it is when it finally falls! Well, Jassy can retire her water-divining rod now. Story artist Keith Robson moves on to a new serial next week. Meanwhile, the sisters are still at war with constant arguing, but their uncle has decided he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Another story ended last issue, but nothing new starts this week. Instead, we have a full page informing us that three stories start next week. We just love it when we have a nice big run of several stories starting at once. 

Meanwhile, poor Daisy has to do ironing with a broken bone in her hand (and it doesn’t look like that hand is getting any medical attention – ooh, that horrible household!). But Daisy finds a way to get the ironing done despite her hand and is surprised to be rewarded with a cat brooch. Unfortunately the other servants are still mean to her, and that brooch has made them jealous too. If only Daisy could see what Maud has learned about dealing with nasty types who bully servants – throw water all over them.

In “Is This Your Story?”, Freda has a bad habit of telling lies, but she gets caught out when she tries to pull a fast one over her teacher. She spends a horrible weekend dreading what punishment awaits her on Monday, which could be expulsion. What is teach going to do?

Ouch! Rose gets a faceful of stings while foiling the Thornes’ latest scheme this week. Gran’s herbal remedies sort out the stings, but then the bryony blooms – which is a warning of disaster. Sounds like the story is about to reach its climax.

Groan…not even Stefa’s own birthday softens her “heart of stone”. She throws all the presents she gets in the faces of everyone who gave them to her. Stefa, the day will come when you look back on this birthday with deep regret. Later in the episode, Stefa finds it’s going to be a lot harder to steer clear of Ruth – her parents are inviting Ruth over to their house and going to parents’ night to see her work. Stefa thinks it’s a cheek; she is their daughter, not Ruth. Huh, considering the way you’re carrying on with your folks, you’re the one who’s got a cheek, Stefa!

Helen manages to break free of Miss Vaal and shut her in the bubble for a change. On the advice of her teacher she goes home to tell her parents what’s going on. The very parents who never once visited her while she was in the bubble, come to think of it.

Alley Cat borrows a library book on how to “nab nosh”, but everything backfires and he ends up having to exchange it for a first aid book.

Jinty and Lindy 6 November 1976

1976, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jassy’s Wand of Power (Keith Robson)

Gertie Grit, the Hateful Brit! (artist Paul White)

Stefa’s Heart of Stone (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)

Rose among the Thornes (artist Jim Baikie)

Champion in Hiding (artist Hugh-Thornton Jones) – final episode

Sisters at War! (artist Trini Tinturé)

Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)

Girl in a Bubble (artist Phil Gascoine, writer Pat Mills)

Is this Your Story? (artist John Richardson)

Daisy Drudge and Milady Maud (Ken Houghton)

In Jinty’s fireworks issue for 1976, Gertie Grit does the honours when her time-travelling gets her caught up in the Gunpowder Plot itself (below). Funny – the biggest fireworks of this historical event seem to come from Druid Caractacus.

Gertie isn’t the only one in the issue getting a taste of the Tower of London. That’s where Jassy is about to be sent to as well. It’s the fate of all those who claim to have psychic ability in this drought-stricken story.

The Thornes’ latest trick is play “ghost” to get their hands on the magistrate’s property, but Rose’s gran turns the tables by scaring the Thornes with the same ruse. Halloween was last week, you Thornes!

Ruth finds out the reason for “Stefa’s Heart of Stone” and starts a “Melt Stefa” campaign with her classmates to soften it. But from the looks of things, not even global warming would “melt Stefa”. However, jealousy is proving more effective; Stefa gets her nose put out of joint when her parents start treating Ruth like their very own daughter. 

Mandy in this week’s “Is This Your Story?” doesn’t want to share her brother with a girlfriend. She breaks them up, but her brother’s reaction isn’t what she expected. Her conscience pricks up and she gets them back together. 

In “Daisy Drudge and Milady Maud”, Maud finds a friend in a servant at the finishing school while Daisy can’t in the cruel household she has ended up in. The household is on holiday in the country and Daisy seizes another chance to escape. Unfortunately they catch up (again), and Daisy breaks a bone in her hand in the process. And nobody, not even the servants, has an ounce of sympathy for her there. Rather, they all laugh at what great sport it’s been chasing her.

“Champion in Hiding” ends this week. It turns out nasty Aunt Shirley and Mrs Blackmoor were in cahoots to stop Mitzi and Firefly from winning the dog championship, but win they do. Mrs Blackmoor’s furious and won’t pay Aunt Shirley because she failed, so Aunt Shirley is punished by ending up with nothing.

Helen’s back in the bubble and the sinister Miss Vaal manages to forestall Helen’s art teacher when she makes enquiries into what’s going on. Then Helen makes a bold move with the black book she stole from Miss Vaal to help her make a rush for freedom. Will it work?

In “Sisters at War!”, Uncle Jason runs away from hospital and camps out in hiding although he’s not well. Mum is furious when she finds out Sue has been helping to hide him though she knows about his condition. 

Spotty Muchloot and Alley Cat have another battle, this time with toffee. Well, we always knew Spotty was stuck-up.

Gertie Grit and the Gunpowder Plot
Gertie Grit and the Gunpowder Plot

Jinty and Lindy 9 October 1976

1976, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Girl in a Bubble (artist Phil Gascoine, writer Pat Mills)

Gertie Grit, the Hateful Brit! (artist Paul White) – first episode

Stefa’s Heart of Stone (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)

Alley Cat (artist Rob Lee)

Rose among the Thornes (artist Jim Baikie)

Champion in Hiding (artist Hugh Thornton-Hughes)

Sisters at War! (artist Trini Tinturé)

Jassy’s Wand of Power (artist Keith Robson)

The Jinx from St Jonah’s (artist Hugh Thornton-Jones)

Daisy Drudge and Milady Maud (artist Ken Houghton

Ian Mitchell – feature

We fill another October gap here. As the cover indicates, it is the start of a new serial, “Gertie Grit the Hateful Brit!”, but one thing puzzles me about it: why does the cover show Gertie Grit with long green sleeves when in fact she has bare arms?

Inside, Jinty seems to be paying Halloween some early homage with Alley Cat, who has a dream about a witch turning him into a worm. He gets used as fish bait, but the spell wears off in time for him to catch fish of his own. When he wakes up he really does catch fish, which have fallen off the back of a lorry.

In the first episode of “Gertie Grit, the Hateful Brit!”, Gertie hails from Roman Britain. There’s a definite Flintstones feel about Gertie’s home environment, but we don’t get much chance to see it before she steals a magic time-travel pendant from Druid Caractacus. Off she goes, and her first stop in time is the boudoir of Helen of Troy. Though it hardly looks it, Gertie’s is the face that launches the fabled 1000 ships when she mucks about with Helen’s makeup. Gertie then discovers Caractacus is following her through time to get his pendant back, but she isn’t going to let him do it that easily. And so the pattern is set for the rest of the episodes to follow. We are informed that Gertie meets Nell Gwynn in the next issue. Pity poor Nell…

In “Stefa’s Heart of Stone”, Stefa is trying to turn her heart into stone after losing her best friend Joy, which for everyone is more like “Stefa’s head of stupidity”. Stefa’s now trying to get herself expelled to get away from Ruth Graham, the girl who looks almost like Joy. However, Ruth keeps foiling Stefa’s attempts to do so. You’re not getting rid of Ruth that easily, Stefa!

In Victorian times, Lady Daisy de Vere and a skivvy named Maud have accidentally switched lives. Maud is taking advantage of a posh finishing school (shades of My Fair Lady), and this week she is trying to cover the fact that she’s barely literate by pretending to have an injured hand. Meanwhile, Daisy attempts to run from the horrible downstairs life she has landed in, but she gets recaptured, brutally beaten, and then chained to a kitchen range until she’s finished cleaning it. 

Hugh Thornton-Jones is doing double duty as filler artist for “Champion in Hiding” and “The Jinx from St Jonah’s”. In the former, Firefly foils some sheep rustlers but gets badly hurt, and cruel Aunt Shirley is still a real slavedriver to our protagonist Mitzi. In the latter, Katie attempts to reconcile a quarrelsome couple who keep breaking off their engagement. It succeeds, but in an extremely weird way that leaves us all scratching our heads along with Katie. 

Helen Ryan escapes from the bubble she was kept in for lack of germ resistance and even joins an art class. But then she feels horribly ill. Maybe she should have stayed in the bubble after all? Meanwhile, Miss Vaal discovers Helen has escaped and says “she will have to take the consequences”. Now that sounds very, very ominous…

In “Rose among the Thornes”, motorcycle roughs are raising hell in the village, and Rose discovers the Thornes are behind it in a scheme to shut down a café. She manages to foil that scheme but knows the Thornes will have another brewing soon.

Jassy discovers Mr Danby is taking advantage of her water-dowsing powers to extort payment and goods out of drought-stricken people. Her response is to walk out on Danby, but then she jumps from the frying-pan into the fire. She gets captured by Sir Harmer Jeffreys, the man in charge of the power plant. He’s heard the gossip about her and Danby, and whatever he’s got in mind for her does not sound promising.

Another extortionist threatens Sue, one of the “Sisters at War”. Sue gives in to his demands to meet him, but the blackmailer reckons without Uncle Jason. Uncle manages to deal to the blackmailer but then collapses with a heart condition. He swears Sue to secrecy. Then sister Sylvia jumps to the wrong conclusion about what happened and it’s “sisters at war” again.

Princess II, 25 February 1984

1984, Stories, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Princess II cover 25 February 1984

  • Flight from the Romanys (artist Maria Dembilio)
  • The Dream House (artist Mike White) – first episode
  • Laura in the Lyon’s Den! (artist Bob Harvey)
  • Rowena of the Doves (artist Peter Wilkes)
  • The Runaway Clown (artist José Canovas? or Miguel Faster?)
  • Stefa’s Heart of Stone (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)
  • Sheena and the Treetoppers (artist Rodrigo Comos)
  • Sadie in Waiting (artist Joe Collins)
  • Horse from the Sea… (artist Rodrigo Comos)
  • The Saddest Dog in Town (artist Eduardo Feito)

We are now well and truly into the run of Princess II where she is falling back on reprints from Tammy and Jinty. From Jinty we have “Horse from the Sea” and “Stefa’s Heart of Stone”. Many former Jinty readers would have envied Princess readers for getting a reprint of Stefa. Jinty’s letter page indicated there was a popular demand for this serial to be repeated, but for some reason neither Jinty nor the Tammy & Jinty merger obliged. From Tammy we get “Rowena of the Doves” and now “The Dream House”.

Nonetheless, Princess is still producing her own stories. One is the cover story, “Flight from the Romanys” (not good grammar there). Lydia Parks is kidnapped by nasty gypsies, for no other reason than to make a slave out of her and profit from the chattels she had on her (rich clothes, a horse). Considering her father is a wealthy lord, they could have shown more imagination than that! This episode is dedicated to establishing just how cruel Lydia’s kidnappers intend to be to her, and Lydia showing us her resolve to escape despite her tears or the gypsies’ attempts to discourage her.

A more savoury gypsy gives “The Runaway Clown” both hope (her father will find her and no going back to the home she ran away from) and fear (danger from an elephant) when she looks into her crystal ball. Of course the fortune teller means Princess, the vicious elephant trainer who has been gunning for Cindy. This time Princess gets caught out and sacked, but has Cindy really seen the last of that nasty piece of work? Time will tell. Meanwhile, the weather presents its own dangers, and it leads to the death of the fortune teller.

Spoiled Laura is showing improvement in the “Lyon’s Den”. But is it genuine, or is it because she hopes to get a shopping trip in Paris out of it? Mrs Lyon suspects the latter, but readers are left wondering if the former is coming into it. Later, Mrs Lyon is surprised to see Laura on television donating her prize pony to the children of the blind home and promptly phones Laura’s aunt as she smells a rat. Is she right?

Two Princess stories, “Sheena and the Treetoppers” and “The Saddest Dog in Town”, reach their penultimate episodes. The Treetoppers are trying to find a missing will that would save their treehouse, but no luck. And now the demolition men are asking the councillor whether or not they have the green light to demolish the old house and the treehouse with it.

Lucy and Martin Denton are not having much luck tracing the owner of the “Saddest Dog in Town” either and turn to the local newspaper for help. Then a lorry passes by and the dog runs after it because he has recognised the engine sound. His rightful owner at last?

Sadie, Cook and Grovel all jump on the table in fright when they see mice on the bench, not realising they are only sugar mice intended as a gift for them. They not only end up feeling very silly but lose their treat as well, because the cat ate the mice.

Tammy and Princess 28 April 1984

1984, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tammy 28 April 1984

Cover artist: Maria Barrera

  • Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)
  • Cassie’s Coach (artist Tony Coleman, writer Alison Christie)
  • Open an Easter Egg! (writer Maureen Spurgeon) – quiz
  • The Horse Finders – A Pony Tale
  • Day and Knight (artist Juliana Buch) – final episode
  • Easter Parade – feature
  • The Button Box (artist Mario Capaldi, main writer Alison Christie)
  • Easter Fun Spot – Easter jokes
  • Rusty, Remember Me (artist Eduardo Feito) – final episode
  • Stefa’s Heart of Stone (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)
  • Pam of Pond Hill (artist Bob Harvey, writer Jay Over)
  • Picture Yourself! – feature

 

We finish off our spread of Tammy Easter issues with the very last Tammy Easter issue in 1984. Easter is celebrated here with Easter features, an Easter quiz, Easter jokes, and a beautiful spring cover drawn by Maria Barrera.

It is four weeks into the Tammy and Princess merger, and two of the stories that came over from Princess end this week. In “Day and Knight”, Sharon now realises the only way to make her heartbroken father happy is to allow her bully stepsister Carrie a second chance. However, her wounds from all that bullying are making it very hard for her to do so, and she does not understand that her bully stepsister is now genuinely sorry. So it’s a real dilemma. Meanwhile, helping Rusty to get his leg fit again is what finally gets Donna to stop depending on her leg brace and work on improving that leg with exercise.

“Stefa’s Heart of Stone”, which Princess reprinted from Jinty, carries on, as Stefa has still not learned that a heart of stone is not the answer. Ruth, who now realises Stefa’s game, has the girls rally around for a “Melt Stefa” campaign to soften that stony heart. But so far all this gets is rude rebuffs from Stefa. Next week is Stefa’s birthday. Will this make things any different?

Bella has persuaded Benjie to join the sports acrobatics group as her partner. Pity the instructress is so unfriendly to Bella because she is a former gymnastics champion. An encouraging coach would really help the partnership to flourish more.

“Cassie’s Coach” reaches its penultimate episode, and it’s a tear-jerking plot development. Mr Ironside has been such a father figure to the Lord children ever since their mother was wrongly imprisoned. There is so much they could not have done without him – like find the old coach that became their home. But this week they lose him because he has to give up his business (can’t afford to replace his horse) and go work at his cousin’s farm. Can the Lord children survive without him?

“The Horse Finders” are commissioned to find 60 of the near-extinct black Zarah horse breed. They find 50 readily enough, but the final 10 are proving elusive, and time is running out. And time has just about run out when they are one short. But the 60th appears in a most surprise manner.

In this week’s Button Box story, Bev hears a church button story that is instructive in the evolution of hassocks. They started out as tufts of grass for poorer parishioners to kneel on. Unfortunately tufts of grass also made a mess on the church floor. So they became the more practical, decorative and non-messy cushions.

A Pond Hill girl, Catherine Bone, is being terrorised by a secret society known as “The Group” because she had been such a sneak. While Pam is appalled at what “The Group” is doing, others are unsympathetic and say it’s Catherine’s just desserts for sneaking. Di is one of them – but then Catherine turns up on the doorstep, dripping with paint that “The Group” threw all over her. What do you say to that, Di?

Princess II, #26, 17 March 1984

1984, Issues, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Princess cover 26

  • The Secret Swimmer (artist Phil Gascoine)
  • The Dream House (artist Mike White)
  • Rusty, Remember Me (artist Eduardo Feito)
  • Stefa’s Heart of Stone (artist Phil Townsend, writer Alison Christie)
  • Day and Knight (artist Juliana Buch)
  • Are You a Teacher’s Pet? (quiz)
  • Flight from the Romanys (artist Maria Dembilio)
  • Fun Fair – puzzles
  • Horse from the Sea (artist Rodrigo Comos)
  • The Haunted Station (artist Julio Bosch)
  • Sadie in Waiting (artist Joe Collins)

 

The merge into Tammy is in three weeks, so how does this issue contribute towards the merger? “The Dream House” has a double episode, it looks like “Flight from the Romanys” is getting close to finishing, but “The Secret Swimmer”, “The Haunted Station”, “Rusty, Remember Me” and “Day and Knight” are on their second episodes. And anyone familiar with the original run of “Stefa’s Heart of Stone” knows it still has a long way to go.

Liza now becomes “The Secret Swimmer” and secretly training for the event Nikki is now out of, because she feels it is the only way to get the girls to talk to her again after wrongly blaming her for Nikki’s accident. But getting up at early hours for training and pushing herself too much are beginning to take their toll.

Mr Day is pushing headlong into his new marriage with Carrie Knight’s mother, despite protests from his daughter Sharon that Carrie is bullying her. Dad is not listening and Carrie is very good at pulling the wool over his eyes. And now Carrie is causing another heartbreak for Sharon – she has to rehome her beloved cat Monk because of Carrie’s asthma.

In “Stefa’s Heart of Stone”, Dad’s job is on the line because of Stefa’s tricks to dodge Ruth, Joy’s look-alike at school. Stefa gets no sleep because her heart of stone is struggling against her guilty conscience. But conscience does not win, and neither does common sense. By the final panel it looks like Stefa will indeed get Dad sacked because of her wanting to avoid Ruth.

Donna Jones needs a vet for the injured fox cub, now named Rusty, but money is a problem. And there is another problem – animals aren’t allowed in their flat, and the caretaker is not the sort who would understand the situation.

Jan Dale is becoming more convinced that the doll’s house is evil and taking away the elder members of the family she is working for. Now Diana, the eldest daughter, has disappeared like the parents, but the two youngest kids seem to be helping it.

Lydia Parks, who has only just escaped from the gypsies who kidnapped her, now has to escape from a workhouse. She finally does, but it’s now more urgent than ever to get home, because her sick friend at the workhouse badly needs help.

In “Horse from the Sea”, Janice and Tracey Penrose discover a rift in the Penrose family, which stems from when Charles Penrose blamed his father for a mining accident because the old miser was cutting corners at the expense of safety. It would not be surprising if Janice’s stepfather was descended from the old meanie, because it looks like he’s deliberately keeping Janice an invalid so she won’t inherit, and committing other fraud too.

“The Haunted Station” is more like a time travel device. It has already sent Linda Brent and Wendy Smith to the 1930s, where they get entangled with a frightened girl who is being chased by someone. Now it looks like it’s about to send them back to the 1930s again.

Princess Bee wants to go riding – and so does Grovel. He ends up regretting it because Princess Bee uses him for her mount after he messes things up (below).

Sadie in waiting riding
Horse hijinks, “Sadie in Waiting”, Princess II, 17 March 1984