This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (January 2017) |
Editor | Charles Maurice Down (1919–1940) |
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Illustrator | C. H. Chapman (1911–1940) |
Staff writers | Charles Hamilton |
Frequency | Weekly |
Publisher | Amalgamated Press |
First issue | 1908 |
Final issue Number | 1940 1,683 |
Country | United Kingdom |
The Magnet was a British weekly boys' story paper published by Amalgamated Press. It ran from 1908 to 1940, publishing a total of 1,683 issues.
Each issue cost a halfpenny and contained a long school story about the boys of Greyfriars School, a fictional public school located somewhere in Kent, and were written under the pen-name of "Frank Richards." The most famous Greyfriars character was Billy Bunter, of the Remove. The vast majority of the stories were written by author Charles Hamilton, although substitute writers were sometimes used when he could not supply copy. Most issues of The Magnet also included a shorter serial story (a variety of detective, scouting, and adventure yarns were featured), and many issues also included a newspaper ostensibly produced by the characters themselves and called the Greyfriars Herald. These parts of the paper were not written by Charles Hamilton.