Paul Temple Strip Cartoon

It is not surprising that the popularity of Paul Temple in the 1940s gave rise to demands for other exploits and a Paul Temple comic strip was created and published six days a week in the London Evening News and was widely syndicated across the UK and internationally. First appearing on 11th December 1950 it ran until 1st May 1971 when it ended amid some acrimony as a BBC producer had inadvertently featured Temple reading a copy of the rival London Evening Standard in an episode of the Paul Temple television series, which went down badly with the proprietors of the London Evening News.

The comic strip stories were initially written by Francis Durbridge but later by other writers under his supervision. The comic strip was first illustrated by Alfred Sindall who was succeeded by Bill Bailey in 1952 and then Philip Mendoza in 1954 before John McNamara took over illustrating the strip in 1956 until the end of the series.

10 of the strip cartoon stories were published in paperback by Micron Publications as The Paul Temple Library and are today much sought after as collectors’ items.