(1893-1979) UK writer primarily known for his work as by Beachcomber, a House Name of which he was the sole proprietor for more than half a century, and under which he wrote the comic "By the Way" column for the London Daily Express from 1924 until he was forcibly retired in 1975. The column featured whimsies, Parodies (including much joke Advertising of a universal panacea called Snibbo) and long, serialized, fantastical spoof narratives – some technically fantasy or even sf – whose protagonists were themselves hyperbolic comic types. The most famous of these include Mr Justice Cocklecarrot, who presides over ludicrous court cases frequently involving twelve red-bearded dwarfs; the scrounging rogue Captain Foulenough; Prodnose, a querulous Reasonable Man who perpetually criticizes the Beachcomber persona's excesses; Dr Smart-Allick, crooked headmaster of Narkover school; Dr Strabismus (Whom God Preserve) of Utrecht, a gentle Mad Scientist specializing in ludicrous Inventions; the incompetent civil servant Charlie Suet; and the Pooter-like Mr Thake. Cocklecarrot in particular has outlived his creator and regularly appears in Private Eye magazine's topical Satires of the UK legal system.
The "By the Way" column appeared daily until it went weekly in 1965; only a fraction of this body of work is reprinted in the nineteen Beachcomber collections beginning with Mr Thake (coll 1929) and ending with Beachcomber: The Works of J.B. Morton (coll 1974; vt The Bumper Beachcomber 1991) edited by Richard Ingrams. A posthumous title, Cram Me With Eels: The Best of Beachcomber's Unpublished Humour (coll 1994) edited by Mike Barfield, assembles further, previously uncollected, Beachcomber material from 1958-1975 columns.
Morton's fiction under his own name includes Drink Up, Gentlemen (1930), a Satire on English mores set in a slightly through garishly modified Near Future after the fashion of his mentor Hilaire Belloc; the plot and venue are specifically reminiscent of G K Chesterton's The Flying Inn (1914). 1933 and Still Going Wrong! (coll 1932 chap) assembles verse satires about the very Near Future; The Death of the Dragon: New Fairy Tales (coll 1934) assembles fantasies; the borderline Skylighters (1934) mocks a new Religion. Morton (mostly as Beachcomber) had a profound though not fully recognized impact on British humour, despite the misogyny of some of his later work and a persistent vein of Anti-Intellectualism. His influence is clear on such writers as Michael Frayn and Spike Milligan; on the array of creative figures involved in the Monty Python enterprises, including Terry Gilliam and Eric Idle; and on the earlier Discworld comedies of Terry Pratchett. [JC/DRL]
John Cameron Andrieu Bingham Michael Morton
born London: 7 June 1893
died Worthing, West Sussex: 10 May 1979
works
series
Beachcomber
- Mr Thake: His Life and Letters
(London: Geoffrey Bles, 1929) as by Beachcomber [coll: Beachcomber: hb/] - By the Way (London: Sheed and Ward, 1931) as by Beachcomber [coll: Beachcomber: hb/]
- Mr Thake Again (London: Chapman and Hall, 1931) as by Beachcomber [coll: Beachcomber: hb/]
- The Adventures of Mr Thake (London: Jonathan Cape, 1934) as by Beachcomber [coll: Beachcomber: hb/]
- Stuff and Nonsense (London: Jonathan Cape, 1935) as by Beachcomber [coll: Beachcomber: hb/]
- Mr Thake and the Ladies (London: Jonathan Cape, 1935) as by Beachcomber [coll: Beachcomber: hb/]
- Gallimaufry (London: Jonathan Cape, 1936) as by Beachcomber [coll: Beachcomber: hb/]
- Sideways Through Borneo: An Unconventional Journey (London: Jonathan Cape, 1937) as by Beachcomber [coll: Beachcomber: hb/]
- A Diet of Thistles (London: Jonathan Cape, 1938) as by Beachcomber [coll: Beachcomber: hb/]
- The Dancing Cabman and Other Verses (London: Frederick Muller, 1938) [poetry: coll: Beachcomber: hb/]
- A Bonfire of Weeds (London: Jonathan Cape, 1939) as by Beachcomber [coll: Beachcomber: hb/]
- I Do Not Think So (London: Burnes Oates and Washburne, 1940) [coll: Beachcomber: hb/]
- Fool's Paradise (London: Burnes Oates and Washburne, 1941) [coll: Beachcomber: hb/]
- Captain Foulenough and Company (London: Macmillan and Co, 1944) [coll: Beachcomber: hb/Nicolas Bentley]
- Here & Now (London: Hollis and Carter, 1947) [coll: Beachcomber: hb/Nicolas Bentley]
- The Misadventures of Dr Strabismus (London: Sheed and Ward, 1949) [coll: Beachcomber: hb/]
- Merry-Go-Round (London: Oldbourne, 1959) [coll: Beachcomber: hb/nonpictorial]
- The Best of Beachcomber (London: William Heinemann, 1963) [coll: edited by Michael Frayn: Beachcomber: hb/Derrick Holmes]
- Beachcomber: The Works of J.B. Morton (London: Frederick Muller, 1974) [coll: edited by Richard Ingrams: Beachcomber: hb/Nicolas Bentley]
- The Bumper Beachcomber (London: Bloomsbury, 1991) [coll: vt of the above: edited by Richard Ingrams: Beachcomber: pb/]
- Cram Me With Eels: The Best of Beachcomber's Unpublished Humour (London: Methuen, 1994) [coll: edited by Mike Barfield: Beachcomber: hb/Steve Appleby]
individual titles (selected)
links
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