The Adventures of Rupert Bear

On this day, Rupert Bear, a comic strip character created by Herbert Tourtel and illustrated by his wife, the artist Mary Tourtel, made his first appearance in the Daily Express newspaper. The initial purpose of the strip was to win sales from the rival newspapers the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror. Rupert is a bear who lives with his parents in a house in Nutwood, a fictional idyllic English village. He is drawn wearing a red jumper and bright yellow checked trousers, with matching yellow scarf. Most of the other characters in the series are also anthropomorphic animals. Each story begins in Nutwood, where Rupert usually sets out on a small errand for his mother or to visit a friend, which then develops into an adventure to an exotic place. At the end of the story Rupert returns to Nutwood, where all is safe and well, and where his parents seem perfectly sanguine about his adventures.

Author: Tony

Born and raised in Malaysia between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Educated at Wycliffe College in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, England. Living in the foothills of Mount Etna since 1982 and teaching English at Catania University since 1987. View all posts by Tony