McNamara, John

Little is known about British illustrator and comic artist John McNamara. He will be remembered as one of the great artists behind the comic strip version of PAUL TEMPLE.Paul Temple is a fictional character invented by English author Francis Durbridge (1912-1998). Some of the novels were written in collaboration with John Thewes, Douglas Rutherford or Charles Hatten and those with Rutherford were even published under the name "Paul Temple" and by this making the fictional writer a "real" one. Temple is an amateur private detective and author of crime fiction. Together with his wife "Steve", he solves the featured "Whodunit" crimes subtle humorous dialogues and rare "action". The introductory and closing music for the long-running BBC radio series was Coronation Scot (a musical depiction of a train journey) written by Vivian Ellis. Paul Temple was "born" as a radio detective. In Britain, several Paul Temple radio series were broadcast from the 1930s to the 1960s. While several actors and actresses portrayed the Temples over the years, including the Send for Paul Temple Again series which starred Barry Morse and aired in 1945. Probably the best known portrayal of the couple was by Peter Coke and Marjorie Westbury. Many of the serials staring Coke and Westbury were aired from 2003 onwards by digital radio station BBC 7. Paul Temple was also adapted for film, the first of which was released in 1946 as Send for Paul Temple. In all four cinema movies were produced. Later Durbridge licensed the character to the BBC, which has made since 1969 64 TV episodes, starring Francis Matthews as Paul Temple, who was assisted by Ros Drinkwater as his wife Steve. 52 parts of the series were produced together with the German TV-station ZDF, making it the very first international co-production of the TV era. The theme tune of the series was written by British composer Ron Grainer. In Germany, twelve Paul Temple novels were converted into radio serials in the 1960s, each part ending with a cliffhanger, making them to "Straßenfeger", which were listened to by huge numbers of people, leaving streets practically deserted. The performers were of national renown, including: Actor Rene Deltgen (born a Luxembourgian), Gustav Knuth, Paul Klinger and others. Almost all the German radio serials have been released on CD as audio-books. In August 2006, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a new 8-part re-creation of one of the lost early radio serials, Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery, which was originally broadcast in 1947. Crawford Logan as Paul Temple and Gerda Stevenson as Steve effectively channeled the earlier incarnation in a mono production employing vintage microphones and sound effects. Two short-living comic-series by the Aachener Bildschriftenverlag and the Luna-Kriminalromane are rare collector's items. There was a Paul Temple comic strip in the London Evening News. The strip was published November 19, 1951-May 1, 1971. It was in the hands of artists Alfred Sindall, Bill Bailey and John McNamara. All great British comic strip artists and illustrator.Comicart.dk proudly presents the work of McNamara, a talented craftsman. Paul Temple is one of the greatest British comic strips ever. The strips were long lost - but recently discovered. We managed to buy a large bunch. And are happy to share them with other collectors.