Albert Campion

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Albert Campion is a fictional character in a series of detective novels and short stories by Margery Allingham.

Supposedly created as a parody of Dorothy L. Sayers' detective Lord Peter Wimsey, Campion established his own identity, and matured and developed as the series progressed. He first appeared as a supporting character in The Crime at Black Dudley (1929), an adventure story involving a ring of criminals, and would go on to feature in another 17 novels and over 20 short stories.

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Fictional biography

Albert Campion is a pseudonym used by a man who was born in 1900, into a prominent British aristocratic family. He was educated at Rugby and the (fictitious) St. Ignatius' College, Cambridge (according to a mini-biography included in Sweet Danger). Ingenious, resourceful and well-educated, in his 20s he assumed the name Campion and began a life as an adventurer and detective.

Campion is thin, blond, wears glasses, and is often described as affable, inoffensive and bland, with a deceptively blank and unintelligent expression. He is, nonetheless, a man of authority and action, and considers himself to be a helpful and comforting "Uncle Albert" to friends and those in need.

In some stories, he lives in a flat above a police station at Number 17, Bottle Street in Picadilly, London. He is often aided by his manservant, Magersfontein Lugg, an uncouth, rough-and-tumble fellow who used to be a burglar. He is good friends with Inspector (later Superintendent) Stanislaus Oates of Scotland Yard, who is as by-the-book as Campion is unorthodox, and in later books with Inspector Charles Luke. Campion also has many friends and allies, seemingly scattered all across the English countryside.

As the series progresses and Campion matures, he falls in love with, woos and eventually marries Lady Amanda Fitton, an aircraft engineer involved in an early case; they have a son, called Rupert.

In wartime, Campion is involved in intelligence work.

Albert Campion is revealed early on to be a pseudonym; in Mystery Mile, his true first name is said to be Rudolph, while his surname may begin with a K. Among the many other names by which Campion has been known are "Mornington Dodd" and "Tootles Ash" (both from The Crime at Black Dudley) and "Christopher Twelvetrees".

Campion's stories are generally adventures rather than true mysteries, as they rarely feature puzzles that the reader has a chance of solving; it is the characters and situations which carry the story. Most of the novels are short by modern standards - about 200 pages long.

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Bibliography

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Novels

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Short story collections

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Television

Image:Campiondvd.jpg Campion was played by Peter Davison in two series of BBC adaptations of Allingham's stories, shown in the United States by PBS. Lugg was played by Brian Glover, and Oates by Andrew Burt. Peter Davison sang the title music for the first series himself; in the second series, it was replaced with an instrumental version.

Campion adapted a total of eight novels, each of which was originally broadcast as two separate hour-long episodes.

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Series 1 (1989)

  1. Look to the Lady
  2. Police at the Funeral
  3. The Case of the Late Pig
  4. Death of a Ghost
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Series 2 (1990)

  1. Sweet Danger
  2. Dancers in Mourning
  3. Flowers for the Judge
  4. Mystery Mile


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1959-60 adaptations

The BBC also made and broadcast adaptations of two Campion stories, Dancers in Mourning and Death of a Ghost, in 1959 and 1960 respectively. Both were shown in six 30-minute episodes, and starred Bernard Horsfall as Campion and Wally Patch as Lugg; Oates was played by John Ruddock in the first and Arthur Brough in the second.

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External links

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Albert_Campion"