Origin:

Billy Bunter was the archytypal English public school boy, with what we would describe today as "an eating disorder", but in that era he was simply known as The Fat Owl of the Remove. He first appeared in the UK in the Fleetway story paper The Magnet in February 1908. Written by the prolific Frank Richards, Bunter became so popular that many of the comic stories were turned into full length novels.

In 1939 writer Charles Hamilton started scripting the new comic strip version that started in issue one of the Knockout comic (4 March 1939 until 1963). Bunter was drawn by both Frank Minnitt and Reg Partlett. In Britain Bunter also appeared in the Comet (1952-1953) as well as the Valiant (1963-1976) comics.

The strip was so popular in the Netherlands, that Fleetway ended up sending a lot of the artwork to Holland where it was translated into Dutch for various publications. When the Fleetway artwork finally ran out Dutch artists Jan van der Voo, Gerard Leever, Robert van der Kroft took over producing original work upto 1981, whilst reprints of Partlett and Minnitt continued until 1992.

Synopsis:

Prequels, Sequels and Follow-ons:

Billy Turf haantie de voorste (1981) Directed by: Henk van der Linden. Starring: Raymond van Haaf, Jan Kruyk, Hub Consten

Billy Turf contra Kweel (1982) Directed by: Henk van der Linden. Starring: Raymond van Haaf, Jan Kruyk, Hub Consten