Rupert and Raggety (1971)

Title - Rupert and Raggety
Author - Unknown
Publisher - A Daily Express Publication. Published by Beaverbrook Newspapers
Format - Hardback
Year - 1971
Original Cost - 25p

Today Rupert shelters a spiky and bad-mannered Orphan of the Storm

   Begins the first line of the book by way of an introduction of what’s to come.  And I can’t help but notice the use of capitals as though Orphan of the Storm is the name of some prophetic chaos figure who was always destined to return and wreak havoc.  Indeed, even the Gipsy Granny that Rupert meets on his way back from shopping tells him:

There's a storm blowing up such as Nutwood never saw before.  You mark my words

   And to prove she isn't just being overly dramatic and doom-mongering, she tells him to make haste and to use the magic in his little wooden Go-kart.  Something Rupert believes is a secret and yet she's clearly attuned and sensitive to all elemental forces.  So, while PC Growler had initially advised of the impending bad weather, it’s the wise old woman that tips us off that something a little more menacing than wind and rain is coming.

   Rupert takes to the air, but he isn't fast enough to escape the storm and his chariot is soon brought down just as a tree is torn roots from soil and toppled before his eyes.

But something is scrabbling about in the ground. It looks like a loose root. The "Root" emerges backwards.  It turns out to be a creature of rootlike appearance but with a wicked and furious face.  It pounces at Rupert as soon as it sees him.

   Which would be quite a description in its own right but bear in mind this book is illustrated with pictures from the actual TV episode it's based on.  And as we all know; Raggety as seen in the 1970 to 1977 ITC series, is a spectacularly disturbing creation who has remained potent for decades.  There's a generation of us, who having first met him through "Watch with Mother" (parental supervision suggested but couldn't guarantee it always went on in our house) have carried his haunting aspect into adulthood, buried among our other more innocent childhood memories.  I'm fairly certain that were it not for the internet and the recent complete series DVD release, the potency of this children's book would be akin to a grimoire for raising monsters from the amygdala.

...the creature almost takes off with rage. "I hate you!" it squawks at him, not really listening. "Hate you hate you HATE YOU!

   Raggety presents as a thing possessed, an enraged child-like poppet full of fury and anger unable to control itself.  Rupert only calms it with the promise of finding it a new home but once back at his cottage, Raggety instantly embarks upon a spree of vandalism and theft.  This only ends with the arrival of Willy Wisp, a magical creature of light, who having calmed the situation guides them to a suitable alternative home for the woodland creature.

  Mr Grimnasty, the dirty and curmudgeonly Old Man of the Woods is for my money almost as disturbing a creation as Raggety and definitely at the top end of the list of the many, many bloody weird and odd characters that appear throughout the whole run of TV stories.  Although a more perfect adoptive parent could not have been found and he instantly offers the Orphan of the Storm a home.

"It'll do," grunts Grimnasty. "It can live in the roots."

   Although with hindsight I have to wonder if that is quite the relationship that has been set up here.  "It'll do" takes on a slightly more sinister tone when you notice the words Willy uses to describe the new house guest

"...we've brought you a present, Mr Grimnasty," says Willy. " A new pet!"

   But maybe it’s no more than Raggety deserves?

   I've been hunting this book down for a long while now and finally got it for a good price at the start of the year.  Its more than lived up to the expectation of the long wait and while I've relived the story within first through the vintage View-Master slides and then in all its restored digital glory, there is something extra special about reading it in the form of an actual artifact of the time. And it also seems a lovely way to declare my Raggety Archive complete.  That's not to say I've done thinking about the twitchy little wood-sprite, quite the opposite in fact.  The obsession remains locked within as do the questions as to why it was and remains so potent a creation.  But those are thoughts for another time.

 

Steve