THE tales of Black Bob, the fictional Border Collie, may have been set in and around Selkirk, but did the writer of the eponymous cartoon strip have any connection with the Royal and Ancient Burgh?
That is the question the ad hoc group bidding to have the famous dog commemorated with an art installation in the town want answered – hopefully in the affirmative.
The Black Bob Heritage Group (BBHG) is bidding for a £30,000 grant to create a stonebuilt shepherds’s stell – a small livestock enclosure – at Long Philip Park west of Bannerfield.
It is one of three sites earmarked to host permanent artworks to mark the completion of Selkirk’s £31m flood protection scheme.
With a public exhibition of the proposals vying for one of the commissions due to take place later this month, the group has issued an appeal for information.
“A key part of our installation will be an information/interpretation board so that visitors know the full story about Black Bob and his adventures with his shepherd ‘owner’ Andrew Glenn,” explained John Irving of the BBHG.
“We know the cartoon, which ran in the Dandy comic from 1945 to 1982, was drawn by an Englishman called Jack Prout who lived in Cornwall.
“But with its many references to the town and places like Corbie Linn and Linglie Glen, it had always been assumed the original author of the stories, which also ran for many years in The Weekly News, was a Selkirk resident or, at the very least, someone with a great deal of local knowledge.
“It has been suggested locally that the original author of the tales was John Hunter, a former journalist who came to Selkirk to run a gift and china shop in Market Place.
“It is said he wrote the stories in the back room of the shop and then posted them to publishers D. C. Thomson in Dundee.
“However, we have approached D. C. Thomson and they have no record of any writer with any Selkirk connection. Therefore we have no actual proof that the stories originated here.
“Thus I am appealing to the public to help us with this mystery and come forward with any information regarding the original writer of Black Bob”.
Anyone who can help should contact John on jirving25@tiscali.co.uk
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