TINTIN & SCOUTING

 

Like Scouting, George Remi aka Hergé, the creator of Tintin was born in 1907. The connection between Scouting and Tintin's creator have a lot more in common then just their year of  birth.

Georges connection with Scouting began in 1919 when joined the Saint-Boniface Scout Group in Belgium, where it became obvious he had a great talent for observation and a love of the outdoors and wildlife. His fellow Scouts were also impressed with is understanding of Basic Scouting Skills like knot tying and pioneering and enjoyed sharing them. These skills also came in very useful for the troops regular trips to the country and further a field

 

Before long Remi never left for camp without packing a notebook to record all sorts of observations, that would later become the bases for a lot of the Tintin Adventures an example of this is a sketch done in 1923 of the Saint-Boniface Scouts roped together and on a  climbing expedition in the Pyrenees that would later become an illustration in the 1959 adventure in Tintin in Tibet.

While on another Scouting Exhibition he had an encounter with Mussolini's Blackshirts, a group of people employed by Mussolini to enforce in Fascist Parties rules, their correct title was Fasci di Combattimenti, This encounter was thought to inspired another one of Tintin's adventures, that being Tintin and King Ottokars Sceptre.

Scouting gave Remi his first break as an artist and cartoonist when he was cored by his fellow Scouts to provide illustrations for the  Saint-Boniface Scout Group's magazine Never Enough. These illustrations we so good that they caught that he ended with the help of René Weverbergh, the Leader in charge of the Brussels Scout District,  up landing a job age 17 on Le Boy Scout,  later to be known has  Le Boy-Scout Belge, the national magazine of  Belgium Scouts.

At the same time has his career as a cartoonist was taking Hergé Scouting skills were becoming recongised, when in 1923 he as appointed as Patrol Leader of Squirrel Patrol, where assumed the name Curious Fox. He was a natural Leader with a great sense of humour, who was able to inspire younger Scouts to go that little bit further with challenging activities..

Hergé at the head of Squirrel Patrol
 

The Birth of Tintin

 

 

 

 

Hergé decide to introduce a new character into his cartoon strips that appeared in Le Boy Scout, in the form of Totor, an adventurous Patrol Leader, who was based on Hergé experience and who later became the prototype for the now famous character of Tintin, not only did Totor have a passing resemblance to Tintin, but he as also had a dog who went every where with him. Totor had fans amongst adults and children and ran until 1931, when him and Tintin existed side by side.

 

 

After earning a diploma Hergé was in need of paid employment so with the help once again of René Weverbergh he got himself a job on the daily newspaper Le Vingtiéme Siécle ( The Twentieth Century). He left the newspaper , but was to return on after competing  his National Service when is career as an illustrator really took off.

By the time of his last adventure Tintin having been on 24 adventures, having been published in 60 different languages and selling over 120 million copies but Hergé never forgot his time in Scouting and in fact let Scouts and Guides camp in his Belgian Mansions grounds and he would quite often wander down to the camps and ask questions about the activities they were doing as well as share memories of his days in Scouting.

George Remi died on 3rd March 1983

 

Tintin can be looked at as a typical Scout as he his practical, resourceful and is able to use a number of skills to survive such as knot tying and tracking

 

Acknowledgements and Further Reading

Drawing on Experience - Article from June/July 2005 Edition of Scouting the Magazine of UK Scouting
The Official Tintin Website
Lambiek.net - Comic creator: Hergé (Georges Remi)
Tintin: The Complete Companion by Michael Farr

There is also a large collection of Hergé Scouting drawings on display at the Story of Scouting Museum in Lancashire