While working on the article about Eleanor and Herbert Farjeon's Kings and Queens, I was reminded of Prune's Progress, Anthony Armstrong's book about the genealogical tree of wartime comic-strip hero Pilot-Officer Percy Prune, RAF.
Prune's Progress also has something in common with Sellar and Yeatman's history book parody 1066 and All That.
These little books contain amusing illustrations and witty text. The text greatly enhances and complements the pictures, and vice-versa.
Prune's Progress (1943) consists of a sequence of 28 pictures, each of which depicts a member of the Prune family tree and is accompanied by a short summary of his or her life.
Writer Anthony Armstrong provided the text, and the pictures are the work of cartoonist Raff.
Anthony Armstrong was the retired army captain George Anthony Armstrong Willis (1897-1976), and Raff was the airman William John Henry (Bill) Hooper (1916 – 1996). Affable dimwit and hopeless incompetent Pilot-Officer Percy Prune, with his catchphrase of “Good (or bad) show!”, was their joint creation.
This is the first edition of Prune's Progress:
The stories of the Prune family members and their hereditary ineptitude are given in Percy Prune's own words. Many of his ancestors did stupid things and came to a bad end.
Polycarp Proone for example was a gardener; he grew a pink rose and wore it when he went off to fight in the Wars of the Roses. Unfortunately, both the Yorkists with their white rose and the Lancastrians with their red one thought that he was on the other side! They set upon him as soon as he arrived, and he died facing overwhelming odds.
Sir Pritchard Proon tried to emulate Sir Walter Raleigh by spreading his cloak over a puddle for Queen Elizabeth I to walk on. Unfortunately, what he thought was a puddle was really an open man-hole...he left the Court and soon died in obscurity.
The Prune ancestors are shown wearing the dress of the time. I particularly like Philander Prunne and Paul 'Beau' Prune:
One of the funniest combinations of picture and text depicts and describes Peregrine de Prunne, who went on a Crusade leaving his wife and baby son behind. He got everything wrong and was imprisoned; it was 10 years before he was able to return home. He was delighted to see his family again, most of them for the first time!
The final picture is of the man himself:
Anthony Armstrong wrote plays and many more books, including some light and amusing short stories in the style of fairy tales. I enjoyed reading The Prince Who Hiccupped and Other Tales: Being Some Fairy Tales for Grownups (1932) and The Pack of Pieces (1942) , issued in 1945 as The Naughty Princess. They don't inspire commentary, but they are very witty and ideal for counteracting the effects of reading depressing material.
Pilot-Officer Prune appears in many more cartoons and stories. There is a lot of information about him and the RAF online.
Another edition of the book that represents the best of both authors:
