Alf Tupper

Alf Tupper was a fictional working class, 'hard as nails' runner, whose adventures appeared in first The Rover and then The Victor, British boys' comics from D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. His adventures appeared over almost a 40-year period, under the title The Tough of the Track.

Alf, a character created by Bill Blaine, written by Gilbert Lawford Dalton and illustrated in The Victor by Pete Sutherland, has appeared in several guises in British comics over the years.

Alf Tupper's storyline and character

Whatever his job and wherever it was located, Alf was the eternal underdog. Regarded as a 'guttersnipe' by the posh blokes from the AAA's, he was at his best the day after a night on late shift, lifting heavy objects and getting little sleep. His journey to the track (often White City) almost invariably involved falling asleep on the train and missing his stop.

Sometimes his tardiness was caused by skullduggery of the worst kind by 'stuck-up' rich boys from a university somewhere, but many times, it was because he could not stop himself from rescuing people in distress or just generally being a selfless chap. Regardless, he always got there in the nick of time, and, having just finished his fish and chips, went on to win the championships or even, in 'end of series' stories, break the world record for the mile, and utter his famous catchphrase “I ran ‘em all!”.

Vic Whittle writes:

<blockquote>Alf Tupper was 18 years...
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