1917 Born, Etterbeek, Belgium
1920 Attends secondary school at Collège Saint-Boniface
1920 Drawings first published in boy scout paper
1924 Adopts pseudonym Hergé
1925 Works for Catholic newspaper Le XXe Siècle
1928 In charge of Le XXe Siècle's children’s supplement, Le Petit Vingtième
1929 Tintin in the Land of the Soviets appears in Le Petit Vingtième
1930 Introduces cartoon strip Quick & Flupke
1932 Marries Germaine Kieckens
1939 Draws for Le Soir newspaper
1943 Meets artistic collaborator Edgar Pierre Jacobs
1944 Le Soir shut down. Barred from newspaper work
1946 Tintin Magazine launched
1949 Nervous breakdown
1950 Another nervous breakdown. Hergé Studio established
1961 First Tintin movie: Tintin and the Golden Fleece
1969 First Tintin animated cartoon: Prisoners of the Sun
1971 Visits America
1973 Visits Taiwan
1975 Divorces Germaine Kieckens
1977 Marries Fanny Vlamynck
1983 Hergé dies
Chronology of Tintin Books (in order of production) -
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (Tintin au pays des Soviets) 1929–1930
-
Tintin in the Congo (Tintin au Congo) 1930–1931
-
Tintin in America (Tintin en Amérique) 1931–1932
-
Cigars of the Pharaoh (Les Cigares du Pharaon) 1932–1934
-
The Blue Lotus (Le Lotus Bleu) 1934–1935
-
The Broken Ear (L'Oreille Cassée) 1935–1937
-
The Black Island (L'Ile Noire) 1937–1938
-
King Ottokar's Sceptre (Le Sceptre d'Ottokar) 1938–1939
-
The Crab with the Golden Claws (Le Crabe aux Pinces D'or) 1940–1941
-
The Shooting Star (L'Etoile Mystérieuse) 1941–1942
-
The Secret of the Unicorn (Le Secret de la Licorne) 1942–1943
-
Red Rackham's Treasure (Le Trésor de Rackam le Rouge) 1943–1944
-
The Seven Crystal Balls (Les Sept Boules de Cristal) 1943–1948
-
Prisoners of the Sun (Le Temple du Soleil) 1946–1949
-
Land of Black Gold (Tintin au Pays de L'or Noir) 1948–1950
-
Destination Moon (Objectif Lune) 1950–1953
-
Explorers on the Moon (On a Marché sur la Lune) 1950–1954
-
The Calculus Affair (L'Affaire Tournesol) 1954–1956
-
The Red Sea Sharks (Coke en Stock) 1958
-
Tintin in Tibet (Tintin au Tibet) 1960
-
The Castafiore Emerald (Les Bijoux de la Castafiore) 1963
-
Flight 714 (Vol 714 pour Sydney) 1968
-
Tintin and the Picaros (Tintin et les Picaros) 1976
-
Tintin and Alph-Art (Tintin et l'Alph-Art) Unfinished work, published posthumously in 1986, and republished with more material in 2004
2. TINTIN BIOGRAPHY
Tintin is a young man aged between 16 and 18 with an unquenchable thirst for adventure.
He is a newspaper reporter whose first ever job is to cover a hot story in freezing Moscow. It is in this adventure that Tintinologists will find the only example of their hero actually doing any work (sat at a table preparing his story). We have to assume however that Tintin always keeps his readership up-to-date with his amazing adventures, sending scribbled dispatches back from the front line. Although it says journalist in his much stamped passport, Tintin spends most of his time acting like a detective – seeking out the truth and fighting injustice.
One of Tintin’s most distinctive features is his world famous quiff. However ultra-observant readers can see that for the first eight pages of his debut adventure, the boy reporter sports a flat, combed down hairstyle. On page nine he leaps into a car to escape an enemy aeroplane, and the sudden acceleration creates a little tuft of hair from his ginger fringe. This little tuft inexplicably remains in the same position for the next 54 years. Perhaps that’s because from this moment onwards, Tintin is always on the run from one dastardly villain or another!
Tintin is a free-spirited, moral person, with great personal integrity. He is a loyal friend and a tireless battler, who never stops fighting for what he believes in. More than anything else, these are the two qualities that define Tintin’s heroic status on his mission in Tibet.
3. FAMILY CIRCLE BIOGRAPHIES
Tintin is accompanied in his many adventures by his so-called family circle. There is Snowy (his most faithful companion), as well as Captain Haddock, the Thompson Twins, Professor Calculus, Nestor, and Bianca Castafiore.
Snowy
Known as Milou in French, Snowy is an exceptionally white, wire fox terrier. His name comes from Hergé’s one time girlfriend Marie-Louise Van Custem, who was nicknamed Malou.
Snowy is Tintin’s oldest companion, appearing with his master in the first drawing of the first Tintin adventure. The dog appears on every single book cover (except Tintin and Alph-Art which was drawn after Hergé’s death).
Snowy is unswervingly loyal to his master, even saving his life on a number of occasions. However it must also be noted that Snowy is a dog with normal doggy instincts. It’s not unknown for him to get distracted now and then by a scrap of food or a juicy bone.
Initially Snowy’s stubborn, opinionated and reckless character was used as a counterpoint to Tintin’s positive and good-natured presence. However once the irascible Captain Haddock began to feature regularly in the series, Snowy’s character was able to mellow a little.
Captain Haddock
Haddock, an ex-officer in the merchant navy, first appeared in The Crab with the Golden Claws as a peripheral character. However the black-bearded seaman went on to become one of the most prominent figures in the series.
If Tintin is a man of reason, then Haddock is a man ruled by emotion. Impulsive, passionate and quick-tempered, Haddock is famous for his whiskey consumption and highly creative use of expletives. (Tintinologists have calculated that the Captain has a repertoire of over 200 unusual insults).
After leaving the navy Haddock installed himself in the stately home Marlinspike Hall. However his dreams of becoming a gentleman farmer – tending vegetables and sitting by the fire – are constantly thwarted by Tintin, who enlists the Captain in his globe trotting adventures. Despite the fact Haddock spends much of his time complaining about this, he never fails to back his friend when the chips are down.
Professor Cuthbert Calculus
Calculus is an inventor, who develops through the Tintin series from an eccentric working in his garret, to a senior nuclear physicist in charge of a hi-tech laboratory. As well nuclear physics, the professor includes in his list of interests botany, the occult, underwater exploration and electronics. His most memorable inventions include the space rocket that takes Tintin to the moon, and an ultrasonic doom machine.
The professor is characterised by his scatter-brained absent-mindedness, his poor hearing, and his intuitive, sentimental nature.
The Thom(p)sons
Thomson and Thom(p)son are two bungling police officers, who blindly follow orders, no matter how moronic that may seem (an officiousness typified by their catchphrase “to be precise”).
Despite their striking resemblance to each other, they are not twins, nor even brothers. Hergé helpfully provides us with a method to tell the two men apart: “Thomson has a straight moustache, whereas Thompson’s is more rounded”!
Symbolically the men represent the idiocy of old-fashioned values and institutions. Their anachronistic bowler hats and antiquated phrases (“old boy” etc.) comically evoke a sense of mindless traditionalism – a stark contrast to Tintin’s youthful idealism and inquisitiveness.
Nestor
Nestor is the butler of Marlinspike Hall. Patient, efficient, discreet and stylish he is the perfect embodiment of the loyal butler.
Bianca Castafiore
A renowned opera singer from La Scala in Milan (hence her nickname ‘the Milanese Nightingale’), Castafiore is a drama queen and diva. Her staple aria is the Jewel Song from Gounod’s Faust, which she launches into at any given opportunity.
Perhaps the strangest thing about Bianca is the fact that although she’s received worldwide recognition as an opera star, her singing is anathema to the rest of the family circle. Calculus is the only one who seems to enjoy her frequent performances, and he is partially deaf!
Share with your friends: |