HENRY "HARRY"/"BUNNY" MANDERS
AS SEEN IN:
'Raffles'
CREATED BY:
E. W. Hornung
PORTRAYED BY:
Christopher Strauli
TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time
From Wikipedia:
Harry Manders (almost exclusively known as Bunny Manders) is a character in
the popular series of Raffles novels by E.W. Hornung. He is the faithful
companion of Raffles, a cricketer and gentleman thief, who makes a living
robbing the rich in late Victorian British High Society.
Whereas Raffles is sharp-witted and cynical, the younger Bunny is more innocent and idealistic. Raffles often uses this naivete to his own benefit, and the two are commonly companions on the various burglaries they commit.
Raffles and Bunny had attended the same public school together, though there had been a considerable age gap between them. Bunny had always admired the older, charming Raffles who was a top sportsman and seemed to prevail in anything he did. After some years without contact, the two were reunited at Raffles' chambers for a baccarat game. Bunny returns later to ask for Raffles' help, as Bunny had fallen into considerable debt. Admiring his pluck, Raffles tricks Bunny into joining him on a burglary, and the two become companions in crime.
Together the two launch a series of daring robberies on London society, until they are eventually exposed in "The Gift of the Emperor" and arrested on board a passenger liner. Raffles leaps overboard and is presumed drowned, while Bunny is returned to England to serve a term in prison. After his release some years later, a mysterious newspaper advertisement reunites him with Raffles and they both go undercover. The two men continue their crime spree, now acting as outlaws.
In 1899 both Raffles and Bunny volunteer for service in the Second Boer War where soldiers of the British Empire were fighting the Boer guerillas. After uncovering an enemy spy, Raffles is killed in battle and Bunny is badly wounded. He returns to England to write Raffles' memoirs.
Whereas Raffles is sharp-witted and cynical, the younger Bunny is more innocent and idealistic. Raffles often uses this naivete to his own benefit, and the two are commonly companions on the various burglaries they commit.
Raffles and Bunny had attended the same public school together, though there had been a considerable age gap between them. Bunny had always admired the older, charming Raffles who was a top sportsman and seemed to prevail in anything he did. After some years without contact, the two were reunited at Raffles' chambers for a baccarat game. Bunny returns later to ask for Raffles' help, as Bunny had fallen into considerable debt. Admiring his pluck, Raffles tricks Bunny into joining him on a burglary, and the two become companions in crime.
Together the two launch a series of daring robberies on London society, until they are eventually exposed in "The Gift of the Emperor" and arrested on board a passenger liner. Raffles leaps overboard and is presumed drowned, while Bunny is returned to England to serve a term in prison. After his release some years later, a mysterious newspaper advertisement reunites him with Raffles and they both go undercover. The two men continue their crime spree, now acting as outlaws.
In 1899 both Raffles and Bunny volunteer for service in the Second Boer War where soldiers of the British Empire were fighting the Boer guerillas. After uncovering an enemy spy, Raffles is killed in battle and Bunny is badly wounded. He returns to England to write Raffles' memoirs.
OLIVER MANDERS
AS SEEN IN:
'Agatha Christie's Poirot'
"Three Act Tragedy"
CREATED BY:
Dame Agatha Christie
PORTRAYED BY:
Tom Wisdom
TV STATUS:
Recastaway
TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time
From the PBS Synopsis:
Sir Charles Cartwright, the retired, renowned
British stage actor, hosts his old friend Hercule Poirot at a dinner party at
his Cornwall mansion. When one of the guests, the harmless old Reverend
Babbington, chokes to death on his cocktail, Poirot dismisses murder because the
drinks were passed randomly. This, he asserts, means that any one of
Cartwright's guests might have taken the poisoned drink, had there been
one.
Sir Charles is still convinced of murder, and watching his beloved Egg in an intimate conversation with his handsome young rival, Oliver Manders, he gloomily resolves to meet up with Poirot in Monte Carlo.
In Monte Carlo weeks later, Poirot is greeted by Cartwright only to learn that Strange has died, this time indisputably of murder. At his Yorkshire estate, where he houses a sanatorium, the famous nerve doctor Strange had hosted nearly all of the same guests [from the first party.] Also joining the group, uninvited, was Oliver Manders, who showed up bloodied and injured after supposedly crashing his motorbike while passing by.
In London, Poirot is visited by Egg and the nervous Oliver, who admits that his motorbike crash was a fake. Strange had sent a letter requesting the stunt, but, Oliver explains, seemed genuinely surprised when he showed up.
Poirot and his amateur detectives Sir Charles and Egg separately question the other guests, learning that Reverend Babbington had warned Egg away from Oliver.
Sir Charles is still convinced of murder, and watching his beloved Egg in an intimate conversation with his handsome young rival, Oliver Manders, he gloomily resolves to meet up with Poirot in Monte Carlo.
In Monte Carlo weeks later, Poirot is greeted by Cartwright only to learn that Strange has died, this time indisputably of murder. At his Yorkshire estate, where he houses a sanatorium, the famous nerve doctor Strange had hosted nearly all of the same guests [from the first party.] Also joining the group, uninvited, was Oliver Manders, who showed up bloodied and injured after supposedly crashing his motorbike while passing by.
In London, Poirot is visited by Egg and the nervous Oliver, who admits that his motorbike crash was a fake. Strange had sent a letter requesting the stunt, but, Oliver explains, seemed genuinely surprised when he showed up.
Poirot and his amateur detectives Sir Charles and Egg separately question the other guests, learning that Reverend Babbington had warned Egg away from Oliver.
From the source:
At the office of Messrs Speier & Ross, Mr Satterthwaite asked for Mr
Oliver Manders and sent in his card.
Presently he was ushered into a
small room, where Oliver was sitting at a writing-table.
The young man
got up and shook hands.
'Good of you to look me up, sir,' he
said.
His tone implied.
'I have to say that, but really it’s a
damned bore.'
After the turn of the 20th Century, Bunny Manders met and married a young
lady of the Family Oliver. (The mystery novelist Ariadne Oliver would later
marry into this family as well. One branch of the family tree would lead to
Maxxie Oliver, born around 1990.)
Bunny and his wife had a son around 1902, and graced him with her family's surname as his Christian name.
Oliver Manders grew up with an interest in the Communist party, but an even greater interest in young socialite Hermione Lytton-Gore, who was better known in her circle as "Egg."
Two for Tuesday!
[Every so often I dedicate one of these Inner Toob posts to someone. For this look at the Manders pere et fils, I'm dedicating it to Win Scott Eckert, the Caretaker for the Wold Newton Family and Universe. As most of the characters mentioned (save for Maxxie Oliver) are from literary sources, it might prove to be in his wheelhouse.....]
BCnU!
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