BURIED FOR PLEASURE:
1953 - 1962

Thanks to Mr Crispin's need for tobacco funds, we can put certain limits on other cases involving Humbleby, through using the date of publication of the short narratives in various magazines.

Wolf took place in 1953 at the latest. Dog In the Night-time must have taken place by the end of 1954, while Man Overboard relates events that occurred in 1951 but that only came to Fen's attention much later, again no later than 1954.

The Man who Lost his Head was first published in June 1955.

One case in which Fen played but a listening role was Merry Go Round, in which Humbleby told him of the ludicrous antics of Brixham and D.I. Snodgrass. This first came to light in 1953, and it is to be assumed that was when Fen first heard of the events.

The final case in which Fen is recorded as having assisted Inspector Humbleby was The Mischief Done. This was first published in 1972, and casually mentions flights to South America, and Ford Cortinas. Humbleby seems old and fallible in this and must surely have been very close to retirement. But when did it actually occur?

The Glimpses of the Moon, took place in 1976 or 1977, fifteen years, says Crispin, after Fen's previous appearance in Crispin's writings. As The Mischief Done  was that appearance, it seems to follow that that case took place in either 1961 or '62. But that in turn begs questions about Humbleby's age. If we assume he was at retirement age, and that age is 65, then were Fen and Crispin mistaken when they described him as in his mid-fifties back at the time of Frequent Hearses (1949) This issue of the Inspector's age is explored further later. But if The Mischief Done is in the age of Cortina's, were there Cortina's back in '62? Or, given that Crispin only got around to writing it up in 1972, could we assume a certain licence, and that the car was not, in fact a Cortina, but some other fairly ubiquitous model?

Ford Cortinas: I am indebted to my good friend, that erudite man of books, Mr Pat Brennan, for the following information, quoted here in his own words.

"While I was re-reading your monograph on Gervase Fen, I noticed you'd asked a question on page 10..., probably rhetorically, on the existence or otherwise of Ford Cortinas in 1962.   Well, I can tell you the Mark 1 Consul Cortina - as it was then known - was introduced in September 1962 with all the marching bands (metaphorical) that Ford in Britain were capable of mustering.   I daresay they would have been in limited availability till 1963, but publicity about them would have been only too much in evidence!"  

On this evidence, we have to place The Mischief Done in 1962, and the later part of the year. This still leaves questions around Humbleby's age unanswered, of course, but does seem to at least lend credibility to Crispin. It also places The Glimpses of the Moon in 1977.