Tintin Forums

This is all very fascinating!

I’ve sent a message to the programme to point out this discussion, and linking them to this document, which has a photo and description of the meeting of the Amis in 2000.

I’ve asked if they have any research to say that Peppermans died in action (if so, what might have caused such a mistake, or was the visitor to the meeting an imposter! (Probably not, but it seems suitably Hergéan!))

Let’s see what happens now!

Thanks very much for the link to the 3 photos of Dendonker as Tintin, on the Tintin.com website I have found them- but unfortunately they are in a protected format.

I am sorry my link to the Pepperman's photo was incorrect
http://www.dhnet.be/free_dossiers/herge.pdf
should work but you have to scroll down a few articles to find the headline 'Back from USSR in 1930!' and the good photo of Perpermans with mic standing by the side of held up issue of Vinglieme Siecle which no doubt chronicled his portrayal of Tintin. This photograph however is also protected.

My mission is to try and conclude my article on Herge Boy Scout on my Scout History website with photographs I can use of both the Boy Scout 'impersonators' of Tintin. Of course the crowning glory would be a photo of Herge in Scout uniform!?

In Scouting

Colin

Does the Herge Museum correspond? Would they respond to a request for a scan of their photo of Dendonker as Tintin (as mentioned on the BBC Broadcast) for very non-commercial purposes?

Here's the email address for the museum: info[at]museeherge.com. I expect that they have English-speakers among their staff. If you specify "Ce message est en anglais" at the top of your email they might get the message.

Here's a short bio of Herge which is apparently based on interviews he had with Numa Sadoul who published a famous book based on them. It includes a photo which purports to be of Herge as the head of the Squirrels patrol.

Scroll down to about 1931-32 and you'll find what appears to be a photo of Dedonker as Tintin returning from the Congo.

According to the opening article of the link you have provided, Herge was forced to leave the scouts for the Federation des scouts catholiques de Belgique ("Federation of Catholic Belgian Scouts") when he left secondary school - something he took very bitterly though it provided him with the opportunity to publish his drawings.

There's nothing much in terms of scouting in the Peppermans article, based on his attendance of a Friends of Herge gathering, just that he was told by his scout leader to report to a Mister Herge, a name that meant nothing to him. A few days later he was travelling to the Gare du Nord in Brussels with a very nice man (Herge) who helped him dress up as Tintin and told him not to worry and that everything would be fine since he was expecting just a handful of readers. Peppermans was supposed to deliver a speech but they were both quite unprepared for the 3000 people who turned up! and as a result he soon found that the speech was of little importance since the crowd simply wanted to see Tintin and his creator.

Of course, until we know for sure what happened to Peppermans, and that the old man at the gathering was the genuine article, we are going to have to take these revelations with a pinch of salt.

Good luck.

The photographs of Hergé in the scouts and Dedoncker and Hergé on the Gare du Nord balcony are both reproduced in "Tintin and the World of Hergé" by Benoît Peeters, both full page as I recall; I'm afraid I haven't got mine here to help any further. It's quite hard to find a copy these days - libraries might be the best option - but the French edition, still in print, is largely similar.

Thank you Richard and mct16. I found the image of Herge as a Scout and Dendonker at the Gare de Nord, and whilst both are a little small they are very useful. I don't know if the bigger images you mention mct16 in the out of print French book are also out of copyright but if they are and anybody could send a scan I would be very grateful. I will write to the Herge Museum.

I am beggining to learn that anything in the reported world of Herge should not be taken at face value, but surely it beggers belief that anybody in 2000 could turn up a a press conference as an imposter for Peppermans. If he did perish at the front in 1939 surely members of his extended family would get to hear of the event, think the whole thing was in very bad taste and cry foul!

I am a presenter on Scouting Radio which you will find on Google and have my own website Scouting Milestones which well known in Scouting - in both places I shall be doing my bit to find the FACTS connected with Peppermens and Dendonker's Scouting History and later life- I am very hopefuly that with that and the 'publicity' we are generating here- that we will get to the bottom of this. I will of course keep this forum informed of anything I discover.

Yours in Scouting

Colin

Jean-Pierre Talbot lives in Spa - I am sure he can be contacted to confirm his meeting with Peppermans. He speaks English pefectly and may also have contact with Peppermans, or have knowledge of his whereabouts from the meeting between them in 2000.

Thank you Rexmilou
I have made a search on the internet hoping to find a contact for Jean-Piere Talbot but apart from a reference to a Tintin exhibition in his home town of Spa coupled with the information that though retired he still recieves about 40 Tintin related enquires a day- no joy. I should though as I indicated in a previous mail say I am much of the view that the real Peppermams did appear in the 2000 interview at which his picture was taken.

Sorry, yes, I should just point out that there is absolutely nothing to suggest that there was an imposter at the meeting in 2000, and everything to suggest that there was either faulty research by the BBC, or that perhaps although a report of his death had been made during the war in error, M. Peppermans actually survived.

I was only making a small jest, and didn’t mean it to be taken at face value!

Colin
My suggestion is to contact someone at Molinsart (via the www.Tintin.com site) and make enquiries regarding Peppermans, Talbot, and also perhaps (through them) contact Michael Farr and Philippe Goddin. I have always found Moulinsart very helpful. There are more pictures of Peppermans in Jean-Pierre Talbot's book J'etais Tintin au cinema (great picture of scouts 1930; page 131). If the BBC has made a mistake, this needs checking.

I've just received an email from Moulinsart, the copyright holders of Tintin. I put the question of Pepermans to them and they passed it on to someone who apparently knows quite a bit about the Wallon Legion that served with the SS during the war. He confirms that Pepermans did indeed serve with the unit but that he survived the war and later attended meetings of the Friends of Herge. He is now deceased. Talbot includes a photo of him shortly before his death in his "J'étais Tintin au cinéma" ("I Was Tintin in the Movies") book.

Otherwise the email confirms the rest of the BBC report: Dendoncker's work for British Intelligence, his capture on 29 March 1944 and incarceration at the Buchenwald and Dora-Mittelbau camps, where he was registered as 54.361. After being liberated he returned to Britain and settled under the name of Dark. They are still making inquiries about him.

He also adds that Pepermans discreetly attended Tintin's return from the Congo in 1931 when Dendoncker played the part.

Well, that seems to explain things. What I'd like to know now is what the BBC are going to do to the researcher who informed them that Pepermans died on the Eastern Front.