Sven Hassel 1917-2012

[Butts]

Well that name will mean something to people of a certain age....Wheels of Terror , Assignment Gestapo, SS General, Legion of the Damned, Liquidate Paris, The Bloody Road to Death, Blitzfreeze, The Commissar, Comrades of War.........and others that escape my memory....hang on OGPU Prison !!!!

Yes The Old Man, Porta,Tiny,Heide, Legionaire, Wolf, Lt Ohlsen, Col Hinka and not forgetting Stalin Porta's cat and many more.

Apparently he died on September 21st, there was an obituary in yesterdays "Independent" - I'm not joking !!

These books along with War Picture Library, Battle Picure Library and Commando books were the staple diet of many teenagers in the late sixties/early seventies.

Anyone else partake of the "Sven" publications.

The saddest moment in any book I ever read was Portas demise.....

 

[SS4]

You don't just have to be of a certain age to remember Sven Hassel. Porta's trickery made me wonder why anyone would play cards with him!

I've read a few of the books and plan to get some more in the new year although I've got my dad to thank for getting me started on them. Can't believe he's dead though, I mean it had to happen eventually but given the way he'd pull through in the books I kind of expected him to cheat death forever

 

[Butts]

You don't just have to be of a certain age to remember Sven Hassel. Porta's trickery made me wonder why anyone would play cards with him!

I've read a few of the books and plan to get some more in the new year although I've got my dad to thank for getting me started on them. Can't believe he's dead though, I mean it had to happen eventually but given the way he'd pull through in the books I kind of expected him to cheat death forever

I was never certain whether he was real or not for a long time - prior to the age of the web these things were not so easy to find out.

The sequence of events is sometimes a little disjointed from book to book- have you read Legion of the Damned ? Thats the one where Porta and The Old Un "buy it"

 

[SteveP29]

You had to be careful saying 'have you read a Sven book' in and around Newcastle in the 70's and 80's when I was growing up.

There was a shop called Sven Adult Books that was basically the only licenced sex shop (that I knew of) in the Tyne & Wear/ Durham area, so admitting to something like that was like admitting you were a pervert.

But yes, back to the thread, I did have occasion to read a couple in my youth, no idea what their titles were though unfortunately

 

[Butts]

You had to be careful saying 'have you read a Sven book' in and around Newcastle in the 70's and 80's when I was growing up.

There was a shop called Sven Adult Books that was basically the only licenced sex shop (that I knew of) in the Tyne & Wear/ Durham area, so admitting to something like that was like admitting you were a pervert.

But yes, back to the thread, I did have occasion to read a couple in my youth, no idea what their titles were though unfortunately

We had to smuggle H&E or Mayfair inside a comic like Topper or Beezer (big enought to conceal it) and just pay for the comic.

When I was a sandwich student with the IBA in the late seventies there used to be a "porn syndicate" whereby senior staff who attended broadcasting conferences in Denmark imported material for the use of..or should that be for use with members (no pun intended)

Yes , that was IBA or Independent Broadcasting Authority that used to regulate Commercial TV and Radio in the UK.

 

[Clip]

You had to be careful saying 'have you read a Sven book' in and around Newcastle in the 70's and 80's when I was growing up.

There was a shop called Sven Adult Books that was basically the only licenced sex shop (that I knew of) in the Tyne & Wear/ Durham area, so admitting to something like that was like admitting you were a pervert.

But yes, back to the thread, I did have occasion to read a couple in my youth, no idea what their titles were though unfortunately

The best bookshop Scotswood road has ever had. Still there too I think.

 

[SteveP29]

The best bookshop Scotswood road has ever had. Still there too I think.

Only problem is, it's slap bang in the middle of one of the sides of the pink triangle (and its now gold lettering on blue background instead of black (or red) on yellow)

 

[Butts]

The best bookshop Scotswood road has ever had. Still there too I think.

Was it popular with fans of Russian Literature from the 19th Century ?