Master antecedent

[altariel]

Browsing the market on Tuesday, I found a children's adventure story called The Master, by T.H. White (he of The Sword and the Stone). It's set on Rockall, so I bought it in the hope that there would be puffins (there are). Anyway, leaving that aside, this is fascinating, from the blurb:

"[...] a sinister being being known as 'The Master' is weaving his appalling plans to rule the world. He is able to subjugate the men who work for him by controlling their minds..."

It was published in 1957. I'd love to know if Bob Holmes, Terrance Dicks, or Barry Letts had read it (the Master's first story, Terror of the Autons was transmitted in 1971).

ETA: Dammit, there's a character going by the name of "the Doctor" in it too.

Comments

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Plenty to look forward to then!

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, I wasn't meaning to spoil you! I didn't take in that you hadn't read it yet.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh no, you haven't spoiled me at all! Anyway, the blurb told me the entire story in advance, in that no-nonsense way that Puffin books used to have, to ensure there are no unpleasantnesses like too much excitement ;-)

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I just checked my shelves, and don't have a copy (I have Mistress Masham's Repose, the one about the Lilliputians, and The Once and Future King). So I must have got it from the library, or borrowed it from a schoolfriend; I seem to remember discussing it with her, which would put my reading of it in the early 1970s but after Delgado died. I don't think I made a connection at the time.