"Tintin A-Z" by Michael Farr

“One of the joys of reading The Adventures of Tintin is Hergé’s ability to weave everyday life and incidents that we all experience into the narrative: whether per- sistently misdialled telephone numbers or a piece of recalcitrant sticking plaster. And the characters, they mirror individuals we may well have come across: the proverbial bore and know-it-all such as Jolyon Wagg, the elusive builder Mr. Bolt, or the ever-affable Oliveira da Figueira. This is part of the appeal of the series, its realism and relevance.

The object of this Tintin A-Z is to select details and facts that may be less familiar or even unknown, and which throw a new perspective on this remarkable reporter and his adventures. It is inevitably a highly subjective, arbitrary and personal view.It does not therefore pretend to be at all comprehensive, but I hope it may be instructive and – most importantly – entertaining. If it encourages readers to return to particular adventures for another read and further enjoyment, then I have succeeded.”

Extract from the Preface of the book.

“However familiar the stories may be, they are so multi-faceted that there is always unfamiliar detail or meaning ready to be discovered on re-reading. This gives them a wonderful durability and endless life.”

Michael Farr (born 1953) is a British expert on the comic series The Adventures of Tintin and its creator, Hergé. He has written several books on the subject, including the best-selling Tintin, The Complete Companion, as well as translating many others into English. A former reporter, first for Reuters and then The Daily Telegraph, he travelled around the world as a foreign correspondent

After meeting Hergé, Farr started writing books about Tintin. Farr was the first to gain full access to the files and material Hergé had used in developing the Tintin stories.