* Mervyn Bunter – Lord Peter's valet

Throughout the books, Bunter always takes care to address Wimsey as " My Lord ".

However, Sayers ' first reference to Le Fanu appears in an earlier Lord Peter Wimsey novel, The Nine Tailors ( 1934 ), where he is quoted directly ( from Wylder's Hand, in the opening to the seventh " part " of Chapter II and again in the opening to the second " part " of Chapter III ) and a mysterious letter is referred to ( first by Wimsey's valet, Mervyn Bunter ) as " written by a person of no inconsiderable literary ability, who had studied the works of Sheridan Lefanu and was, if I may be permitted the expression, bats in the belfry, my lord.

The novel was adapted as a television miniseries in 1972, starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter and Glyn Houston as Bunter.

In 1975, an adaptation starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Wimsey and with Peter Jones as Bunter, was made for BBC Radio 4.

Five Red Herrings was adapted for television in 1975 as part of a series starring Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter and Glyn Houston as Bunter.

* Mervyn Bunter – Lord Peter's manservant

* Mervyn Bunter, created in 1923 by Dorothy L. Sayers in the Lord Peter Wimsey series, likewise a paragon of discreet competence, taking his duties beyond what was expected of a valet to help his master.

The Egypt series of 1932 ( Magnets # 1277 to # 1284 ) follows the adventures of Billy Bunter, accompanied by Lord Mauleverer and the Famous Five, across Europe and the Mediterranean Sea to the North African deserts.

Lord Peter Wimsey's manservant Bunter is putting his Lordship's books away and looks with some curiosity at the chosen few left open on the table, including Housman's " A Shropshire Lad ".

Campion later reprised the role of Bunter ( now Lord Bunter of Hove, who had succeeded in betting shops and property ) in the BBC Radio 7 series Whatever Happened to ...?

The strong relation between Lord Darcy and Master Sean O ' Lochlainn in some ways recalls that between Dorothy Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey and his servant Mervyn Bunter.

Bunter is essentially a comic anti-hero, whose actions puncture and deflate the serious world of the English public school, inverting conventional values like a ' Lord of Misrule '.

He played Robespierre in The Scarlet Pimpernel ( 1982 ), and he later played Bunter, the valet of Lord Peter Wimsey, in the BBC's productions of Strong Poison, Have His Carcase and Gaudy Night ( all based on Dorothy Sayers's original novels ).

* Mervyn Bunter, butler to Lord Peter Wimsey, a fictional character created by Dorothy L. Sayers.

Mervyn Bunter is a fictional character in Dorothy L. Sayers ' novels and short stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey.

During this whole period, Lord Peter has a manservant called Mervyn Bunter, and in him Ms Sayers created a fictional persona that is fascinating and enigmatic.

If Lord Peter is in the top rank of society, being a friend of the Prince of Wales ( Clouds of Witness, & Thrones, Dominations ), then Bunter is a prince among domestic staff.

Although he is not allowed crime-solving leaps of imagination, Bunter also regularly assists in the routine processes of deduction, undertaking tasks not suitable for a Lord.

Immediately after the war, Bunter arrived to take up service, as promised, with Lord Peter.

The main negative thing to be said about Bunter is that he seems to have no other interest in life than serving Lord Peter ; he is even ready to give up marriage rather than leave ( Thrones, Dominations ).

1919 ( January ) Lord Peter had promised to take Bunter into service, and the ex-sergeant appeared at the ducal residence surprisingly quickly, in January 1919, only three months after the Armistice of the preceding November.

Terrorisin ’ sort of man, Bunter ", says Lord Peter.

Peter and Bunter are away on an undercover assignment.

Eventually, Bunter comes back from the continent — uncharacteristically dirty, scruffy and so exhausted that he lets Lady Peter wait upon him and put him to bed — and is followed some days later by Peter, who arrived by a different route.

Shares a study with Bunter and Peter Todd.

Harriet cannot believe she has married Peter until Bunter calls her " Your Ladyship ".

Peter, utterly dependent on Bunter, is relieved when the latter accepts the new mistress.

However, at the end of the case, when the culprit is to be hanged and Peter ’ s nerves threaten to give way, Bunter and Harriet join forces to save him.

On their return Lord Peter would casually refer to Bunter having had " a regular affair with an inn-keeper's daughter " and remark " He's an awfully susceptible old beggar.

", on such occasions Bunter would take care of Wimsey and tenderly put him to bed, and they would revert to being " Major Wimsey " and " Sergeant Bunter ".

The Wimsey Papers included a reference to Wimsey and Bunter setting out during the war on a secret mission of espionage in Europe.

Thus the Bessie Bunter series of English boarding-school stories, initially written by the prolific Charles Hamilton under the name Hilda Richards, was taken on by other authors who continued to use the same pen-name.

He had on Billy Bunter check trousers, a Victorian frock coat, violet pince-nez glasses, and carried a euphonium.

Although the stories are focused on the Remove ( or lower fourth form ), whose most famous pupil was Billy Bunter, other characters also featured on a regular basis.

Boasts of living at the grand stately home, Bunter Court, with its numerous servants and Rolls Royces ; but on closer inspection this turns out to be the more modest Bunter Villa at Reigate in Surrey.

' Often in trouble because of his money-lending business, and not averse to letting punishment for his sins fall on others ( the Cassell novel Bunter Out of Bounds and the Popper Island Rebellion series ( Magnets # 1374 to # 1382-1934 ) are two such examples ).

Toddy is most in his element when there is a Form trial, such as in the novel Billy Bunter the Bold, where the Form put Bunter on trial for over-indulging his tuck raiding.

He claimed Bunter was derived from three persons: a corpulent editor, a short-sighted relative, and another relative who was perpetually trying to raise a loan on the strength of the anticipated arrival of a cheque.

The television show was totally centred on Bunter, with the other characters playing only a peripheral role.

C H Chapman, the last illustrator for The Magnet, drew the first nine Knockout strips, after which several artists were tried, before Frank Minnitt established himself with a beaming and bouncy Bunter, which at first followed Chapman's style, then later branched into a style of his own, concentrating on slapstick humour.

Bunter also appeared in many Knockout annuals, even on some covers.

* David Hughes in But for Bunter creates the idea that the Greyfriars stories were based on real people, and set out to find them and hear their stories.

On the outskirts of the village of Blidworth, on farmlands, lies a stone known locally as the Druid Stone ( Grid Reference: SK5787-558 ), a pillar of cemented glacial gravel standing on a base of the Nottingham Castle rock formation ( Bunter Pebble Beds ).

The town is built on a mixture of Bunter sandstone and Manchester marl ( clay ) that is Permo-Triassic in origin.

Sayers admitted having partially based Bunter's character on P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves, although Wimsey and Bunter are quite distinct from Wooster and Jeeves.

He insists on being called ‘ Mr. Bunter ’ by all other servants and tradesmen ( vide Frank Crutchley in Busman ’ s Honeymoon ).