Henry The Lion

First appearance: APxx

Henry's pawprint
Last appearance: AP56

Of all AP's non-human readers, Henry The Lion was the only one to be real. Others signed themselves "Space Mistress LB Quinge, aka Enid Spills" or sent in proper letters from the same address, or exhibited no qualities of sheepness (or whatever), but Henry remained true to the end, and we loved him for it.

Heralding from inner Britain's sweeping veldts (he gave only the return address of Bromley), Henry's trademark cheery greeting of "Cooee!" would introduce uplifting tales of tomfoolery among animal chums.

Sadly, not all readers liked him. Brett Davids of Loughborough, in condemning AP's gallery of quadrapedal correspondents, called Henry a "habitual liar" and a "silly boy." Henry's response was as tremendous as ever:

"Let me assure you I'm very real and not in the least bit silly, although I am rather cute and cuddly. If you don't believe me, I will pounce on your heads, chase your wildebeest and scare your neighbours. GRRR! ... The next time Mr Davids is out hacking around in his khaki shorts and pith helmet, he had better watch out! ...
"Yours, with very hurt feelings, Henry the Lion, Bromley"

Pleasingly, readers rallied to Henry's side (although, worryingly, they wished Brett dead in horrible ways: hardly in the spirit of Henry's genteel mockery).

After this episode, Henry wrote one more letter to AP. (We like to think he settled down to form a pride, or something.) This final appearance is reproduced here in full.

DONNY THE DIMETRODON WINNER
"CALVIN THE CAMEL, PINNY THE HEDGEHOG"
Cooee Powersters,
Thanks to Alistair Davie for his support but I would like to point out that as far as I know, he is not with me at all. There are several of my friends with me at the moment - let me have a check. There's Roosevelt the teddy bear, Percy the penguin, Scruffy the scruffy dog, Calvin the camel, Pinny the hedgehog, Flopsy Psychobunny and Big Scary Spider (who is very big, undoubtedly scary and, unsurprisingly, a spider). But no Alistair Davie. He must be somewhere else then. Glad he agrees with me though. Toodle Pip.
Henry the Lion, Bromley

Now, as then, Henry The Lion - we salute you.