J.B. (Jim) Blair

James Beatton Blair was born in Port Augusta, South Australia in 1903. His ancestry included sea captains; his father was a miner and labourer. Blair was educated at Woodville District High School in Adelaide.

By 1934 he had had three short stories published in The Bulletin when the magazine invited him to join its staff. Immediately he became short story editor and editor of the Smoke-Oh section.

From 1932 to 1962 Blair had 56 short stories and essays published, mostly in The Bulletin. His stories are generally marked by humour and observations into human nature. Themes include science fiction, whimsical ideas and adventures of the Noyse family.

From 1936 to 1942 Blair was Editor of The Australian Woman's Mirror, the Bulletin's successful stable-mate. Among his innovations at the Mirror was the 1936 launching of a new weekly comic strip, The Phantom, into Australia from the U.S.A. -- the first appearance of this strip in Australia! In 1942 during World War II, he enlisted in the AIF and saw active service in the artillery in New Guinea until 1945.

Upon his 1945 return he transferred back to The Bulletin. From 1948 until the takeover of The Bulletin in 1960, he was Associate Editor and political and current affairs editor. He was prolific in writing leading articles, special articles and articles for the Plain English section. 

Throughout his Bulletin career Blair also made very significant contributions to general-interest sections such as Society and Smoke-Oh, including humorous verse. Foremost among his various pseudonyms were Jasby, Uco and Findy.

Blair had four books published. These included two collections of some of his short stories: Miss Pennycuick's Nightie (1941) and Pardon My Intrusion (1954). The other books were a humorous novel, No Train on Tuesday (1954), and a children's adventure story, The Secret of the Reef (1963). His books, like his individual stories, were published under the name "J.B. Blair." In an exception, Secret carried the name "Jim Blair" because it was for children.

He died in 1991, aged 87.