Who
was "Green Bar Bill"?
IN THE
BEGINNING....
William "Green Bar Bill"
Hillcourt was born
Vilhelm Bjerregaard
Jenson in Copenhagen,
Denmark in 1900. His
introduction Boy
Scouting came in January
1911, at the age of 11,
after his parents gave
him B-P's newly
translated Scouting For
Boys as a Christmas
gift. Bill went on to
become the Danish
equivalent of an Eagle
Scout.
His Troop sent him to
the first World Jamboree
in London, in 1920, and
a habit started that
would move him into the
international Scouting
spotlight for the rest
of his life.
COMING TO
AMERICA....
It was 1926 and Bill
Hillcourt was a "Cub
Reporter" for his
Copenhagen newspaper.
Bill talked his Editor
into sending him to the
U.S. for its first
National Jamboree --
after all, Bill was a
Journalist who was also
one of Lord
Baden-Powell's Scouts.
The paper ought not be
"scooped" by someone
else by being absent
from such an austere
event where England's
great Lord Baden-Powell
would speak to the very
first gathering of
American Boy Scouts! The
convinced Editor sent
his Journalist to the
U.S. to cover BSA's
first Jamboree for the
paper!
Bill didn't return to
Denmark. He broke his
leg at the Jamboree and
while awaiting passage
home, visited Scout
Executive Dr. James E.
West at the BSA office
on Times Square in New
York City. Awaiting the
building's elevator with
his leg in a walking
cast, the doors opened;
Dr. West stepped out and
Bill fell forward trying
to step in -- right into
Dr. West's arms! Two
handicapped Scouters met
abruptly.
What
they had in common
caused Dr. West to
invite Bill Hillcourt to
his office. Once there,
Dr. West learned all
about Bill Hillcourt,
why he was in the U.S.
for a BSA Jamboree, and
visiting BSA & West.
THE START OF A
NEW CAREER....
Bill's enthusiasm about
Scouting and being a
journalist led West to
offer Bill his first job
in the Supply Service of
the new, expanding BSA
Program. Later, Bill
challenged West's
implementation of the
scouting program -- that
BSA didn't follow B-P's
Patrol Method correctly.
West challenged Bill to
write a replacement for
BSA's 1910 Official
Handbook, that had been
published as an
Americanized version of
B-P's Scouting for Boys.
Bill
had already written his
first book three years
earlier at 23: a tale of
Scout camping, based
upon his own Patrol's
experiences. But this
book had to be written
in English; boys not
only had to read it, but
enjoy it, and follow
B-P's Methods. Bill
always enjoyed telling
his story of how a Dane
with poor English came
to learn our language
well enough to write a
best-selling book for
American boys.
To
improve his English,
particularly when it was
already corrupted with
"Americanisms", Bill
used to go to Times
Square to watch movies.
He spent two months on
BSA's payroll attending
American movies He'd
watch a morning matinee;
then a different
early-afternoon matinee;
then yet another
late-afternoon matinee.
This is the way Bill
learned the collogial
American language of
English. His first Boy
Scout Handbook was a
smashing, run-away,
best-seller success; it
was written as Boys
talked. Boys understood
it; they liked it; and
they followed it. Bill's
new BSA career was off
to a running start.
Bill Hillcourt went on
to write a Patrol Leader
Handbook, a
Scoutmaster's Handbook,
and the Field Book; then
updated them from 1929
until he retired. In
1932, while writing the
various handbooks, Bill
started to enliven the
pages of Boys' Life with
his famed Scoutcraft
features, leading
generations of boys into
the outdoors. For four
decades until he
retired, Bill wrote his
feature columnunder his
pseudonym of "Green Bar
Bill", with a logo of
"Bill" hand-written on
top of the two green
bars of a PL.
Bill
became involved in Wood
Badge in 1936 when John
Skinner Wilson, Camp
Chief of Gilwell, came
to introduce Wood Badge
to the United States.
After adapting the
training to the BSA
program, Bill served as
Scoutmaster of the first
two courses (and many
others thereafter).
You'll want to hear more
about this.
In
1964, Bill wrote
Baden-Powell - The Two
Lives Of A Hero, yet
another distinguished
writing effort. As he
wrote in his
acknowledgements, "....I
have had the unstinted
help of the three
leading characters in
the life of Baden-Powell
-- himself (B-P), his
mother (Henrietta Grace
Powell), and his wife
(Lady Olave
Baden-Powell), and ....
numerous other people."
(One of whom was B-P's
daughter, Betty St.
Clair.)
RECOGNITION AS A
WORLD SCOUTING PROGRAM
LEADER...
For his work with and
for the youth of the
United States, Bill
received:
