An essay by George Orwell entitled "Boys' Weeklies", 1940, paid particular attention to Hamilton's work. Orwell suggested that the style was deliberately formulaic so that it could be copied by a panel of authors whom he supposed to lie behind the Frank Richards name. He also denigrated the works as outdated, snobbish and right-wing, while conceding that Billy Bunter was a 'really first-rate character' . Hamilton's reply included his first public acknowledgement of himself as author, and defended the wholesome nature of the stories .