Magersfontein Lugg

Magersfontein Lugg is a fictional character in the Albert Campion novels, written by Margery Allingham. Servant and factotum to Mr Campion, Lugg is a former burglar, with a gruff manner, who hinders Campion socially as much as he helps.

Appearances

Lugg first appears in Mystery Mile, where his contacts in the underworld prove useful; he goes on to be featured in most of the Campion books. He is played by Brian Glover in the 1989/90 BBC TV series.

Character

Lugg is a large, bald man, a former criminal who reformed after he "lost his figure". In Police at the Funeral, he has recently grown a very large white moustache, which he also sports in Sweet Danger.

Lugg, in The Fashion in Shrouds, is the originator of the curious sentence, "It's crackers to slip a rozzer the dropsy in snide".^[1] This sentence frequently appeared in Mad magazine and has achieved some notoriety as an Internet meme. Unfortunately, it is seldom attributed to either Lugg or Allingham. The sentence is British English and means, "It's crackers (madness) to slip a rozzer (policeman) the dropsy (packet of money) in snide (worthless -- i.e. worthless money)" or "it's a bad idea to try to bribe a policeman with counterfeit money".

Lugg also features in novels by John Lawton, most notably 'Black Out' ^[2] see review on Amazon.com)

Portrayals

In the 1989 TV series, Campion, Lugg was played by ex-wrestler Brian Glover

References