 Teal first appeared opposite Simon Templar in several novella-length stories that appeared in the UK magazine "Thriller" in the spring and summer of 1929; several were published in 1930 as the collection "Enter the Saint" (which is where most readers were first exposed to Teal), though the earliest stories in the series would not be published in book form until they were rewritten and included in a later collection, "Featuring the Saint".At some point, Teal received a promotion to Chief Inspector and he is identified with this rank for the first time in the short story collection "The Brighter Buccaneer".Teal is described as a heavy set, blue-eyed, perpetually weary policeman who, instead of smoking (a common behaviour during the era), chews gum incessantly.