Algy has been sharing some of his childhood memories with me. I vaguely remember children read comics when I was in England at my zoo in Chester. Algy had three favourites, the Beano, the Dandy and the Eagle. Algy particularly liked these three and I suspect they influenced the development of his young mind.

This week he told me about The Beano. The two heroes of this comic were: Dennis the Menace and Minnie the Minx. These began in the days before X boxes, iPhones and computers, of them all, the Beano survives today. It is amazing that comics, such as the Beano, sold around 1.9 million copies a week. They went sort of “viral” in today’s speak, in the 1950s and 1960s.

Neither of the above characters would be described as “politically correct”. Nevertheless they appealed to the inbuilt rebellious nature of all children, since the fall of Adam and Eve.

Wikipedia tells us some more detailed history:

The Beano is the longest running British children’s comic magazine, published by DC Thompson in Dundee, Scotland. The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. In September 2009, The Beano’s 3,500th issue was published. One of the best selling comics in the UK, along with The Dandy, the weekly circulation of The Beano in April 1950 was 1,974,072. The Beano is currently edited by John Anderson. Each issue is published on a Wednesday, with the issue date being that of the following Saturday. The Beano reached its 4,000th issue on 28 August 2019.

Its characters include Dennis the Menace. Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids, The Numskulls and Tricky Dicky. Several earlier characters have been phased out.

The style of Beano humour has shifted noticeably over the years, though the longstanding tradition of anarchic humour has remained. Historically, many protagonists were characterised by their immoral behaviour, e.g. pranking/bullying (Dennis the Menace), dishonesty (Roger the Dodger) and even robbery (Baby Face Finlayson and The Three Bears). Although the readers’ sympathies are assumed to be with the miscreants, the latter are very often shown punished for their actions. Recent years have seen a rise in humour involving gross bad taste. Depictions of corporal punishment have declined. For example, the literal slipper – the most common form of chastisement for characters such as Dennis, Minnie the Minx and Roger the Dodger – has become the name of the local chief of police (Sergeant Slipper). Some of you may remember it was Slipper of the Yard who pursued the Great Train Robbers in England in 1963.

Maybe this comic, and its humour, mirrors a decline in your social standards in spite of your attempts to be “PC”?

Gibber! Gibber!

Chugley

The Comical Chimp