You don’t look a day older…

It’s strangely interesting to find myself researching Dennis the Menace and his Abyssinian wire-haired tripe hound Gnasher. Already educated myself, never knowing Gnasher was a dog.

Inspired by a British music hall song “ I’m Dennis the menace from Venice” 

Dennis appearing first in 1951, it is his 70th birthday in print. I only know this because our friend the mannequin in Mellon Charles this month is Dennis.

Dennis terrorised what was then called - softies, seen to be weaker, effeminate boys, especially Walter the Softy, who it was said found himself in all manner of unfavourable conditions. 

Being that the Bunty was pitched at us young girls in the then more sexist fifties and sixties, so shamefacedly stereotypically, i never read the Beano. With my politically correct 2021 head, i wouldn’t like to imagine what poor Walter’s unfavourable circumstances actually were. Finding myself full of camaraderie, i’m glad Walter did get the last laugh at least sometimes.

Mainly though, I didn’t grasp the main charm of Dennis wasn’t that he was bad but that he never got to be good. This freedom was co created by George Moonie, artist Davey Law and Ian Chishom. I guess not having to toe the line is quite something then and now.

There almost surely needed to be a moral to the story, was it, he was loved anyway or just that he didn’t even need to give a dam?

Surely if he was a dog lover he couldn’t be all bad?