Dennis the Menace in the Asbo era

2011-03-18 17:03:40

17 March 2011 Last updated at 10:41 Share this page Delicious Digg Facebook reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Email Print Dennis the Menace at 60   Continue reading the main story In today's Magazine Does the Queen do fashion? 10 of your Vidal Sassoon cuts How hard do you work? The cult of lawn

The Beano's Dennis the Menace is 60 years old. How did this definitive naughty boy of the comic world make it all the way to the 21st Century, asks Tom de Castella.

The "world's naughtiest boy" was born in 1951 on the back of a cigarette packet.

Within a short time he'd stolen a red and black jumper, revitalised the Beano and inspired a new wave of comic strip kids to shake up post-war, austerity Britain.

By 1988 his fan club boasted over a million members. Today he remains the Beano's most popular character and has his own international TV spin-off, albeit that the strip has been renamed Dennis and Gnasher, in recognition of the loyal canine sidekick who joined him in 1968.

So how did this young tearaway batter his way into children's affections?

It all began in Dundee, where the Beano's publisher DC Thomson & Co is still based. The idea emerged - the Beano's history reveals - when the comic's editor George Moonie heard a music hall song with the chorus "I'm Dennis the Menace from Venice" and ordered a character to fit the name.

Continue reading the main story “Start Quote

In most children's books a bad child gets made good - but the great thing about Dennis is he never gets better”

End Quote Michael Rosen

According to Scotsman writer Stephen McGinty, the eureka moment arrived in a St Andrews pub while chief sub Ian Chisholm and artist Davey Law were brainstorming. Chisholm grabbed a cigarette packet, sketched a picture of "a knobbly-kneed boy with dark spiky hair" and a comic strip legend was born.

For contemporary Beano artist Lew Stringer, it was Law who turned a promising concept into a character to rank alongside predecessors like Desperate Dan in the Dandy, Superman in Action Comics and Batman in Detective Comics.

After a few false starts, with Dennis wearing a tie and blue jersey, Law gave him his distinctive red and black jumper, outsized shoes and devilish grin.

The stylised action and transgressive storylines kept the Beano in business and changed the face of British comics, Stringer believes. "Dennis the Menace was like a thunderbolt. The Beano was flagging by 1950 and no longer radical. But there was an energy to Dennis the Menace, it was modern and became one of the first naughty kids characters of the post-war period."

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