Ripping Yarns and Wizard Wheezes
The Golden Age of British Comics, 1950-1975
with John Reid - 25 June 2026
The Meeting in June was a real nostalgia-fest for members. John Reid's talk - “Ripping Yarns and Wizard Wheezes – the Golden Age of British Comics 1950-1975” brought back our childhoods for those of us lucky enough to be there.
John began with a little bit of historical background. With the growth in literacy of the general population towards the end of the 19th century a market was created for cheap literature. This was the start of the age of the "penny dreadful" in Britain and the "dime novel" in the US. As well as reading material for adults, publishers began to produce what were known as "story papers" for children, usually rather wordy and with humorous or adventurous tales.
As the 20th century progressed, however, these story papers began to be replaced by all-picture comics. There were two main publishers in the UK: D C Thomson of Dundee, who published The Beano (1938), The Dandy (1937) and The Rover (1922, actually the first all-picture boys' comic); and Hulton Press, based in London, who produced The Eagle (1950) and Girl (1951).
In 1950 350 million comics were sold during the year. The Beano and The Dandy at this time were selling about 2 million copies per week each (and each copy would probably be read by about 8 children). The Eagle was the brainchild of the Reverend Marcus Morris, a Lancashire clergyman who devised it as a purely Christian publication. (One startling fact that emerged was that its most famous character, Dan Dare, was originally a Padre of the Future, not a Pilot! He was going to be the chaplain of a space corps.) Girl was its sister paper, also devised by the Reverend Morris, and also devised with the aim of promoting high moral values.
(Girls’ comics tended to have stories about school, the ballet and so forth, while boys’ comics had stories about the war and sport.)
In 1971 45 titles were available, but the late 70s saw the beginning of the decline in popularity of the British comic. A number of factors were responsible for this, among them competition from American publications (Marvel Comics - Spider-man, Captain America, the Hulk etc - and DC Comics - Superman - and the rise of television.
This was a fascinating talk covering characters familiar in the childhoods of almost everyone in John’s audience - Dennis the Menace, Beryl the Peril, the Bash Street Kids, Desperate Dan. We were returned to the world of our childhoods.
[Quiz question: by what name is Hermione Makepiece better known?]
