









There are only 12 known existing copies of the first edition, published 70 years ago in July 1938. One of those tuppenny comics fetched £12,100 at auction in
March 2004. The enduring rascal, Dennis the Menace, is the ‘oldest’ of the current crop of characters, first appearing in March 1951 and still going strong. Other favourites over the years have included Minnie the Minx, Roger the Dodger, Biffo,
The Bash Street Kids and Lord Snooty.
‘‘Dear Sir: I desire to put before the public my views on the reverse side of the penny. The warlike – may I go so far as to say the hectoring, truculent attitude of Britannia – as there depicted is surely calculated to give offence to another Friendly Power.
In these days of mutual good-will, the trident and the shield can only be regarded as a barbarous anachronism. I trust that they will disappear in the new issue and we shall find Britannia surrounded by the arts of peace. I would suggest that on those coins which bear the date of 1910 an umbrella might be substituted for the trident.’
Spotted in Punch, August 1910,
by Josephine Gill of Essex.
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