Some unlikely friends

by

punchcover

I came across this in the annals of the British Library and tracked down a copy online a week later. Punch was a satirical magazine that started in 1842, patterned on the French satire magazine, Le Charivari. This magazine hit its peak in the late 1940s, before sliding to a close in 1992. It was briefly (and unsuccessfully) revived for a disastrous six-year run that had little to do with the original publication.

Punch was not dissimilar to Garm, the satirical magazine that Tove Jansson drew for, and they had their respective heydays around the same time. Punch was vastly influential, and gave birth to several phrases such as “Crystal Palace” and “Curate’s Egg”. Several classics of comic literature first appeared as serials in punch, including 1066 and All That and Diary of a Nobody. It boasted a vast pool of talented writers and artists including Giles Coren, Egon Ronay, Heath and Thelwell.

Punch’s covers were always inventive and this one from 1962 parodies many of the popular newspaper strips of the day. Of course we have Moominpappa, alongside Andy Capp, Garth and the Gambols. There’s a prize for anyone who can name them all!