The Broons
The Broons (English: The Browns) is a comic strip in Scots published in the weekly Scottish newspaper "The Sunday Post". It features the Brown family, who live in a tenement flat at 10 Glebe Street in (since the late 1990s) the fictional Scottish town of Auchentogle or Auchenshoogle. Originally created by writer/editor R. D. Low and artist Dudley D. Watkins, the strip made its first appearance in the issue dated 8 March 1936. Since its inception, "The Broons" have had their own biennial, alternating each year with "Oor Wullie". No annuals were published during 1943 and 1944  due to paper rationing in World War II but jigsaws were created instead. Starting with the 2015 editions, both titles are now published together annually. Characters. The family members include: Storylines. The family surname "Broon" is the Scots for Standard English "Brown," as indicated by the nameplate that occasionally appears on the front door of their flat. Also, when a family member is addressed by a non-Scot (i.e. an Englishman or an American), he or she is addressed as Mister or Miss Brown. Early strips written in the 1930s featured less dialogue where most of the pictures told the  story. This was more common in "Oor Wullie" strips. However, occasional "Broons" strips did this too. During the 1970s stories drawn by Tom Lavery, another character named Dave MacKay was regularly featured. Dave was Maggie's long-term boyfriend and later her fiancé, although the latter aspect only featured in the original Sunday Post strips, with all mentions of the engagement removed for the annual reprints. Although his father was an old school friend of Paw, his mother was upper–middle-class, much to the chagrin of Paw and Maw. Despite the Broons' perpetual deference to their social 'betters', many  comical premises were built on the family's attempts to impress members of the landed gentry, or the clergy. Many storylines featured Paw bringing shame on the family by being seen wearing torn trousers or working clothes by the 'Meenister' (Church of Scotland minister). Maggie's character also changed during this time, becoming more posh. Unlike the rest of the Broons, she spoke Standard English rather than Modern Scots. When Peter Davidson took over from Lavery, the character was dropped without explanation. The 2012 special annual "The Broons and Oor Wullie: Classic Strips from the 70's" reveals the fate  of the character which was created specially for this book. Most of the humour derives from the timeless themes of the "generation gap," stretching the money as far as possible, and the constant struggle for each family member to live in a very small flat with the other nine Broons. In the end, the family always support one other, getting through life with a gentle good humour as they argue amongst themselves. Another staple of the series is misunderstanding: inevitably the bairn or the twins mishear something Granpaw or another family member says, and the whole family acts on it  until the truth is revealed in the final panel. An example is where the twins are told by Daphne that she is bringing her boyfriend up to dinner and that he is half Polish and half French. While Maggie makes a French salad and Paw finds a flag from each country, Hen asks if they know the man's name – Angus MacKay. Hen and Paw go with the twins to see his shop. It turns out he is a French-polisher – "polish" being pronounced the same as "Polish" in Scots. Locations. As with "Oor Wullie", Watkins left the location of  the strips unnamed, although the Broons' tenement is located on Glebe Street, a commonly used name in many Scottish towns. However, as originally written, Watkins' use of words and phrases more commonly associated with the east coast of Scotland, such as "bairn" for "child", as opposed to the west-central "wean", suggests he was using his own immediate environment (he lived in Broughty Ferry().He worked in Dundee and the Broons' dialect is mainly Dundonian. Watkins however was the artist and not the writer, and he was not Scottish so unlikely to have this level of grasp of the Dundee dialect . Paw Broon worked in the Dockyards, and lived in an urban tenement on the East coast of Scotland – this and his accent, and the location of D.C. Thomson's publishing firm can only lead to Dundee. Since the 1990s, however, "The Broons" has been set in the fictional town of Auchenshoogle. The Broons own a small cottage, called the but and ben, somewhere in the Highlands but within a relatively short distance of their home where they enjoy weekends away, although the younger Broons show some reluctance to go there. In a 1940s strip the house is shown to be  on a hillside on the east side of the River Ness and an arrow also points to Auchentoogle being located on the northern bank of Loch Ness near Dores. The house was referred to as being in a secret location in "The Broons Days Oot" travel guide published in 2009. Annuals. Although the Broons & Oor Wullie started in 1936, annuals were not published until 1939 starting with "The Broons". since then the annuals alternate years with "Oor Wullie", another D. C. Thomson product. Books pre-1965 were not dated. After that they had a copyright date with annuals normally published in  Autumn. The early editions of "The Broons" annual are highly sought-after collectors' items, fetching in excess of four-figure sums at auction. A facsimile of the very first "Broons" annual was released on 25 November 2006. Watkins drew the strip from his Broughty Ferry home until his death in 1969. For five years after Watkins' death, D. C. Thomson recycled old strips in the newspaper and annuals, fearing no adequate replacement could be found to match Watkins' unique style. In these repeated strips, some particularly Scots words were replaced (e.g., 'ahint' became 'behind') and the pre-decimal coinage was  updated. Peter Davidson is the current artist, succeeding Ken H. Harrison. This is Davidson's second stint as artist, the first being in the early 1980s. BBC Radio Scotland presenter Tom Morton was the scriptwriter until 2006 when Dave Donaldson took over. Morris Heggie, former editor of "The Dandy" is the current writer. Television. "The Broons" were portrayed in a sketch on the BBC Scotland comedy show "Naked Video". Tony Roper was cast as Paw, Gregor Fisher played Maw, Elaine C. Smith portrayed the Bairn, Jonathan Watson appeared as Joe, and Louise Beattie appeared as Horace, with the other family  members (and Oor Wullie) mentioned in passing. The sketch revolved around Paw's naivety in the modern world and his inability to move with the times, not even realising that his entire offspring are the product of an affair Maw was having with a farmer. In December 2005, the BBC Scotland documentary "Happy Birthday Broons" celebrated the family's 70th anniversary with celebrity guests including Muriel Gray, Ford Kiernan, Sanjeev Kohli, Eddi Reader, Elaine C. Smith, Ricky Ross, Tony Roper, Tam Cowan, Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely and was narrated by Ewan McGregor. The programme was made by Angel Eye Media  and was nominated for a Best Documentary BAFTA. It was followed by "Happy Birthday Oor Wullie".