The Perishers The Perishers , written by Maurice Dodd , drawn by Dennis Collins , and they have appeared in Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper since the 1960s at least. Perhaps because this is a British strip, searching the internet turns up very little information about it. Its debt to Peanuts seems indisputable, and certainly when Charles Schultz died, Maurice Dodd acknowledged in his tribute that he had had to modify his original strip to avoid too close a likeness to Peanuts . But however derivative the initial inspiration may have been, the tone of voice of the British strip is quite distinct from that of its American equivalent. The title itself makes this clear: the term "perisher", according to Chambers, is a slang expression for "a reprehensible or annoying person", a rather old-fashioned word even when the strip was young, but often used in a tone of irritated affection (or affectionate irritation). A feature which marks the British strip off from the American version is its refusal to view the children with any sentimentality whatsoever. This strip catches the core personnel of the strip at the end of the school day, and gives a characteristic sample of its humour.

The running gag is that Baby Grumpling, accustomed to waiting for the older children outside the school railings, interprets their time "behind bars" as incarceration, and greets their release with exaggerated joy. In this particular example, the humour of this misunderstanding is pointed out by piling on slang expressions for imprisonment and escape: Wellington, the intellectual, leads the way "We are not crashin' out or makin' a break", while Maisie makes sure of the last word, for the benefit of any reader still unsure what the joke is: "We have not been doin' porridge." There is little for Marlon to do here but assent, but another of the series' running gags places him at centre stage: Wellington plays the straight man, allowing the other three to express their personalities and backgrounds through the sandwiches they have brought to school in their packed lunch.

Maisie is in many ways an old-fashioned girl, and her unappetising combination of "drippin' and banana" indulges two treats of a generation earlier (dripping, the fat saved from roast meat and spread on bread, and bananas, a variety of fruit notoriously unavailable in war-time Britain: but this strip bears a 1971 copyright!). The punningly named Fiscal Yere, one of the cast's regular "guest stars", and usually drawn "smoking" a chocolate cigar as a sign of his family's extreme wealth, here transforms that symbol of affluence into sandwiches. And Marlon, whose obtuseness more often makes him the butt of the punchlines, here gets the last word, as he yet again produces his inch-thick tomato-ketchup sandwiches, which he persists in regarding as a foodstuff rather than an offensive weapon, despite the impossibility of biting into them without splattering all in the vicinity with gore. Dim though Marlon is, Maisie finds him irresistible, and pursues him relentlessly; sometimes her passion is the whole point of the strip, sometimes it merely serves to keep the characters in motion as they deliver their stand-up routines.

Here the characters race down the steps from the metal bridge, past the front door with the milk bottles and down to the arch at the end of the street, through a continuous townscape in which the three panel frames divide not space but time, setting the rhythm which allows the joke maximum effect: "Just what kind of idiot are you going to grow up to be?" is treated by Marlon not as rhetoric, but as a serious career choice. It is a sign of the innate conservatism of the strip that Maisie, unstoppable in her determination to be May Queen, dreams of the future only in terms of romance, her only toy a doll's pram. Marlon has professional ambitions: "I'm goin' back to my original plan of bein' a brain surgeon. Or maybe a bloke wot goes down sewers in big rubber boots." "Oh, not that again. Marlon, I don't wish to discourage you, goodness knows, but have you thought this thing through. Do you realise the trainin', the practice, the amount of strugglin' that lies ahead?" "Crumbs, Maisie, give me a bit of credit, do.

I bet I could learn to get them boots on in a matter of weeks." By 1978, The Perishers had registered the existence of feminism, but only in the terrifying person of Beryl Bogey "the black-belt-all-in-free-style liberated women's netball champion" recruited by Maisie to bring into line anyone considering voting for her rival as May Queen. Sometimes Maisie is shown looking after her younger brother, Baby Grumpling: whose conviction that all children spend their days in prison (like his identification of the old man in the red coat - who knows whether children have been naughty or nice, and rewards them accordingly - as "old Joe Stalin") must betray a guilty conscience. His favourite (or perhaps simply most visual) vice is digging holes in the garden, but he is endlessly creative in finding others.

In one strip he kneels by his bedside, all curly hair and striped pyjamas, and prays, as he always speaks, in lower-case lettering: "dear god i haven't told any fibs and i haven't pinched any of maisie's sweets and i haven't put frozen peas in dad's gumboots and i haven't shaved the cat i know i asked you to make me a good boy, but this is ridiculous " But the heart of the group is the odd couple formed by Wellington, usually seen wearing rubber Wellington boots in a visual repetition of the verbal joke which links his name to that of Boot, his Old English Sheepdog. The boy and his dog are the undeniable equivalent of Peanuts' Charlie Brown and Snoopy. Like Charlie Brown, Wellington is in some ways the odd-man-out in his group. For a start, he is an intellectual, with a taste for long words and philosophical meditations. His home life is also unusual; he and Boot live alone together in a disused railway station.

Having no adults to support him, Wellington is obliged to make his own living, which he does by various dubious means, including the manufacture and sale of "buggies", mock racing cars which the ever-gullible Marlon can usually be persuaded to buy. Although Wellington periodically tries to show Boot how to use a broom, the dog is too intelligent to be caught in this way, and domestic duties in house and garden invariably fall to Wellington: Visually, Wellington's gardening methods may seem unconventional, but verbally, they are normal enough: he is pruning his garden. Here again is the delight in the ambiguities of language which characterises The Perishers , and may go some way to explain the strip's failure to conquer the world.

The images, too, give clues about the characters and setting which might be opaque to someone from another time or place: the building, around one corner of which Boot can be seen peering nervously, displays architectural details which mark it unmistakably as a (disused) railway station; Maisie, in her black tights, gym slip and straw hat, not to mention her beauty spot, looks like a refugee from St Trinians, a schoolgirl a decade older than herself, and from a decade further into the past. Once a year, the group take a summer holiday. This is usually preceded by a discussion of the options, including some baroque variation on the theme of an invented event, the rhubarb thrashing championships. The earliest of these are simple enough: Wellington is disinclined to attend because "last year the rhubarb fought back!", but become more elaborate: - Goin' to the rhubarb-thrashin' championships this year? - No. - Still peeved about the bloke with two heads? - It's not that so much... ...But who stands a chance with all those ten-foot dwarfs?

But each year, the holiday is represented by the same images: the children pitch their tent in a field and play on the beach. Sometimes the crowd of holidaymakers provides the excuse for a joke, but more often the Perishers have the place to themselves. Baby Grumpling indulges in his favourite occupation of digging holes (occasionally burying Marlon completely) while the older children splash in the sea, and Boot shows an adult's reluctance to enter the cold water: Wellington is a mixture of hyperactive six year old and respectful guardian of tradition, as he rushes down to the sea in his old-fashioned ("it belonged to my great-grandfather") swimming costume, and the deerstalker hat which he so rarely removes. Boot's highly literate thoughts reveal that his initial surrender to this carefree mood: "Devil may care, come what may, following with a merry laugh even into the jaws of... the ocean?" is followed by a comic anti-climax. For once, the pair seem not so much to echo Peanuts as to prefigure Calvin and Hobbes.

Boot's vocabulary may be unexpected in a dog, but it is entirely consistent with the romantic image of the eighteenth century rake, an English Milord placed under an enchantment by a slighted gypsy. For Boot, like Snoopy, had a previous life in which he was not a dog, and from time to time reminisces about his former life. "Can you really recall your mother from the days when you were an English Milor'?" asks his friend B.H. (Calcutta) failed. "There's something there if I grope for it," replies Boot: "I see pictures...Candlelight... A figure at the gaming table... A tinkling laugh, flashing eyes (Oh, those eyes)... The quiver of lace, the flutter of a frilled fan... Or was that Uncle Boris?" The humour here operates on three levels: at its simplest, the gag works as a one-liner; it feeds into the long-term characterisation of Boot; and the counterpoint of words and images also plays its part. This glimpse of a more elegant past gains added piquancy by images which give the dialogue, and some very human body-language, to a dog, addressing another dog against a backdrop of a heap of scrap cars.

To one small group of characters, Boot is even more than human. Each year on his holidays, while the children swim, he strolls along the beach, peering into rock pools: Unknown to Boot, the crabs in one particular pool have constructed an entire religion around his annual appearance. It is not an attractive creed; its adherents are always ready to panic, to divide into warring factions, and to make bad puns (the example quoted, "In times like these we should think ourselves lucky to have a woof over our heads", is one of the better ones). In fact, the crabs are among the least sympathetic creatures in the strip, though not quite as repellent as Kilroy the tortoise (who speaks in Gothic script and bears an uncanny resemblance to Adolf Hitler) or the beetle and grub who often accompany him. These latter appear to be intended to represent the forces of socialism, being cowardly, workshy and given to singing The Red Flag - well, how about one of those chopper bikes? - Don't be silly, Baby Grumpling. - would you consider a box of black magic? - No, Baby Grumpling. - could i have an ice lolly? - Well, all right...

I'll tell Maisie to get you one when she goes up the High Street. - when it comes to negociatin', that vic feather's got nothin' on me. Vic Feather, like Black Magic chocolates, is simply a brand name; it invites the same laughter of recognition, and dates the strip as surely, as Baby Grumpling's Christmas present: In 1973, or thereabouts, the toy that all children wanted for Christmas was a space hopper, a large orange bouncy ball, with "ears" that you could cling to as you rode around on your space hopper; and Baby Grumpling had one which defied gravity and rode roughshod over any opposition; it careered through a sequence of visual gags, culminating in what looked like the entire cast of the strip bouncing along out of control until they encountered Wellington in his new roller skates - an encounter which is probably best left to the imagination. It would be possible to continue indefinitely in this vein, pointing out the beauties of over a decade of daily strips, glossing over the inevitable repetitions and signs of age, praising the wordplay here, the intricately mapped street layout there and the sheer creative silliness of that joke.

The Perishers may never have made it big in the United States, despite the efforts of their fan, Rod McKuen - but they were published in Dutch . They also appeared on BBC television, in an animated series whose best feature was probably the voice given to Boot by the perfectly-cast Leonard Rossiter. There was even a Perishers Toonhound - The Perishers (1957-2006) America may well have had the apple-pie delights of "Peanuts", but for nigh-on fifty years, us Brits had the h'effervescent pleasures of a daily strip cartoon starring a group of kids called The Perishers. Wellington, Maisie, Marlon, Wellington's scruffy sheepdog Boot, B.H. the bloodhound, Fiscal and Baby Grumplin pondered, pontificated, plundered, preached, and pratfalled for the best part of six decades, in the pages of "The Daily Mirror". The Perishers are particularly well-known for the way they talk.

Their speech bubbles read like Liza Doolittle in "Pygmalion", a combination of posh and cock-a-ney and creator Maurice Dodd has always delighted in exploiting sophisticated vernacular and wordage between the strip stars, dropping their 'H's and pronouncing words phonetically to clever effect. Dodd was an ex-apprentice car salesman, baker's roundsman, universal grinder operator, spray painter, shop assistant, postman, locomotive foreman, caretaker, aircraftsman and paratrooper who had juggled his commitment to the strip with employment at ad agency Young & Rubicam. Indeed, he was actually the mastermind behind those famous Clunk-Clink seatbelt advertisements. His advertising experiences frequently found their way into the strip too. In the sixties, in particular, the kids made regular reference to Guinness ads, Government Milk ads, Washing Powder commercials, and suchlike. Dodd's one abiding political Bugbear also continued to surface: His dislike of taxation! Actually, the politics of the strip, whilst not overt, could get rather muddled. The kids themselves have a conservative bent, but the incidental characters are most definitely steered to the political left.

Witness the frequent socialist fisticuffs of its two tiniest co-stars, Fred Beetle and Delinquent Caterpillar who rally and rumble for the Common Worker, like miniature versions of Pete'n'Dud: Dennis Collins was the original artist, from a family of Dutch descent. His panels were fabulous, realized in a most precise fine line with meticulous attention to architectural and clothing detail. Collins continued to draw the Perishers strip for some twenty-six years, until his retirement in 1983. Since then, artist Bill Melvin has been holding the pen. Bill's a veteran animator and cartoonist who was formerly employed on Halas & Batchelor's Animal Farm feature, before he moved into children's comics, illustrating such gems as "The Herbs" and "Bill & Ben" for "Pippin" and "Playland"... Perishers Vs Peanuts The Perishers/Peanuts connections are actually quite extraordinary. "The Perishers" commenced seven years after the birth of their US friends and although a conscious effort was made to distance the Brit strip from its American cousint there remain many similarities. For Charlie Brown and Snoopy read Wellington and Boot.

Lucy and Maisie could be twins, almost, in looks and thoughts (frequently violent!). Snoopy has his on/off pal Woodstock, whereas Wellington frequently encounters Fred Beetle, the rockpool Crabs and friends. Snoopy himself is a former World War I Flying Ace, whereas Boot thinks he is the reincarnation of an Olde English Rake. Even the situations bear similar fruit. Where "Peanuts" has Linus and the nighttime pumpkin patch, "The Perishers" has the moon - Wellington and co are often to be found musing, in silhouette, beneath its full splendour. On the surface, then, so similar. But scratch it away and a coarser, rougher, decidedly British undercoat shines. Wellington and friends aren't from some safe middle-class suburb. They're rough, tough, working class kids, with that ho-so-polite-mockney-cockney dialogue, disheveled attire and a fondness for dirty-great tomato ketchup sandwiches. They're aspiring to be middle class, which explains their enduring popularity amongst readers of "The Mirror".

Sadly, Maurice Dodd passed away in January 2006, and six months later, on 10th June 2006, the strip itself reached the end of its run. They may be gone now, but those perishin' kids aren't likely to be forgotten... The Perishers (Comic Strip) - TV Tropes The Perishers You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share WMG The Perishers was a long-running British newspaper comic strip, appearing in the Daily Mirror from about 1959 until its final cancellation in 2006. The strip was mostly written by Maurice Dodd, who also worked as an advertising copywriter. In actual fact, Dodd was neither the strip's creator, nor its original writer — the strip was jointly created by its original artist Dennis Collins, and the Daily Mirror's entertainments editor, while its first writer, Ben Witham got fired within weeks after the first few strips were regarded as dismally unfunny — but his name has always been the one most closely associated with the strip. Until 1983 it was drawn by Dennis Collins, in a highly detailed style which subsequent artists could never quite match.

As of 2010 the Mirror is reprinting 1960s strips with Collins art and new colouring, somewhat squashed to fit a modern comic page and containing some updates to topical material - e.g., Maisie's references to "That nice Mr. Wilson " are now directed to "That nice Mr. Cameron ". The strip features a group of urban schoolchildren and a dog. As such it is sometimes described as a British equivalent of Peanuts , although it has a very different art style and relies on quirkily British humour in the tradition of music hall and Spike Milligan (Charlie Brown and Snoopy were featured since the late 50s in the Daily Sketch and the Daily Mail since the 1970s). The Alcoholic : Tatty Oldbitt. Bad Liar : "Poor Girl", a kid who tries to plead poverty as an excuse for getting Wellington (who really is poor) to part with all his birthday presents. Never mind that she has a poor butler, maid, chauffeur etc. and wears a fur coat she got from the impoverished furriers. A Boy and His X : Wellington and Boot are a boy and his Old English Sheepdog.

Cigar Chomper : Fiscal is always chomping on a chocolate cigar, as part of the general millionaire stereotype. Cloud Cuckoolander : Marlon and occasionally Boot - the latter frequently believed himself to be an 18th century Lord transformed into a dog by a vengeful gypsy. Comic-Book Time : Lampshaded by Wellington in one New Year strip, when he notices that he and his friends never seem to get any older. Depending on the Artist : After Dennis Collins retired, Maurice Dodd drew the strip for over a decade, but it was obvious that his drawing skills weren't really anywhere near those of Collins. The third and final artist, Bill Mevin didn't quite pull off a perfect imitation of Collins, but it was a pretty good one nonetheless. The Ditz : Marlon. Free-Range Children : especially when they go on holiday without adult supervision. Garden Hose Squirt Surprise : One mid-60s had Wellington asking Maisie to inspect the end of a hose while he went to adjust the "hydro control valve". Soon afterward Maisie found him leaning against a wall, and being Genre Savvy assumed that as soon as she took his place the wall would fall on her.

She did it anyway, "just to go along with the gag", and a lampppost fell on her instead . Hollywood Magnetism : There's a strip where Wellington is demonstrating a magnet to Marlon, and he turns it backward so it will repel things. In reality, magnets will only repel other magnets, and only when their like poles are facing each other. It's Been Done : On one occasion Marlon took up inventing for a hobby. When his friends pointed out that his inventions (fire, the wheel and the horse and cart) had all been invented by other people, he wasn't worried because he invented them quicker and was therefore catching up. Minor Living Alone : Wellington lives alone in a squat with his dog, even managing to go to school with the other kids. Before moving into the squat, he and Boot lived in a section of concrete sewer pipe that had been left lying around in a closed builder's yard. No Communities Were Harmed : The kids lived in Croynge, which suggests a South London district modelled on Croydon and Penge.

Once a Season : Once a year, the gang would go off to the beach for a holiday, and Boot the dog would wander off to peer into a particular rockpool to see if it still had crabs living in it. Cue a string of strips about the crabs, who had developed a religion based on the recurring phenomenon of the Eyeballs in the Sky. Parental Abandonment / There Are No Adults : it is never made clear which. Parody Religion : The crabs have one, worshipping Boot on his regular visits, although most of their leaders are just in it for the money. Really Gets Around : Tatty Oldbitt, the Sailors' Friend . Ripped from the Headlines : Pretty rare, but Wellington and Boot moving into an abandoned railway station bulding is made possible by the fact that that nice Dr. Beeching had closed down the line it was on.note The Daily Mirror being a Labour-leaning paper, and the Beeching cuts being very unpopular with Labour and the trade union movement, this dig would doubtless reflect the readerships views. Rules of Orphan Economics : Mixture of Type 1 and Type 3 in Wellington's case.

It's never quite explained how Wellington and Boot survive, but quite obvious they're poor and there isn't much food (except when Boot nicks the odd string of sausages) and that Wellington's friends give him handouts. That's not to mention when Wellington tries to make money by trying to fob Marlon off with yet another go-kart (much to Maisie's dismay) or trying to remind the other kids it's his birthday (and presents should be given). Running Gag : The strips penned by Ben Witham generally had Boot making some remark about "these perishing kids," usually in the last panel. This was quickly dropped by Maurice Dodd when he took over the writing duties. It resurfaced in the title sequence to the animated series. Social Services Does Not Exist : it seems Wellington can live quite happily technically homeless without them interfering. He even goes to a school which doesn't check up on him. Possibly subverted when Wellington has to substitute crying out for the "Welfare lady!" instead of his "Mother!" (he doesn't have one). Speech Bubble : Baby Grumpling speaks in lower-case; Adolf Kilroy the Teutonic Tortoise speaks in Fraktur (German copperplate).

Theme Naming : Wellington and his dog, Boot Those Two Guys : Fred the beetle and The Caterpillar. Thought Bubble Speech : used by the dogs, but not by the crabs or insects. Trademark Favorite Food : Marlon's inch-thick ketchup sandwiches - possibly the only sandwich to have a blast radius. The Perishers | The Perishers was an English comic strip abo… | Flickr Colin Gould By: Colin Gould The Perishers The Perishers was an English comic strip about a group of urban children and a dog. It began in the Daily Mirror on 19th October 1959 and was written for most of its life by Maurice Dodd ( 25th October 1922 – 31st December 2005 ) . It was drawn by Dennis Collins until his retirement in 1983, after which it was drawn by Dodd and later by Bill Mevin. After Dodd's death the strip continued with several weeks' backlog of strips and some reprints until 10 June 2006. The strip returned, again as reprints, on 22nd February 2010 .

The story is set in the fairly drab fictional town of Croynge (sometimes spelled Crunge), which is apparently a South London borough. The name is a portmanteau of Croydon and Penge. The location often resembles an industrial Northern town and may have its roots in how Croydon, Penge and the towns between them appeared in the 1950s. Collins's artwork in particular gives the town detailed, realistic architecture and a consistent geography. Thematically, the strip draws upon nostalgia for childhood experiences, and often has a static, almost limbo-like atmosphere, in a similar manner to its companion strip, Andy Capp. The main characters largely exist independently of 'the real world', and adults are rarely seen; for example, every year the Perishers go on holiday but always get thrown off the train home, forcing them to walk and arrive home several weeks late (a joke on how a short scene in comic book time can take several weeks when told in daily installments), yet with seemingly no repercussions. The main characters are WELLINGTON , an impoverished orphan boy who lives with his dog, Boot.

In the early days of the strip they lived in an approximately 10-foot (3 m) diameter concrete pipe section in a seemingly abandoned builder's yard. In 1966 he and Boot moved into a small railway station that had been closed by the Beeching Axe, and they have lived there ever since. Wellington takes his nickname from his trademark wellington boots – he cannot afford proper shoes. He named his dog Boot to go with Wellington. BOOT , an old English sheepdog , is convinced that he was once a Lord and finds any tasks that Wellington suggests demeaning . MARLON is not very bright, but this has not dampened his ambitions. He once tried his hand at inventing. The fact that most of his inventions – fire, the wheel, the horse and cart and so forth – had already been invented by someone else did not deter him, because he felt he was slowly catching up. He also claimed to have invented a "micro-stetho-deeposcope" – supposedly a high-tech instrument for probing deeply below the earth's surface, but which actually turned out to be a piece of broken mirror tied to a chair leg.

One of his culinary inventions did make a splash – literally: the inch-thick ketchup sandwich (subsequently renamed the 2.5 cm-thick ketchup sandwich when Marlon decided to go metric). The splash in question occurred whenever he bit into one, causing a huge dollop of ketchup to hit whoever happened to be standing nearby. The sandwich is used as a recurring gag, occasionally replaced with other types of filling for variety. MAISIE is an adorable little girl – at least according to her. In fact she is somewhat unfeminine and has a tendency to become violent if she doesn't get her own way, with a scream that can stun woodworm. She is scared of insects and spiders; on one occasion when Wellington tells her that the field they are walking through may contain thousands of hidden insects she is too terrified to move. She is in love with Marlon and continues to pursue him despite his continual resistance – their relationship has been described as a one sided love triangle. She imagines herself and Marlon as the heroine and hero of a romantic novel – he bold as a hawk, she soft as a dove. In reality, of course, she is as tough as nails and he is as thick as a plank.

BABY GRUMPLING is a toddler , possibly named after the "Baby Dumpling" character in the US Blondie ( comic strip ). In the early days of the strip he did not speak, because he knew that once he started he would be expected to keep talking all the time . In the early days of the strip he was not related to the other characters, but was later revealed to be Maisie's little brother . He enjoys causing mischief by digging holes in the garden , which he always blames on worms ( a significant part of his diet ) or moles , and by putting insects into Maisie's underwear drawer. He used to think that school was a kind of prison from which the older Perishers were temporarily released each evening. He often discusses philosophy with the new baby (an unseen character in a pram). He is also frequently seen questioning the plausibility of fairy tales or nursery rhymes read out by Maisie, while at the same time vandalising an alarm clock or other household item. His teddy bear Gladly ( short for "Gladly, my cross-eyed bear" ) puts in occasional appearances. There's also a large number of recurring supporting characters who have appeared in the strip , too numerous to mention .

Done The Perishers | Albion British Comics Database Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Share The Perishers, which for most of its lengthy run was created by writer Maurice Dodd and artist Dennis Collins (though its original writer was Ben Witham and towards the end, it was drawn first by Dodd after Collins's retirement in 1983, and then by Bill Mevin from 1992), began in the Daily Mirror on October 19th 1959 and ran until June 10th 2006, when the backlog of strips created by Dodd before his death some weeks previously finally ran out.

It principally revolved around a group of four children, Wellington (a philosophical and intellectual orphan who for most of the strip lives alone in a derelict railway station and whose sole income seems to come from making buggies and selling them to his friends), Marlon (an incredibly thick kid in a tracksuit who eats inch thick ketchup sandwiches which always squirt over the others when he bites into them, and who keeps inventing things which are either totally useless or have already been invented)), Maisie (a fearsome little girl who is obsessed with Marlon) and Baby Grumpling (Maisie's little brother, an aspiring criminal genius and the creator of the wormburger) as well as Wellington's old English sheepdog, Boot , who believes himself to be an English nobleman from the eighteenth century ensorcelled by a Gypsy wench (he should've bought the damn clothespegs).

The strip did, however, have numerous other recurring characters who would often take it over for days at a time, most notably the hirsute and unsanitary kid Aloysius "Dirty" McSquirty, his unseen cousin Worsoff (who lived in a sewer and spoke up to Dirty through drains), the lewd and coarse but very funny Crabs in the Rock Pool (whom Boot visited every year when the kids went to the seaside town of St. Moribunds on holiday, and who had built an entire religion around these annual apparances of "the Eyeballs in the Sky"), Boot's canine associates B.H Calcutta (failed) (a bloodhound who claimed to be a print journalist and whose catchphrase was "any news for the newshound?") and Tatty Oldbitt (a sex mad female Bassett hound) and fascistic would-be world conquering tortoise Adolph Kilroy and his two reluctant associates, a workshy socialist beetle named Fred and his chain smoking caterpillar friend.

Others included the kids' school friends Fiscal Yere (a rich kid who handed out chocolate cigars), Plain Jane (Maisie's rival) and Beryl Bogey (Maisie's musclebound henchperson) as well as New Baby (Grumpling's unwilling confidant, never seen except as a pram with a thought balloon above it) and Poor Girl, a quite obviously spoiled rich girl who would routinely try to con Wellington out of his (usually non-existent) Christmas and birthday presents by claiming to be collecting for the poor; namely, herself ("I'm poor, my butler's poor, my maid's poor..."). The kids lived in the town of Croynge (sometimes called Crunge), which was apparently a location in South London based on Croydon and Penge, but resembled an industrial Northern town in the 1950's. Much of the humour in the strip, which was extremely well written and often worked on several levels, was based on repetition, with certain scenarios being replayed with variations on an annual basis.

Wellington has, in fact, noticed by the strip's later days that each year is very similar to the previous year and that he and his friends never seem to age, though he never points this out to anyone else; this deconstruction of the comic strip medium is also apparent in other cases, such as the kids' yearly walk back from St. Moribunds after being thrown off the train, which always results in them being several weeks late home from school without anyone seeming to notice, a comment on the vagaries of comic strip time. The strip was hugely popular, spawning a TV cartoon series in the 1970's (which starred the late Leonard Rossiter as the voice of Boot) and a record album in 1980, as well as being reprinted in a series of bestselling books. The strip returned to the Daily Mirror as a series of reprints in February 2010. The Perishers page Back to " The Front Page " I've long been a fan of the Daily Mirror comic strip "The Perishers" by Maurice Dodd and Dennis Collins.

Alas, both are now no longer with us, but (as far as I know) the strip continues with new artists/writers, and there are any number of books available (if you look carefully) which show the strip at it's best. This is just a humble fan's brief introduction to "The Perishers" - there are a number of other websites which have more and better content than this - links below! All the information on this page has been gleaned from the various Perishers books in my collection - which is, admittedly, not as many as I'd like! So, if anything is inaccurate, it's the fault of those books. Ipso Facto, my case rests, as Wellington might have said. The images are copyright to the Daily Mirror and have been used here without their permission - if required, I will, of course, remove them from this page - the copyright owner only has to ask politely! RIP Maurice Dodd 1922-2005 It has been announced by his family that Maurice Dodd passed away on December 31st, 2005. His loss is a sad one, and I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to his family.

This page is still under construction, so please forgive the entirely temporary lack of any content - this will be rectified just as soon as I can sell this buggie... Wellington A philosophical scruff, Wellington has a wide range of interests, which mostly depend on him selling Marlon (see below) a new buggie. Shares Birthday with the Anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, though he is somewhat reticent about this... Shares a living space (currently a disused railway station, courtesy of Dr. Beeching (webpage loses younger surfers here...)) with Boot (see below) Boot An Old English Sheepdog (sort of) in this life, but Boot was previously of a far higher station (King's Cross). Debatably believed (by a small pool of crabs) to be the nearest thing to God. As Captain O'Boot, he was compelled to turn down the plaintive request of a sultry maiden, and as a result was cursed to live as a dog (sort of).

As he often mused ruefully "Should have bought those dam' clothes pegs..." Maisie What can one say of Maise that she wouldn't get Beryl Bogey to hit you with an Opinion Pole for? Somewhere under that lumpy exterior is the lumpy interior of a girl. Is somehow related to Baby Grumpling (see below), which explains the semi-permanent look of disgruntlement on what passes for her face. Love of her life: Marlon (a girl can't be choosy). Nemesis: Blossom McGinsberg. Weapon of choice: the aforementioned Beryl Bogey and the Opinion Pole. Marlon Yes. Well. This was always going to be the difficult bit. What to write about Marlon? He likes Buggies, trendy threads and Inch-Thick-Ketchup sandwiches. He's not too sure about Maisie. He's an inventor, an author (who can forget his touching, gripping and rib-tickling tales about an Elephant's Foot Umbrella Stand? OK, you can all put your hands down...) Aim in life: To be a Brain Surgeon. Or a bloke wot goes down the sewer in big boots.

Baby Grumpling Inventor of the Worm Sandwich, the Worm Milkshake, the Worm Roll and (quite possibly) the Worm Bagel, Baby Grumpling is not so much a child, more a declaration of war. His hole digging abilities are legendary - ask anyone who has fallen down one. There are other characters - many more in fact - and as soon as I get time I'll be adding details here! In the meantime, here are some pictures of some of the books, and some links to other Perishers related sites for you to consider. scans_daily | More UK Daily Comic Strips - The Perishers Bringing the crack since December 2003 More UK Daily Comic Strips - The Perishers scans_daily Ok, here's a question for you. What daily comic strip am I describing. The main characters are all children, there's a young boy who owns a dog (whose thoughts we hear), there's a young girl who has a very forthright and overbearing manner, a boy who she constantly pursues despite his unwillingness to go out with her, and her younger brother who quite often is the most sensible of the lot.

well, it's obvious from the title of this post that, it's not Peanuts, but "The Perishers", a british comic strip written by Maurice Dodd which started in the late 50's and ran until his death until 2006. It was drawn initially by Dodd, then by Denis Collins, and after Collins retirement Dodd took over again, until Bill Melvin took over the art duties until the end of the strip. Despite it's superficial similarities to Peanuts, the characters in Perishers are of a lower class, and there's a less sentimentality about the writing. As an introduction to the characters, I can do no better than let the author introduce them. At the beginning of each collection there were 3 pages of introduction Boot the dog, believed he was actually a human Lord, who had been turned into a dog by a gypsy Masie was always pursuing Marlon, despite his total lack of interest One of the things I like about the strip is the detail in the background.

Many of the strips were polyptychs, where the background of the whole strip was one continuous image, and the characters moved from one panel to the next, as seen in these 2 examples below I could post a lot of different strips, there are many recurring characters (my favourite is Fiscal Yere, whose father is a millionaire and who is usually seen with a chocolate cigar), but for this post, i'll concentrate on perhaps the most well known part of the strip which occured every summer. The Perishers took the kids off on holiday to the seaside, whereupon Boot would wander off and take a look in a rockpool to observe the crabs that lived there. Unbeknown to him, these crabs had made a religion out of the annual appearance of "The Eyeballs in the Sky". Here is a full selection of strips from one of those visits (taken from one of the few collections to feature the strips coloured).

Current Location: newcastle, uk Learn and talk about The Perishers, 1959 comics debuts, 1978 British television programme debuts, 1979 British television programme endings, BBC children's television programmes Genre(s) Comedy The Perishers was a British comic strip about a group of urban children and a dog. It began in the Daily Mirror on 19 October 1959 and was written for most of its life by Maurice Dodd (25 October 1922 – 31 December 2005). It was drawn by Dennis Collins until his retirement in 1983, after which it was drawn by Dodd and later by Bill Mevin . After Dodd died, the strip continued with several weeks' backlog of strips and some reprints until 10 June 2006. The strip returned, again as reprints, on 22 February 2010, [1] replacing Pooch Café . Many Perishers strips are polyptychs —a single continuous background image is divided into three or four panels and the characters move across it from panel to panel.

The story is set in the fairly drab fictional town of Croynge (sometimes spelled Crunge), which is apparently a South London borough . The name is a portmanteau of Croydon and Penge . The location often resembles an industrial Northern town and may have its roots in how Croydon, Penge and the towns between them appeared in the 1950s. Collins's artwork in particular gives the town detailed, realistic architecture and a consistent geography. The first strip from 19 October 1959. Thematically, the strip draws upon nostalgia for childhood experiences and often has a static, almost limbo-like atmosphere, in a similar manner to its companion strip, Andy Capp . The main characters largely exist independently of 'the real world', and adults are rarely seen; for example, every year the Perishers go on holiday but always get thrown off the train home, forcing them to walk and arrive home several weeks late (a joke on how a short scene in comic book time can take several weeks when told in daily installments), yet with seemingly no repercussions. Contents Wellington[ edit ] An impoverished orphan boy who lives with his dog, Boot.

In the early days of the strip they lived in an approximately 10-foot (3 m) diameter concrete pipe section in a seemingly abandoned builder's yard. In 1966 he and Boot moved into a small railway station that had been closed by the Beeching Axe , and they have lived there ever since. Wellington takes his nickname from his trademark wellington boots – he cannot afford proper shoes. He named his dog Boot to go with Wellington. Wellington is quite an intellectual and given to philosophical trains of thought. He can also be quite resourceful – he appears to support himself by selling handmade wooden buggies and pilfering food from sympathetic local shops, or convoluted schemes to create sudden crowds in order to celebrate his birthday on 25 October (which also happens to be Maurice Dodd's Birthday). Wellington can also be something of a worrier, always concerned that the world is going to rack an' rooney (rack and ruin). Over the years he has worried that the world is becoming clogged up with dirt, that people might get crushed by the weight of air above their heads, and that each new year might be the same old year recycled to save money.

Actually there might be something in that; Wellington (unlike the majority of comic characters) has noticed that he and his friends never seem to get any older. On those rare occasions when he cheers up a small raincloud usually appears to dampen his spirits. Boot[ edit ] An Old English Sheepdog who lives with his boy, Wellington. Boot is a generally affable and mellow character, given to flights of fancy and daydreaming. In this respect, Boot is the UK equivalent of Snoopy from Charles M. Schulz 's Peanuts strip. Boot is also convinced that he is in fact an 18th-century English lord enchanted into a dog by a gypsy wench (as he puts it, I knew I should have bought those damn clothespegs!) – the strip gives occasional hints that this is actually true as opposed to another fantasy. As a lord, he demands to be treated with respect, and often tells Wellington so to his face. Unfortunately Wellington only hears barking. Wellington thinks Boot is lazy and should help out with the household chores, but Boot usually manages to find some way to "accidentally" mess things up in the hope that he won't be asked again.

He hates taking baths, and his bathtime struggles with Wellington usually turn into epic battles. Boot's favourite food appears to be links of sausages, and his attempts to consume these in advance of Wellington provide the basis of many episodes. Boot was originally drawn with a short tail (on one occasion he met a bob-tailed sheepdog, and on hearing the name decided to call his own tail Fred), but Maurice Dodd later discovered that real Old English Sheepdogs' tails are docked, and so over the course of several years Collins drew his tail shorter and shorter until it vanished altogether – Boot still appears completely white, rare for the breed. "Who is the Mother of Boot?" was a long-running mystery until a reader informed Wellington that Boot's dam was named "Cherry Blossom." ("Cherry Blossom" happens to be a brand of boot polish). Marlon[ edit ] Marlon is not very bright, but this has not dampened his ambitions. He once tried his hand at inventing. The fact that most of his inventions – fire, the wheel, the horse and cart and so forth – had already been invented by someone else did not deter him, because he felt he was slowly catching up.

He also claimed to have invented a "micro-stetho-deeposcope" – supposedly a high-tech instrument for probing deeply below the earth's surface, but which actually turned out to be a piece of broken mirror tied to a chair leg. One of his culinary inventions did make a splash – literally: the inch-thick ketchup sandwich (subsequently renamed the 2.5 cm-thick ketchup sandwich when Marlon decided to go metric). The splash in question occurred whenever he bit into one, caused by a huge dollop of ketchup hitting whoever happened to be standing nearby. The sandwich is used as a recurring gag, occasionally replaced with other types of filling for variety. Marlon also dreams of becoming either a brain surgeon (which is spelt brane surgeon in his speech balloons), or "a bloke wot goes down sewers in big rubber boots" – he considers either career to be equally prestigious. In the meantime he spends his pocket money on Wellington's buggies, which usually results in a battle between Wellington's persuasive skills and Maisie's desire for him to spend the money on her. Maisie[ edit ] An adorable little girl – at least, according to her.

In fact, she is somewhat unfeminine and has a tendency to become violent if she doesn't get her own way, with a scream that can stun woodworm . She is scared of insects and spiders ; on one occasion, when Wellington tells her that the field they are walking through may contain thousands of hidden insects, she is too terrified to move. She is in love with Marlon and continues to pursue him despite his continual resistance – their relationship has been described as a one sided love triangle. She imagines herself and Marlon as the heroine and hero of a romantic novel – he bold as a hawk, she soft as a dove. In reality, of course, she is tough as nails and he is thick as a plank. Maisie bears resemblance to Lucy in Charles Schulz's Peanuts strip. The British actress Maisie Williams was christened Margaret but has always been known as Maisie, after the character. [2] Baby Grumpling[ edit ] A toddler, possibly named after the "Baby Dumpling" character in the US comic strip Blondie . In the early days of the strip he did not speak, because he knew that once he started he would be expected to keep talking all the time.

When he finally began to speak he did so in lower-case letters . In the early days of the strip he was not related to the other characters, but was later revealed to be Maisie's little brother (a retcon – in an earlier strip Maisie had referred to Baby Grumpling's parents as if they were not her own). He enjoys causing mischief by digging holes in the garden (which he always blames on worms, a significant part of his diet, or moles) and by putting insects into Maisie's underwear drawer. He used to think that school was a kind of prison from which the older Perishers were temporarily released each evening. He often discusses philosophy with the new baby (an unseen character in a pram). He is also frequently seen questioning the plausibility of fairy tales or nursery rhymes read out by Maisie, while at the same time vandalising an alarm clock or other household item. His teddy bear Gladly (short for " Gladly, my cross-eyed bear ") puts in occasional appearances.

Recurring characters[ edit ] Not all of these characters appeared during the same time periods The Crabs: The crustacean inhabitants of a seaside rock pool, visited by Boot every year during the Perishers' summer holiday. Some of the crabs believe that Boot's eyes peering down at them are a mystical visitation – "The Eyeballs in the Sky" – and this belief is exploited by a preacher crab who uses their appearance as an excuse to extort money from his congregation. His efforts are always opposed by a scientist crab who continually attempts to invent a device to break through the surface and see what the Eyeballs really are, despite the preacher's protests that he will rend the fabric of the pooliverse. The conflict usually ends up in a full-scale crab fight, and Boot is left none the wiser as to crustacean behaviour. Usually, one of the crabs claims that something is "bad fer y'r 'ealth". Plain Jane: a friend of Maisie's, often seen selling potions and tonics from a home-made stall. Fiscal Yere: a millionaire's son who always complains about the problems of being rich, whilst maintaining his chocolate cigar habit to the others' chagrin.

Fred Beetle and the Caterpillar: a pair of insects often encountered by Boot. Fred is a socialist who seems to be modelled on Fred Kite from I'm All Right Jack . The Caterpillar's chain-smoking habit has stunted his growth and prevented his metamorphosis into a butterfly. This is just as well since he doesn't like heights. Adolf Kilroy : a tortoise shaped like a World War German helmet. He thinks he is the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler and speaks in Fraktur . He often teams up with Fred Beetle and Caterpillar in an attempt to overthrow Boot, but the fact that Boot is much bigger always defeats them. This character last appeared in the summer of 1983 and it is said upon his 1984 take-over of the Daily Mirror that Robert Maxwell, a Czech whose family was murdered by Nazi German troops, objected to the Kilroy/Hitler character appearing in the strip. Kiroy's shell was shaped like a German army helmet and also had a swastika dangling around his neck. B. H. (Calcutta) Failed: an Indian bloodhound who lost his sense of smell in an unfortunate incident involving an elephant filled with curry – which exploded in the noonday sun.

B. H. literally bumped into Boot one day, and they have been friends ever since despite B. H.'s frequent attempts to steal Boot's meat bones. One of the strip's odder elements is B.H.'s claim to be a reporter for "The West Crunge Clarion and Dubious Advertiser", a low budget and downmarket local newspaper. He has a journalist's ear for an attention-grabbing headline, but his career may be held back by his inability to remember how to make the letter "b". Tatty Oldbitt (the Sailors' Friend): an amorous female basset hound who likes to chase sailors – although just what she intends to do if she catches one is probably best left unexplored. She also chases Boot from time to time, but since he considers himself a lord she never gets very far with him, and often ends up going off with B. H. instead. Dirty McSquirty: the dirtiest boy in town, always accompanied by a cloud of flies . Cousin Worsoff: an unseen character. Dirty McSquirty's cousin, he is the proverbial "person who is worse off than you".

He lives in the sewer, and Dirty speaks to him through drain covers. Poor girl: a girl who harasses Wellington with constant tales of poverty, despite wearing a fur coat and claiming to have a household full of equally impoverished staff. Beryl Bogey: a large girl, or possibly gorilla, whose presence on Maisie's netball team gives them the ability to break down the opposition...literally. Her idol is King Kong . The cat: an unnamed cat recently adopted by Wellington, much to Boot's annoyance. The cat and Boot are engaged in a permanent battle of wits. The goldfish: another new pet of Wellington's. Contemplates philosophy while swimming around in his tiny bowl. The water-snail: the most recent arrival, bought by Wellington to clean the goldfish's bowl. The snail considers this a degrading job. Catch phrases[ edit ] This is a partial list of the phrases coined or made popular by the Perishers. " Go-faster stripes " (chevrons) — Wellington's big selling-point on the buggies he tries to persuade Marlon to buy. It has become a way of describing any useless or frivolous addition to a product.

"GRONFF!!" — The sound of Boot gobbling up something tasty, often something meant for another character, once the contents of a bird table. Also used sometimes when other characters eat. " Parasite ! Trotskyite ! Marmite !" — Insults hurled at each other by the Beetle and the Caterpillar whenever they brawl, which is frequently. Marmite is, of course, not exactly a valid insult. "Vilson Kepple und Betty!" — Kilroy the Tortoise's favourite exclamation. It derives from the stage act Wilson, Keppel and Betty . "Need any help with that paper bag ?" — Maisie can detect the opening of a bag of crisps from far away, appearing almost instantly to help with the consumption, uttering this phrase as soon as she arrives. "Yeuk!!" — Marlon's reaction to Maisie's perennial romantic advances. He responds to her in this way so often that Maisie has actually asked Marlon, "Is 'yeuk' the only word you know?" "Ratbag" — The kids' favourite insult. Absent from the very early days of the strip, it quickly became a staple.

Maisie is particularly fond of the word, and constantly uses it to refer to Marlon. "Berk" - New Baby's final response to anything said to it by Baby Grumpling. Might be construed as calling him one. [3] Final strip and editorial comment[ edit ] A final, specially drawn strip appeared on the Daily Mirror's comic page on Saturday 10 June 2006. The strip depicts the silhouetted figures of Maisie, Baby Grumpling, Wellington, Boot and Marlon walking down a street into the sunset. Wellington says, "Well, dear readers, it's taken almost fifty years for you to see the back of us. In sayin' goodbye we hope that you remember us with the affecshun we feel for you." The tone of the strip is reminiscent of Charles M. Schulz 's final Peanuts strip, from which the Perishers strip took its inspiration. The strip was initially replaced by the short-lived Ronaldinho , during the then-ongoing World Cup . After the tournament, the American Pooch Cafe appeared as a more permanent replacement.

Reprints[ edit ] After a gap of nearly four years, the original cartoon strip returned to the Daily Mirror as reprints, on 22 February 2010. Additionally, over the years there have been a number of cheaply printed reprint collections in paperback, all of which went out of print quickly. LP record[ edit ] Around 1980 an LP record album entitled THE PERISHERS SING! (WELL SORT OF) was issued by Response Records. The lyrics written by Maurice Dodd and the music by Trevor Evan Jones. An instrumental version of the final track "It's Great to be a Kid" was also the theme music for the animated TV version. Dodd's official website claims 12 songs were penned, but the finished album only contained 10 tracks. It featured narration by Bernard Cribbins , and also credits Nicky James and Barbara Sexton with vocals. Track list[ edit ] Side 1: 1. Ole Boot and Me (Wellington) 2. Battle of Vindaloo (B.H. Calcutta)* 3. Pervided I Get My Way (Maisie) 4. Eyeballs in the Sky (the Crabs)* 5.

Dreaming (Wellington) Side 2: 1. Boot (Boot)* 2. At Least We've Got Each Other (Wellington) 3. Speed Demon (Marlon) 4. Für Adolf (Adolf Kilroy) 5. It's Great to be a Kid (all the kids) Lyrics for the three (*) noted songs can be found on Dodd's official website under "The Battle of Vindaloo", "A Crabby Lament" and "The song of Boot". External links[ edit ] Official website which seems to have nothing specifically about The Perishers apart from the title, but a fair bit, inexplicably, about house painting. An unofficial Perishers page – This has some useful descriptive material, but poor quality images. The Perishers comic strips at Mirror Online Original courtesy of Wikipedia: — Please support Wikipedia. This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia . A portion of the proceeds from advertising on Digplanet goes to supporting Wikipedia. We're sorry, but there's no news about "The Perishers" right now.

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Question: What was the name of the sheepdog in the Perishers cartoon strip?
Answer: Boot