Just Dandy

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0:00:02 > 0:00:04- What's that?- What was that?

0:00:04 > 0:00:08- CRACK! - What's that?- The Dandy Thunderbang!

0:00:08 > 0:00:10- CRACK! - The Dandy Thunderbang

0:00:10 > 0:00:13is given free with The Dandy this week.

0:00:13 > 0:00:16- CRACK! - The Dandy!

0:00:16 > 0:00:21Home to some of the most vibrant and surreal characters ever created.

0:00:21 > 0:00:23- Korky the Cat.- Miaow!

0:00:24 > 0:00:26- Desperate Dan.- Hey!

0:00:27 > 0:00:28Keyhole Kate.

0:00:30 > 0:00:33It's the world's longest-running weekly comic

0:00:33 > 0:00:35and one of Scotland's proudest exports.

0:00:35 > 0:00:38And that makes it...Just Dandy!

0:00:43 > 0:00:45FAINT CHEERING

0:00:47 > 0:00:49CLATTER!

0:01:01 > 0:01:0475 years of publishing history ends

0:01:04 > 0:01:09as the last-ever issue of The Dandy rolls off the press.

0:01:09 > 0:01:13It seems that modern kids prefer the digital to The Dandy.

0:01:13 > 0:01:16But in its heyday, it sold two-million copies,

0:01:16 > 0:01:18and that was every week!

0:01:18 > 0:01:22The Dandy is a publishing phenomenon with an amazing history.

0:01:22 > 0:01:26And that history is not over yet. The Dandy is going digital.

0:01:39 > 0:01:42This is the Edinburgh Book Festival.

0:01:42 > 0:01:45There are some famous writers and a former prime minister here today,

0:01:45 > 0:01:48but I'm really here for the biffs, the bangs and banana skins

0:01:48 > 0:01:51and the launch of The Dandy's authorised biography.

0:01:54 > 0:01:57Morris Heggie, The Dandy's editor for 20 years,

0:01:57 > 0:02:01is too busy talking to fans and signing copies to speak to me now,

0:02:01 > 0:02:04so let's see who, amongst the great and the good,

0:02:04 > 0:02:06remembers the Thunderbang.

0:02:09 > 0:02:11There you go. That's him officially in the club.

0:02:11 > 0:02:14They didn't give that away with The Beano,

0:02:14 > 0:02:16or The Times Literary Supplement.

0:02:16 > 0:02:18- CRACK! - It's not very loud, though.

0:02:18 > 0:02:22- You need to try harder. - No. I blame the manufacturer.

0:02:22 > 0:02:24I'll give you a demo.

0:02:24 > 0:02:26- CRACK! - There you go.

0:02:26 > 0:02:29Remember, Gordon Brown's here today, you'll have security on top of us.

0:02:29 > 0:02:33- Right, Brian, do you remember that? - Yeah.- Have a go.

0:02:33 > 0:02:35- OK. - CRACK!

0:02:35 > 0:02:37- Oh, bingo, first time!- There you go. - Fantastic!

0:02:37 > 0:02:41- Do you remember that? - I do remember. Does it still work?

0:02:41 > 0:02:43- You'll have to find out.- Oh, blimey!

0:02:43 > 0:02:46- I remember you have to hold them slightly ajar.- Yeah.

0:02:46 > 0:02:49- CRACK! Oh!- Oh!- Hold it.

0:02:49 > 0:02:52Just get me finger in there.

0:02:52 > 0:02:55- CRACK! - There you go.- There you go!- Perfect!

0:02:55 > 0:02:57ALL: 75 years of The Dandy!

0:02:57 > 0:02:58CRACK!

0:02:58 > 0:03:00CHEERING

0:03:07 > 0:03:09Here I am in Dundee city centre.

0:03:09 > 0:03:11Now, normally in a city centre,

0:03:11 > 0:03:14you'd find a statue of a long-dead prime minister

0:03:14 > 0:03:17or, I don't know, Queen Victoria.

0:03:17 > 0:03:20But here, they've got a real hard man, a real desperado!

0:03:20 > 0:03:23HORSE WHINNIES

0:03:23 > 0:03:27I hear tell there's a new guy in town who's tougher than me.

0:03:27 > 0:03:29This, I gotta see!

0:03:29 > 0:03:31Yikes! It's me!

0:03:33 > 0:03:36Despite being a Texas cowboy from Cactusville

0:03:36 > 0:03:40and The Dandy having always had an address in London's Fleet Street,

0:03:40 > 0:03:43Desperate Dan is a true Dundonian

0:03:43 > 0:03:47and is part of what makes Dundee famous for jute, jam and journalism.

0:03:48 > 0:03:51David Coupar Thomson founded his newspaper business,

0:03:51 > 0:03:54DC Thomson, in 1905.

0:03:54 > 0:03:56The Courier was Dundee's paper,

0:03:56 > 0:04:01but the Sunday Post was read throughout Scotland and beyond.

0:04:08 > 0:04:12In the 1920s and '30s, the company releases

0:04:12 > 0:04:14a hugely-successful series of adventure comics,

0:04:14 > 0:04:18including The Hotspur, The Rover and The Wizard.

0:04:18 > 0:04:21There was no television in these days, times were hard.

0:04:21 > 0:04:22But the comic was cheap and fun

0:04:22 > 0:04:24and the public couldn't get enough of them.

0:04:24 > 0:04:28Then DC Thomson decide to release a new series.

0:04:28 > 0:04:33This time, with the focus on humour and comedy rather than adventure.

0:04:33 > 0:04:36The first of these was The Dandy! Oh-hoo-hoo!

0:04:40 > 0:04:43I think anyone of my generation was a fan of The Dandy.

0:04:43 > 0:04:46And of course, there was a whole host of other comics.

0:04:46 > 0:04:49The Hotspur, The Wizard, The Beano, The Rover and all that,

0:04:49 > 0:04:52but The Dandy, for me, was the prime one.

0:04:52 > 0:04:56It was the colour, very vibrant colours and beautiful drawings,

0:04:56 > 0:04:58but DC Thomson, the artists that DC Thomson had,

0:04:58 > 0:05:01people don't appreciate how clever those guys were,

0:05:01 > 0:05:06just as artists, you know. The standard of drawing was fantastic.

0:05:06 > 0:05:10- Do you have a favourite character? - Desperate Dan has to be the favourite character.

0:05:10 > 0:05:13Especially for a wee boy, a big tough guy, you know,

0:05:13 > 0:05:16a big sort of hard man, but a nice big guy, as well.

0:05:16 > 0:05:18The Dandy's not as old as me.

0:05:18 > 0:05:20It came out four years after,

0:05:20 > 0:05:24or three years after I was born, in '34.

0:05:24 > 0:05:28I started collecting The Dandy, and The Eagle.

0:05:28 > 0:05:33I think I had nearly 100 Dandys

0:05:33 > 0:05:38and one through about 50 Eagles under the bed,

0:05:38 > 0:05:41and my mother threw them out.

0:05:41 > 0:05:43- Oof! - I couldn't believe it.

0:05:43 > 0:05:47Doctor Chris Murray of Dundee University

0:05:47 > 0:05:49has made a special study of comics.

0:05:50 > 0:05:54I was given piles of comics at an early age by my uncle

0:05:54 > 0:05:58who used to go drinking in a pub in Hilltown in Dundee.

0:05:58 > 0:06:01And there was a guy there who used to get his comics delivered

0:06:01 > 0:06:05because he didn't want his wife to know that he read comics.

0:06:05 > 0:06:09So this guy would get his comics delivered to the pub, would sit and read them with a pint

0:06:09 > 0:06:13and when he was done, he would leave them behind the pub for my uncle to pick up

0:06:13 > 0:06:15because he knew he had a nephew who liked comics.

0:06:15 > 0:06:20Now, the Dandy hits the stands in 1937.

0:06:20 > 0:06:23What do you think the economics of the 1930s impact was

0:06:23 > 0:06:25on the success of the comic?

0:06:25 > 0:06:29Well, comics were a very cheap form of entertainment during the '30s,

0:06:29 > 0:06:32a time of economic difficulty.

0:06:32 > 0:06:34That's true in both Britain and America.

0:06:34 > 0:06:38They were also a medium that had a certain shelf-life to it.

0:06:38 > 0:06:40You go and see something at the cinema,

0:06:40 > 0:06:42it lasts an hour or two, then you're out,

0:06:42 > 0:06:45whereas if you've got comics, you can pass them around, swap them,

0:06:45 > 0:06:47trade them in the schoolyard.

0:06:47 > 0:06:50You know, they get pretty much destroyed

0:06:50 > 0:06:52through passing all those grubby hands.

0:06:54 > 0:06:57For more than seven decades, madcap characters

0:06:57 > 0:07:01and bizarre plotlines tempted kids to part with their pocket money.

0:07:03 > 0:07:08The Dandy was quite a massive part of my childhood, in fact.

0:07:08 > 0:07:10I'd say I read it for about...

0:07:10 > 0:07:13continually for about eight years or something like that,

0:07:13 > 0:07:17getting it every week, along with The Beano, like most people.

0:07:17 > 0:07:19So, who were your standout characters?

0:07:19 > 0:07:23Well, I mean, obviously Desperate Dan, who I think everybody loved.

0:07:23 > 0:07:28But there was...I really liked Big Head and Thick Head.

0:07:28 > 0:07:30You didn't really like either of them.

0:07:30 > 0:07:33One of them was the stupid kid

0:07:33 > 0:07:36and the other one was the swatty four-eyed kid.

0:07:36 > 0:07:39So I don't know how it quite worked.

0:07:39 > 0:07:43I read Of Mice And Men years later and it's a very similar setup

0:07:43 > 0:07:48in that the big oaf and the sort of smarter one.

0:07:48 > 0:07:52You got The Dandy on a Tuesday and you got The Beano on a Thursday.

0:07:52 > 0:07:55And I used to get The Beano and The Film Fun on a Thursday

0:07:55 > 0:07:59and The Dandy and one other comic, I can't remember what it was, but that was my week.

0:07:59 > 0:08:01That's what I had to look forward to.

0:08:01 > 0:08:06The terrible truth is that in common with a lot of people, I was more of a Beano boy.

0:08:06 > 0:08:09I was a Beano boy, but I got The Dandy, too.

0:08:09 > 0:08:12I got them both. We were that well off.

0:08:12 > 0:08:14Were you? Were you a bit of a swapper, though?

0:08:14 > 0:08:16I would swap, of course, yeah.

0:08:16 > 0:08:18No, I never swapped with anybody. I'm very mean that way.

0:08:18 > 0:08:22You swapped, but you always got the bad end of the deal, I always found,

0:08:22 > 0:08:24so I never swapped.

0:08:24 > 0:08:29# The Fire exit door has never agreed with me... #

0:08:30 > 0:08:34Kyle Falconer, he's the singer with Dundee band, The View.

0:08:36 > 0:08:39I mean, I got that much, I had to start splattering them to my doors.

0:08:39 > 0:08:43You started pasting them to doors so you could read them when you went to sleep.

0:08:43 > 0:08:47I tried to get the whole house, but Mum would only let us do the doors in my room.

0:08:47 > 0:08:50When you were reading The Dandy, did you know it was from Dundee?

0:08:50 > 0:08:53Not really when I was dead young,

0:08:53 > 0:08:55but once I'd, when I got to about 12,

0:08:55 > 0:08:57I started to realise where DC Thomson's was and stuff

0:08:57 > 0:09:01and you started going into the newspapers and you heard a lot about it

0:09:01 > 0:09:04through going on school trips and that.

0:09:04 > 0:09:08When we started going to London, that was the first thing they'd say, "Where's Dundee?"

0:09:08 > 0:09:11and you'd go, "The Dandy, The Beano," and they'd go like "Ah, right."

0:09:11 > 0:09:13So that was like our claim to fame.

0:09:15 > 0:09:18Despite having always had a swanky Fleet Street address,

0:09:18 > 0:09:21The Dandy has always been produced here in Dundee.

0:09:23 > 0:09:28It was all done in Dundee and to be honest, I was surprised.

0:09:28 > 0:09:32I can remember what I wrote when I was looking for a job, I wrote,

0:09:32 > 0:09:34"Dear sir, I'm interested in a career in journalism."

0:09:34 > 0:09:39A couple of months later, after several interviews, on my first day, they said,

0:09:39 > 0:09:42"We're going to introduce you to this man, Mr Barnes.

0:09:42 > 0:09:44"He's the editor of The Dandy."

0:09:44 > 0:09:47I thought, "Is that journalism? Is that really done here?"

0:09:47 > 0:09:51But it was all done in Dundee. And hardly anybody knew that.

0:09:51 > 0:09:52I was not aware of that at all.

0:09:52 > 0:09:56I mean, it really was such a shock to me when I found...

0:09:56 > 0:09:58I mean, I didn't even know The Broons were from Dundee!

0:09:58 > 0:10:01- THEY LAUGH - Or the Sunday Post.

0:10:01 > 0:10:05I mean, I think we east-coasters are, you know, certainly,

0:10:05 > 0:10:07we were always, certainly, kind of...

0:10:07 > 0:10:11I think we grew up with this inferiority complex

0:10:11 > 0:10:12that we thought everything was,

0:10:12 > 0:10:15if it was at all Scottish, it was Glasgow,

0:10:15 > 0:10:18or the west of Scotland. It wasn't the east of Scotland at all.

0:10:18 > 0:10:21But actually, of course, it was quite the reverse.

0:10:24 > 0:10:29I did a gig in Dundee and I went along to DC Thomson.

0:10:29 > 0:10:33I went into the Dandy office and if you looked down from the window,

0:10:33 > 0:10:36you could see the school gates

0:10:36 > 0:10:40where The Bash Street Kids was based and all that stuff.

0:10:40 > 0:10:43When I went there, I thought it would be really disappointing.

0:10:43 > 0:10:47It'll be businessmen and there'll be no sense of the comic at all.

0:10:47 > 0:10:51But there was just piles of original comic art,

0:10:51 > 0:10:55drawings of Korky the Cat and stuff all over the place.

0:10:55 > 0:10:58Oh, man, it was a childhood dream come true.

0:10:58 > 0:11:01It was amazing to be in there.

0:11:01 > 0:11:04And I think they all had a sense that they were part of something special.

0:11:04 > 0:11:08Here's the number one. This is what you got in 1937 for two old pennies.

0:11:08 > 0:11:1128 pages. Korky the Cat on the front cover.

0:11:11 > 0:11:15Korky the Cat when he was a proper cat, a little pussycat.

0:11:15 > 0:11:19This is the first time that you used speech bubbles.

0:11:19 > 0:11:21Aye. The Dandy used speech bubbles

0:11:21 > 0:11:24more than any other comic had done before.

0:11:24 > 0:11:26I'm sure the thing was that this was coming from...

0:11:26 > 0:11:30It wasn't other comics they were competing with, it was the talkies.

0:11:30 > 0:11:34It was the matinee cartoon strips. Steamboat Willie and...

0:11:34 > 0:11:36- You never think of that.- Yeah.

0:11:38 > 0:11:41And it was very, you know, when you think back,

0:11:41 > 0:11:43this was a really modern-looking comic.

0:11:43 > 0:11:46And you were getting this through the door every week.

0:11:46 > 0:11:50For kids, there wasn't much else, especially if you were in an area

0:11:50 > 0:11:52you couldn't get to the Saturday matinee in the cinema.

0:11:52 > 0:11:55The comics were the big thing. There was a real lot of reading.

0:11:55 > 0:11:58This first Dandy, you'd take a long time to go through it.

0:11:58 > 0:12:00You'd maybe go through it quickly, read all the cartoons,

0:12:00 > 0:12:03then you'd come back and read these text stories.

0:12:03 > 0:12:05It was a lot of entertainment.

0:12:05 > 0:12:11For most of The Dandy's life, it was edited by one man, Albert Barnes.

0:12:12 > 0:12:16Albert Barnes was The Dandy, essentially, for many years.

0:12:17 > 0:12:21And it was very much his comic and everybody knew it.

0:12:21 > 0:12:23He came on board in 1937

0:12:23 > 0:12:26and started this very innovative comic

0:12:26 > 0:12:30and was still going strong into the '80s.

0:12:30 > 0:12:33So it was very much associated with his humour,

0:12:33 > 0:12:36which I think was a bit tougher than The Beano.

0:12:36 > 0:12:40And there was a little bit more slapstick,

0:12:40 > 0:12:43a little bit more slap than stick, really.

0:12:43 > 0:12:46It was very much a rambunctious kind of humour.

0:12:46 > 0:12:50Even though as an individual, I'm told he was a very stern man,

0:12:50 > 0:12:52he had a kind of militaristic bearing,

0:12:52 > 0:12:56but he wasn't beyond a prank or two.

0:12:56 > 0:12:59Of an evening, he would go down to his greenhouse

0:12:59 > 0:13:02at the bottom of the garden and you wouldn't see him for hours.

0:13:02 > 0:13:06And he would be thinking about storylines, characters,

0:13:06 > 0:13:09serials, annuals.

0:13:09 > 0:13:13And then he would come back in and he would have a pad of shiny paper

0:13:13 > 0:13:17and he would scribble away on it with a red pen for hours on end.

0:13:17 > 0:13:21And my mother would say to me, "Keep quiet, your father's working."

0:13:21 > 0:13:24I could see fine he'd gone to sleep.

0:13:24 > 0:13:25THEY LAUGH

0:13:27 > 0:13:31The humour under Albert Barnes was moralistic in as much as bullies never prosper,

0:13:31 > 0:13:34but the big laugh for Albert was somebody got a punch in the puss

0:13:34 > 0:13:38and somebody paid for it. That was how it worked.

0:13:38 > 0:13:40It was a rougher humour than The Beano used.

0:13:40 > 0:13:44He liked elaborate pranks and Korky the Cat would set up a prank

0:13:44 > 0:13:48that would be the punch line that would work. He was keen on that.

0:13:48 > 0:13:53He read every script. Albert's humour was right through The Dandy.

0:13:53 > 0:13:55But it was rough.

0:13:55 > 0:13:59A lot of Dandy stories ended with a sharp, pointy stick in the rear.

0:13:59 > 0:14:02That was a tough life in The Dandy.

0:14:04 > 0:14:08Albert Barnes worked closely with legendary artist Dudley D Watkins,

0:14:08 > 0:14:13creator of The Broons and Oor Wullie.

0:14:15 > 0:14:17Together, they created Desperate Dan,

0:14:17 > 0:14:20introduced on page two of the first ever Dandy.

0:14:20 > 0:14:24Dan is a desperado, living in the Wild West town of Cactusville.

0:14:29 > 0:14:33Albert Barnes was a very imposing figure

0:14:33 > 0:14:35and he had a very imposing jaw.

0:14:35 > 0:14:38And Dudley D Watkins incorporated that

0:14:38 > 0:14:40into the design of Desperate Dan.

0:14:40 > 0:14:46And even though Albert Barnes wasn't really a man to emote too much,

0:14:46 > 0:14:49I think he was secretly chuffed

0:14:49 > 0:14:52to have this character based on him in that way.

0:14:53 > 0:14:58So I got Watty to draw pictures of a cowboy with a big chin.

0:14:58 > 0:15:03And with a pencil, I squared off the chin and told Watty,

0:15:03 > 0:15:07"I want a face with a chin like a chest of drawers."

0:15:13 > 0:15:15I need to ask you, where exactly is Cactusville?

0:15:15 > 0:15:17Cactusville's in Texas,

0:15:17 > 0:15:20- but as you know when you look at the pictures...- There's tenements.

0:15:20 > 0:15:23There's tenements, there's London buses,

0:15:23 > 0:15:25there's Glasgow taxis, there's pillar boxes.

0:15:25 > 0:15:28There's parts of Cactusville in any working city.

0:15:28 > 0:15:30Cactusville's a weird place.

0:15:30 > 0:15:34It looks increasingly weird to us

0:15:34 > 0:15:39because, of course, it's this amalgamation of a Western town

0:15:39 > 0:15:42with a kind of Scottish town or village.

0:15:42 > 0:15:46It doesn't really make any sense. No place like that has ever existed,

0:15:46 > 0:15:49but it makes sense in Dan's world,

0:15:49 > 0:15:52where he can juggle buses.

0:15:52 > 0:15:54It one strip, he pulls the moon down,

0:15:54 > 0:15:57he lassoes the moon and pulls it down with a rope.

0:15:57 > 0:16:00There's no real narrative logic in Desperate Dan.

0:16:00 > 0:16:04It's pretty much whatever Albert Barnes could come up with

0:16:04 > 0:16:07and whatever Dudley D Watkins could conjure up on the page,

0:16:07 > 0:16:09which is pretty much anything.

0:16:13 > 0:16:15These completely bonkers cartoons

0:16:15 > 0:16:20are the work of one of Albert Barnes's discoveries, artist Tom Paterson.

0:16:22 > 0:16:26I had no idea that I would get into that, be a cartoonist,

0:16:26 > 0:16:30until maybe the fifth or sixth year. I was going to go to art college.

0:16:30 > 0:16:36And I ended up sending up some work away to DC Thomson.

0:16:36 > 0:16:40It was a character I'd come up with. It looks terrible now. I've still got it.

0:16:40 > 0:16:43It was a wee boy detective called Tiny Tech,

0:16:43 > 0:16:46and it looks absolutely terrible.

0:16:46 > 0:16:49But it was passed on to Albert Barnes.

0:16:49 > 0:16:52And the next thing, I got a phone call and a letter

0:16:52 > 0:16:55asking if he could come down and visit me.

0:16:55 > 0:16:58So one day, down the great man comes,

0:16:58 > 0:17:00a very imposing figure.

0:17:00 > 0:17:03For Albert Barnes to get in the car to drive to Edinburgh

0:17:03 > 0:17:04to meet this schoolboy protege,

0:17:04 > 0:17:08that was the one and only time I would say he ever did that.

0:17:08 > 0:17:11Paterson, fabulous artist, as he is today,

0:17:11 > 0:17:15but as a 16 year old, was just a...

0:17:15 > 0:17:18This was the George Best of the art world.

0:17:18 > 0:17:22It was just fantastic. And Albert wanted, at that time...

0:17:22 > 0:17:25I mean, Albert just never left his office, never mind left Dundee.

0:17:25 > 0:17:28So that was very rare.

0:17:28 > 0:17:30And that just shows you what he thought of him.

0:17:30 > 0:17:32I remember him coming to my mum's house.

0:17:32 > 0:17:34We lived in a wee council house, two up, two down.

0:17:34 > 0:17:40My mum was in a panic trying to find cups that matched, nae cracks in the cups and stuff.

0:17:40 > 0:17:45But he came down and he wanted me to do this script he had written.

0:17:45 > 0:17:49I think he had written himself, called Dangerous Dumplings.

0:17:49 > 0:17:51And that's how it started, basically,

0:17:51 > 0:17:54and that led to two or three months back and forward,

0:17:54 > 0:17:57me trying to get the characters how he wanted them.

0:17:57 > 0:17:59And what's the characters up to?

0:17:59 > 0:18:02They were like a dangerous family at the time. Disreputable.

0:18:02 > 0:18:03They'd be called chavs now.

0:18:06 > 0:18:08I wanted to ask you about the Dangerous Dumplings.

0:18:08 > 0:18:12- They've all got the big chins, like you said, after the man Barnes.- Yes.

0:18:12 > 0:18:16The mother's got a big chin, as well as the father. What happened there?

0:18:16 > 0:18:18That always slightly concerned me.

0:18:18 > 0:18:20He was insisting the mother had the big chin, as well?

0:18:20 > 0:18:24Albert seemed to have this fixation on the characters having the big lantern jaw.

0:18:24 > 0:18:28And when we eventually got the dad and the two kids looking like that,

0:18:28 > 0:18:30I had the mother looking a bit different,

0:18:30 > 0:18:34but Albert decided that the whole family should look the same,

0:18:34 > 0:18:37which always struck me as a wee bit strange.

0:18:42 > 0:18:47Six months after The Dandy came out, The Beano was launched in July 1938.

0:18:47 > 0:18:51The publisher had planned to bring out another four comic magazines

0:18:51 > 0:18:53to make the total up to six,

0:18:53 > 0:18:57but that was wrecked by that notorious killjoy, Adolf Hitler.

0:18:57 > 0:18:59Now, due to the paper shortages during the war,

0:18:59 > 0:19:03The Dandy could only be published then once a fortnight,

0:19:03 > 0:19:05and that alternated with The Beano.

0:19:06 > 0:19:09The number of copies printed was severely restricted,

0:19:09 > 0:19:15so precious copies were sold, borrowed, swapped or pinched.

0:19:16 > 0:19:19It was quite significant for me during the war years

0:19:19 > 0:19:22because I'm old enough to have been evacuated during the war.

0:19:22 > 0:19:25And we were evacuated to a place called Ardfern

0:19:25 > 0:19:26in Loch Craignish in Argyll.

0:19:26 > 0:19:29There was myself and my two wee brothers Norman and Iain.

0:19:29 > 0:19:33There was only a year between us. We were very close in age.

0:19:33 > 0:19:36It was a very isolated highland village,

0:19:36 > 0:19:40but once a week, and it may have been once a fortnight,

0:19:40 > 0:19:45a wee van came around and it stopped at all the farms, all the wee houses

0:19:45 > 0:19:47and it used to stop outside Barbreck House.

0:19:47 > 0:19:50And myself and Iain and Norman, the three wee boys,

0:19:50 > 0:19:52used to rush out to the van.

0:19:52 > 0:19:55You got your sweeties, you got wee toys

0:19:55 > 0:19:57and you always got the comics.

0:19:57 > 0:20:00And The Dandy was always the main comic.

0:20:00 > 0:20:04And it was really, really exciting because it was a special event.

0:20:04 > 0:20:07It wasn't like if you lived in town, you'd go to the shop and buy it.

0:20:07 > 0:20:10You were fascinated by the brightness and the colour

0:20:10 > 0:20:12and the sheer sort of joy of the thing, you know.

0:20:12 > 0:20:17During the war, Dandy editor Albert Barnes became a naval officer.

0:20:17 > 0:20:22And many more of DC Thomson's staff and freelancers joined up, too.

0:20:22 > 0:20:24But for those that couldn't,

0:20:24 > 0:20:26they wanted to do their bit to keep the morale up.

0:20:26 > 0:20:29What did they do? I'll tell you what they did.

0:20:29 > 0:20:32They sent Desperate Dan to fight the Nazis! Yes!

0:20:32 > 0:20:36Gosh! I was about to be attacked by Nazis!

0:20:36 > 0:20:40But I've blown them out of the sky! Ha-ha!

0:20:40 > 0:20:46Ach! Dan has made der shipwreck of mine pootiful plane!

0:20:48 > 0:20:51Thing is, Desperate Dan was an American from Cactusville.

0:20:51 > 0:20:54That makes him the first American to get involved in WWII.

0:20:54 > 0:20:57It's not everybody that knows that, you know.

0:21:00 > 0:21:02In this front page from 1940,

0:21:02 > 0:21:06Korky the Cat repels an invasion of Nazi mouse paratroopers.

0:21:11 > 0:21:14Hitler and Hermann Goering, the head of the Luftwaffe,

0:21:14 > 0:21:18came in for special attention, lampooned as Addie and Hermy,

0:21:18 > 0:21:20bumbling idiots always trying to steal food.

0:21:24 > 0:21:29Pretend we are der cripples and we'll soon get der free food, too.

0:21:31 > 0:21:33Look! They are der frauds.

0:21:33 > 0:21:36They are not der cripples, but they soon will be!

0:21:37 > 0:21:42Dandy cartoonist Eric Robbie Roberts joined up to become a cartoonist.

0:21:44 > 0:21:50He was in the RAF. He did a lot of the posters for the servicemen,

0:21:50 > 0:21:54that gave instructions of what they should and shouldn't do.

0:21:54 > 0:21:56And it was so unusual

0:21:56 > 0:22:01because it was done in a comic way, with the characters.

0:22:01 > 0:22:06And it meant that visually, people remembered them

0:22:06 > 0:22:08and remembered the message that they portrayed.

0:22:10 > 0:22:12In 1945, the war ended.

0:22:13 > 0:22:16Demobbed servicemen, long parted from wives and sweethearts,

0:22:16 > 0:22:19returned home and got to work creating a baby boom.

0:22:23 > 0:22:25Among them was Albert Barnes.

0:22:27 > 0:22:30He'd risen from naval rating to lieutenant commander.

0:22:30 > 0:22:34But now returned to pilot The Dandy though its golden years.

0:22:37 > 0:22:41These pages are the 1950 Dandy sales ledger.

0:22:41 > 0:22:45And down this column, here's your British sale.

0:22:45 > 0:22:48Starts in January. 1.92 million.

0:22:48 > 0:22:52- A week?- A week. Ends the year on 1.97 million.

0:22:52 > 0:22:56And there are a few, quite a few weeks over two million.

0:22:56 > 0:22:59The week the top-selling Dandy came out,

0:22:59 > 0:23:02the market had become even more crowded,

0:23:02 > 0:23:04with the issue of the first-ever Eagle.

0:23:06 > 0:23:08The Eagle first published in 1950.

0:23:08 > 0:23:10It had Christian values.

0:23:10 > 0:23:13But The Dandy stuck to its subversive naughtiness.

0:23:14 > 0:23:17The Eagle was educational, but The Dandy was funny.

0:23:17 > 0:23:22Parents loved The Eagle, but kids? They loved The Dandy!

0:23:23 > 0:23:25I used to get the Eagle second-hand.

0:23:25 > 0:23:27I don't know if it was more expensive,

0:23:27 > 0:23:32but there used to be a store on Cape Hill Market in Smethwick

0:23:32 > 0:23:34and they used to sell comics second-hand.

0:23:34 > 0:23:37So I'd go and buy, like, 20 Eagles

0:23:37 > 0:23:40or 20 Look and Learns, or something like that.

0:23:40 > 0:23:42But I think even at the time,

0:23:42 > 0:23:46I didn't have a sense of working class, middle class,

0:23:46 > 0:23:52but there was something slightly alienating about some of the stuff.

0:23:52 > 0:23:54They had a thing in The Eagle

0:23:54 > 0:23:57where you could convert your loft into a playroom

0:23:57 > 0:23:59or something like that. Didn't happen in our house.

0:23:59 > 0:24:04I don't think the council would have liked it very much, for a start off!

0:24:04 > 0:24:06When I was at school in the '50s,

0:24:06 > 0:24:08you had your Dandy and Beano confiscated

0:24:08 > 0:24:12because it was riotous, rough humour.

0:24:12 > 0:24:16I don't remember any of my friends getting their Eagle confiscated.

0:24:16 > 0:24:19But for many people, The Dandy was an education.

0:24:21 > 0:24:23When I first started reading The Dandy,

0:24:23 > 0:24:26I hadn't started school, so I couldn't read.

0:24:26 > 0:24:30So for the first, I would say, two years of my Dandy reading,

0:24:30 > 0:24:32I just looked at the pictures and guessed.

0:24:32 > 0:24:35And it was a very interesting process.

0:24:35 > 0:24:38I can remember this feeling of learning to read

0:24:38 > 0:24:42and the characters suddenly,

0:24:42 > 0:24:45slowly at first, starting to speak.

0:24:45 > 0:24:47I can still remember picking out the odd word

0:24:47 > 0:24:52and eventually being fluent in comic speak.

0:24:52 > 0:24:55We didn't have many books. We had a local library, but no bookshops.

0:24:55 > 0:24:59Comics is what I grew up with. Comics is how I got into literature, how I got into writing.

0:24:59 > 0:25:02I used to get wee bits of paper, fold them in half and make comics.

0:25:02 > 0:25:04- Brilliant! - And put free gifts on the front.

0:25:04 > 0:25:07When I was younger, I was mainly into comics.

0:25:07 > 0:25:10So it was The Beano, The Dandy, The Broons, Oor Wullie

0:25:10 > 0:25:12and then it was the Marvel superhero comics,

0:25:12 > 0:25:16a wee bit later on, which were just a bit darker and a bit edgier.

0:25:16 > 0:25:19But I think comics are a good way for kids to get into books.

0:25:19 > 0:25:22Because you're still consuming the words,

0:25:22 > 0:25:24but if you're not a really confident reader,

0:25:24 > 0:25:27it brings you in a bit more gently.

0:25:27 > 0:25:29And then eventually, you progress onto novels.

0:25:32 > 0:25:36The Dandy always kept an eye on what its rival, the cinema, was doing.

0:25:37 > 0:25:42When MGM released the hugely popular Lassie Come Home in 1943,

0:25:42 > 0:25:46DC Thomson saw not just a threat, but an opportunity.

0:25:49 > 0:25:52Black Bob was first published in 1944,

0:25:52 > 0:25:55which makes him nearly 500 years old in dog years.

0:25:57 > 0:26:00So I'd get The Dandy, I'd read it through very feverishly,

0:26:00 > 0:26:02except Black Bob.

0:26:02 > 0:26:07And then I'd read it through again a bit more slowly, except Black Bob.

0:26:07 > 0:26:11And then I was done with it, then, it was cast aside.

0:26:11 > 0:26:13What was the problem with Black Bob?

0:26:13 > 0:26:17Black Bob was a mysterious world to me.

0:26:17 > 0:26:20And I don't think I've ever read a Black Bob.

0:26:20 > 0:26:23If you consider how many Dandys I bought over a period of eight years,

0:26:23 > 0:26:25that's something to say.

0:26:25 > 0:26:29It didn't have any speech bubbles, which I found quite alienating.

0:26:29 > 0:26:31The speech bubbles would have been, "Woof!"

0:26:31 > 0:26:33Well, I suppose that's the problem.

0:26:33 > 0:26:37If your main character is a dog, you don't need speech bubbles.

0:26:37 > 0:26:41But then that was another thing with Black Bob, he didn't join in.

0:26:41 > 0:26:44Korky the Cat was a cat, but he had a house.

0:26:45 > 0:26:48Whereas Black Bob was a dog and he lived like a dog.

0:26:48 > 0:26:52And that wasn't joining in with the whole comic thing.

0:26:52 > 0:26:55The quality of the drawing was so different.

0:26:55 > 0:27:00It was realism, it was movie, like a black-and-white movie. I loved it.

0:27:00 > 0:27:04We used to go to a farm when I was a kid, out near Condoratt,

0:27:04 > 0:27:08and they had a dog called Beth who was the embodiment of Black Bob.

0:27:08 > 0:27:13So I'll never be sure where Beth ended and Black Bob began.

0:27:13 > 0:27:14The two creatures were as one.

0:27:17 > 0:27:20In one of DC Thomson's most surreal publications,

0:27:20 > 0:27:23Black Bob actually teamed up with Dennis the Menace's dog,

0:27:23 > 0:27:25Gnasher, from The Beano.

0:27:27 > 0:27:30The Dandy of the '50s also featured adventure tales.

0:27:30 > 0:27:33Artist Paddy Brennan was given space

0:27:33 > 0:27:35for large and dramatic fight scenes

0:27:35 > 0:27:39to illustrate text stories like Crackaway Jack and Turtle Boy.

0:27:44 > 0:27:47But text was giving way to all-picture stories.

0:27:47 > 0:27:51Tin Lizzie, the mechanical maid, was created as a text story in 1953,

0:27:51 > 0:27:55but became a comic strip just two years later.

0:28:01 > 0:28:03The times, they were a-changing.

0:28:03 > 0:28:05Between the mid '50s and the mid '60s,

0:28:05 > 0:28:08the number of homes with TV trebled.

0:28:08 > 0:28:11Comics like The Dandy had an exciting new rival.

0:28:16 > 0:28:18The Dandy fought back with new characters,

0:28:18 > 0:28:22like rebellious schoolboy Winker Watson and Corporal Clott,

0:28:22 > 0:28:24the Gary: Tank Commander of its day.

0:28:28 > 0:28:31Corporal Clott, I really liked.

0:28:31 > 0:28:33Corporal Clott, I think, was the only strip

0:28:33 > 0:28:37where I was sort of aware of the artwork,

0:28:37 > 0:28:41in that it seemed a lot starker than all the other strips in there.

0:28:41 > 0:28:43There was almost no background.

0:28:43 > 0:28:47It was like a Samuel Beckett play, Corporal Clott.

0:28:47 > 0:28:49There's two main characters,

0:28:49 > 0:28:53with usually terrible things happening to the authority figure.

0:28:56 > 0:28:59Right, Rosemary. Who was your dad?

0:28:59 > 0:29:01Huh! He was David Law.

0:29:01 > 0:29:04He was an artist for DC Thomson's.

0:29:04 > 0:29:06And what characters did he draw?

0:29:06 > 0:29:08His most famous was Dennis the Menace.

0:29:08 > 0:29:11It seemed to catch on very well.

0:29:11 > 0:29:13And then Beryl the Peril.

0:29:13 > 0:29:17Corporal Clott was his favourite, his personal favourite,

0:29:17 > 0:29:21because I think he remembered things from the war.

0:29:21 > 0:29:23So he got a bit of inspiration closer to home, didn't he?

0:29:23 > 0:29:27Very much so, yes. Sometimes when we were playing with our cousins,

0:29:27 > 0:29:29you would find Dad in the corner.

0:29:29 > 0:29:32Somebody must have done an expression he'd want to remember

0:29:32 > 0:29:37and transfer it into the characters that he was drawing.

0:29:37 > 0:29:41You were always finding bits of paper about the house of yourself.

0:29:41 > 0:29:43Of course, it horrified you that you thought,

0:29:43 > 0:29:46"That's what I look like when I'm crying

0:29:46 > 0:29:49"or throwing myself about on the floor

0:29:49 > 0:29:53"because I'm not getting to wear tights or something like that."

0:29:53 > 0:29:55You think Beryl did look a bit like you?

0:29:55 > 0:29:58Facially, yes. But her hair, very dark, like Dennis,

0:29:58 > 0:30:02and pigtails was, I think, based on my cousin Pamela.

0:30:02 > 0:30:06She had very dark hair and pigtails.

0:30:06 > 0:30:08What did you think about Beryl as a role model?

0:30:08 > 0:30:12Well, at the time, I thought she was extremely naughty.

0:30:12 > 0:30:16I thought, actually, she was Dennis' little sister, as a child,

0:30:16 > 0:30:20but I think, looking back, that she was the first women's libber,

0:30:20 > 0:30:23before Germaine Greer or anybody else like that.

0:30:23 > 0:30:27She made girls look at themselves and think,

0:30:27 > 0:30:30"Oh, we're as good as the boys, we can do that."

0:30:32 > 0:30:35Bully Beef and Chips featured a violent,

0:30:35 > 0:30:37but fortunately very thick bully

0:30:37 > 0:30:41and his intended, but much smarter victim, Chips.

0:30:45 > 0:30:47I feel like bashing someone!

0:30:47 > 0:30:51Ah! There's that little shrimp, Chips! He'll do!

0:30:51 > 0:30:54I'm going to give you a thumping, you little bookworm!

0:30:54 > 0:30:57Oh! Bully Beef has got me!

0:31:01 > 0:31:04Holidays became more affordable in the prosperous '60s

0:31:04 > 0:31:07and The Dandy began publishing large-format summer specials.

0:31:07 > 0:31:11In these days, it was still OK for Korky to be a smoker.

0:31:14 > 0:31:17The '60s ended sadly for DC Thomson's.

0:31:17 > 0:31:20Dudley D Watkins, creator of its greatest cartoon characters,

0:31:20 > 0:31:22died at his drawing board in August of '69.

0:31:25 > 0:31:28This is the last Desperate Dan he drew.

0:31:28 > 0:31:32Shocked and saddened, Albert Barnes refused to let other artists draw Dan,

0:31:32 > 0:31:37and for the next 14 years, only reprinted Watkins' classic creations.

0:31:41 > 0:31:44Kids still bought The Dandy, or at least had a sneaky peek.

0:31:47 > 0:31:50I did have to go down to the corner shop, which was owned by my parents.

0:31:50 > 0:31:53- I was literally a kid in a sweet shop growing up.- Fantastic!

0:31:53 > 0:31:56We had, being Asian, it was part of the contract.

0:31:56 > 0:31:58We had a newsagents for a bit.

0:31:58 > 0:32:00So between the years of '78 and '82,

0:32:00 > 0:32:03my formative comic years, between 8 and 12,

0:32:03 > 0:32:05I was going down after school for two hours

0:32:05 > 0:32:08and helping out my mum in the shop.

0:32:08 > 0:32:13So this is a slight confession, but I used to rifle the comics

0:32:13 > 0:32:15that were on order, that people used to come in for.

0:32:15 > 0:32:17You're telling me you looked through these comics

0:32:17 > 0:32:21and took that lovely painty, inky smell out of the comics

0:32:21 > 0:32:25that was meant for the kids coming in with their 30p to buy it?

0:32:25 > 0:32:29I maybe released about 10 percent of it. I mean, I was quite careful.

0:32:29 > 0:32:32They were saying, "This joke should be funnier. Somebody read this."

0:32:32 > 0:32:35Is that how it works? Taking pictures of jokes?

0:32:35 > 0:32:39If there is anyone in the Battlefield area of Glasgow now,

0:32:39 > 0:32:41ages with me, sort of early 40s,

0:32:41 > 0:32:44if they felt that their Dandy had been fingered,

0:32:44 > 0:32:48it would have been me, and I can't apologise enough.

0:32:48 > 0:32:51If it's any consolation, it probably formed my comedy career

0:32:51 > 0:32:53and, you know, I'm very popular.

0:32:53 > 0:32:57So I think I've fed back, I think I've paid my dues to society.

0:32:57 > 0:32:58No, we forgive you.

0:32:59 > 0:33:01The Dandy captured the minds of children,

0:33:01 > 0:33:05and some people believe it influenced them for life.

0:33:05 > 0:33:08I would be surprised if there's anyone my age

0:33:08 > 0:33:12who hasn't been influenced by The Dandy. The Dandy and The Beano.

0:33:12 > 0:33:15It's very hard to measure the influence,

0:33:15 > 0:33:18but I think it absolutely is pervasive.

0:33:18 > 0:33:21Recognise these guys?

0:33:21 > 0:33:25They're the creations of four-time Oscar winner, Nick Park.

0:33:25 > 0:33:27What do you think influenced this?

0:33:27 > 0:33:31I think the people here at Aardman, we're all of the same mind, really.

0:33:31 > 0:33:35We were all...When I started at Aardman, we were,

0:33:35 > 0:33:37we all just talked about The Dandy and The Beano

0:33:37 > 0:33:41and it's that connection with childhood which is so important.

0:33:41 > 0:33:43The things that influenced you.

0:33:43 > 0:33:46And definitely, a good diet of The Beano and The Dandy

0:33:46 > 0:33:48helped us all in some way.

0:33:48 > 0:33:51I was actually more a fan of The Beano.

0:33:51 > 0:33:53And, you know, in those days,

0:33:53 > 0:33:57the comic you got every week was your identity as a kid.

0:33:57 > 0:34:01And I really associated... I really identified with the Beano,

0:34:01 > 0:34:03but my brother got The Dandy every week

0:34:03 > 0:34:06and you'd trade comics, as well, after you'd read them.

0:34:06 > 0:34:10So I always got to read The Dandy every week, as well.

0:34:10 > 0:34:11So I loved that, as well.

0:34:11 > 0:34:14I loved Korky the Cat.

0:34:14 > 0:34:17And Desperate Dan, of course, is the obvious one.

0:34:17 > 0:34:18- Did you start drawing then?- Yeah.

0:34:18 > 0:34:22I read The Dandy and The Beano all the time,

0:34:22 > 0:34:24so my ambition as a kid was...

0:34:24 > 0:34:27I discovered drawing was the only thing I was ever good at.

0:34:27 > 0:34:30And because I used to live in The Beano,

0:34:30 > 0:34:32I used to read it all the time,

0:34:32 > 0:34:35my big ambition as a kid

0:34:35 > 0:34:39was to draw for The Dandy or The Beano.

0:34:39 > 0:34:41So you wanted to be an artist for that?

0:34:41 > 0:34:43Yeah. That was what I wanted to be.

0:34:43 > 0:34:45And it all went pear-shaped for you(!)

0:34:45 > 0:34:47- Yeah! - THEY LAUGH

0:34:47 > 0:34:49My ambitions dashed.

0:34:49 > 0:34:52Right, before we go, we want to ask you, do you remember that?

0:34:52 > 0:34:55- Good grief, yeah. - Do you remember how to work it?

0:34:55 > 0:34:57I do, yeah.

0:34:57 > 0:34:59CRACK!

0:34:59 > 0:35:02Ooo! Not bad. Give it a bigger one.

0:35:02 > 0:35:05- I do remember, because I never got mine.- Did you not?

0:35:05 > 0:35:10I remember the actual comic this came from, the actual week.

0:35:10 > 0:35:12- Go on. - CRACK!

0:35:12 > 0:35:16We used to often get free gifts and the paperboy would nick them.

0:35:16 > 0:35:18- Yeah.- So I never got mine.

0:35:25 > 0:35:29- Were you a Dandy fan when you were a kid?- I was comic mad.

0:35:29 > 0:35:32I didnae do the war ones, I didnae do Hotspur,

0:35:32 > 0:35:35but definitely Dandy, Beano,

0:35:35 > 0:35:37Oor Wullie, Broons,

0:35:37 > 0:35:38Beezer, Topper.

0:35:38 > 0:35:42You're from Govan originally, but you're a local man now.

0:35:42 > 0:35:44I've been here for 20-odd years.

0:35:44 > 0:35:46What's the feedback you get about your work?

0:35:46 > 0:35:49I try to stay away from it. I mean, people love it.

0:35:49 > 0:35:52The artistic community, no, they don't see it as art,

0:35:52 > 0:35:55- but the people...it was made for people.- Sure.

0:35:55 > 0:36:01If you make a public sculpture, if the public part isnae there,

0:36:01 > 0:36:04if they're not connecting with that, you're in trouble, I think.

0:36:04 > 0:36:08It's continually surrounded by people.

0:36:16 > 0:36:18What height do you reckon Desperate Dan is?

0:36:18 > 0:36:21Looking at this, he's about 7ft 1. What do you think?

0:36:21 > 0:36:24Yeah. That's fairly normal for Dundee.

0:36:24 > 0:36:25Yes, it is, that's right.

0:36:25 > 0:36:29Nigel Parkinson is working on The Dandy's last print issue.

0:36:29 > 0:36:34When I was a kid, I read almost every comic I could get my hands on.

0:36:34 > 0:36:38I was a bit obsessed with comics, to be honest. I read them all.

0:36:38 > 0:36:41Beano, Dandy, Wham, everything.

0:36:42 > 0:36:47- When did you start drawing? - I was about three years old...

0:36:47 > 0:36:51No, two years old, when I started drawing.

0:36:51 > 0:36:54And I haven't stopped yet. So that's about 20 years now, isn't it?

0:36:54 > 0:36:56Mm-hm.

0:36:58 > 0:37:00I always wanted to be in comics.

0:37:00 > 0:37:02Where do you end up, but with The Dandy?

0:37:02 > 0:37:06So, are you quite honoured to be drawing Desperate Dan

0:37:06 > 0:37:08in the last issue of The Dandy?

0:37:08 > 0:37:12Yes. It's always an honour to be asked to draw something historic.

0:37:12 > 0:37:15That'll be great. Yeah.

0:37:15 > 0:37:17When I found out, I was amazed.

0:37:17 > 0:37:19Desperate Dan, is that a worrying thing,

0:37:19 > 0:37:21having to step into the shoes of Dudley D Watkins?

0:37:21 > 0:37:24Well, Dudley was one of the great originators,

0:37:24 > 0:37:28one of the real original artists of the comics world.

0:37:28 > 0:37:31Having to draw like him is a little bit daunting

0:37:31 > 0:37:34because you've got the weight of history on your shoulders,

0:37:34 > 0:37:38going back to before the war. So it is hard,

0:37:38 > 0:37:41but you just grit your teeth and get on with it, don't you?

0:37:43 > 0:37:47In '82, 45 years after he'd first edited The Dandy,

0:37:47 > 0:37:49Albert Barnes finally retired.

0:37:49 > 0:37:53His successor, Dave Torrie, did the unthinkable.

0:37:53 > 0:37:56He had Desperate Dan stage a palace revolution

0:37:56 > 0:37:59that ousted Korky from the front page.

0:37:59 > 0:38:02SCREECH!

0:38:02 > 0:38:06That would have been a crime in Albert's eyes. Albert never...

0:38:06 > 0:38:09Not only did he...he kept The Dandy, Korky on the cover,

0:38:09 > 0:38:12Desperate Dan on the inside cover, he kept it for decades.

0:38:12 > 0:38:14You could go right through his makeup

0:38:14 > 0:38:17and it stayed the same year after year.

0:38:17 > 0:38:21He wouldn't have done that at all, he wouldn't have done it.

0:38:21 > 0:38:24Occasionally, The Dandy became controversial,

0:38:24 > 0:38:26like the time it published a recipe for gunpowder

0:38:26 > 0:38:29in a 1966 Guy Fawkes edition.

0:38:30 > 0:38:33Brassneck was this robot.

0:38:33 > 0:38:35A very intelligent guy, you see.

0:38:35 > 0:38:39So the kids were thinking about making their own fireworks.

0:38:39 > 0:38:41Remember, this is back in the early '60s.

0:38:41 > 0:38:46So on this blackboard, Brassneck had written this recipe for gunpowder,

0:38:46 > 0:38:49but it would have worked.

0:38:49 > 0:38:50It was a recipe for gunpowder.

0:38:50 > 0:38:53What, the formula for the actual stuff?

0:38:53 > 0:38:56And The Dandy, Albert Barnes got this letter

0:38:56 > 0:38:58from the Minister of Explosives.

0:38:58 > 0:39:00They've got one of them, have they?

0:39:00 > 0:39:03And it was a rap over the knuckles for printing this.

0:39:06 > 0:39:08The '70s brought The Dandy a new hero.

0:39:10 > 0:39:15Bananaman, a Superman send-up, began life in a new comic, Nutty,

0:39:15 > 0:39:18which eventually merged with The Dandy.

0:39:18 > 0:39:22Bananaman was the first DC Thomson character to get his own TV show.

0:39:25 > 0:39:29But even the arrival of a banana-munching superhero at The Dandy

0:39:29 > 0:39:32didn't alter the fact that the comic was now being outsold

0:39:32 > 0:39:34two-to-one by its rival The Beano.

0:39:37 > 0:39:38Enter, Morris Heggie.

0:39:38 > 0:39:40Well, this is The Dandy office.

0:39:40 > 0:39:43Come inside and I'll introduce you to my staff.

0:39:43 > 0:39:44It's Morris in his heyday.

0:39:44 > 0:39:46Before biffs, bangs and banana skins

0:39:46 > 0:39:48turned his hair 50 shades of grey.

0:39:48 > 0:39:51Hi. I'm Riona. I'm the Dandy balloonist.

0:39:51 > 0:39:54I do all the balloon work and colour work for the magazine.

0:39:54 > 0:39:56Hi, there. I'm Jim, comic genius.

0:39:56 > 0:40:00I write Cuddles and Dimples and Jocks and Geordies.

0:40:00 > 0:40:05What is it like to spend your adult working life trying to make eight year olds laugh?

0:40:05 > 0:40:08Does it rub off, or were you bonkers to start with? How does that work?

0:40:08 > 0:40:12I think you're born bonkers. That's how you do it.

0:40:16 > 0:40:19You must have a favourite character from that period.

0:40:19 > 0:40:21Yeah. Terror Tots, Cuddles and Dimples.

0:40:21 > 0:40:24I was working on a comic called The Nutty,

0:40:24 > 0:40:26where I did this character Cuddles.

0:40:26 > 0:40:30So I teamed him up with a character in The Dandy called Dimples.

0:40:30 > 0:40:34Eventually, they became twins that had the same parents.

0:40:34 > 0:40:38Yeah, but there was something odd about that setup.

0:40:38 > 0:40:40That naughty artist, Barry Appleby,

0:40:40 > 0:40:42when we said we'll join the families,

0:40:42 > 0:40:47he used the mum from one family with the dad from the other.

0:40:47 > 0:40:49So there was a wife-swapping incident.

0:40:49 > 0:40:51There was a scandal in The Dandy.

0:40:51 > 0:40:55The Dandy had another close shave with Winker Watson.

0:40:55 > 0:40:58In one series of Winker stories,

0:40:58 > 0:41:00there was a millionaire kid came to the school.

0:41:00 > 0:41:03And he ended up having a helicopter.

0:41:03 > 0:41:07And just as a wee joke, Winker tied a bomb underneath it.

0:41:07 > 0:41:13And we always had to do these rhyming lines above the stories.

0:41:13 > 0:41:16So we submitted a few and the boss would pick the one he liked best.

0:41:16 > 0:41:19The one I submitted, just for a laugh, said,

0:41:19 > 0:41:21"Here's a wangle that's a topper,

0:41:21 > 0:41:24"just look what's slung beneath Boodle's chopper."

0:41:26 > 0:41:29And to my amazement, the boss passed it.

0:41:29 > 0:41:33So we got it set up, got it put on the page and the page went away.

0:41:33 > 0:41:36About three weeks later, somebody who was going to print the thing

0:41:36 > 0:41:38got in touch and said, "You cannae do this!"

0:41:38 > 0:41:40We had to change it at the last minute.

0:41:42 > 0:41:44By the 1990s, Britain was undergoing

0:41:44 > 0:41:46a revolution of political correctness.

0:41:46 > 0:41:49Some of The Dandy's characters and storylines

0:41:49 > 0:41:52- were now deemed to be too violent. - CRACK!

0:41:52 > 0:41:56The Jocks and the Geordies was the first casualty.

0:41:56 > 0:42:00Dropped in '97 after 22 years of gang warfare and comic violence.

0:42:00 > 0:42:03GRUNTING

0:42:03 > 0:42:06Bullying was now recognised as a social evil.

0:42:06 > 0:42:09So Bully Beef was first toned down,

0:42:09 > 0:42:12and then dropped altogether.

0:42:14 > 0:42:18I actually wish I'd been working 10, 15 years before,

0:42:18 > 0:42:21the '60s and the '70s, because they got away with a lot more.

0:42:21 > 0:42:24By the time I started working,

0:42:24 > 0:42:27the PC rules and regulations started coming in.

0:42:27 > 0:42:29Certain things happened with Desperate Dan.

0:42:29 > 0:42:33He wasn't allowed to do a lot of the dangerous things that he did,

0:42:33 > 0:42:35like shaving with a blowtorch and that.

0:42:35 > 0:42:38You can imagine that would be one of the first things to go.

0:42:38 > 0:42:42So it took away a lot of the anarchy and the fun out of it.

0:42:47 > 0:42:51In 1979, the Viz launches, and it's outrageous.

0:42:51 > 0:42:54It's smutty, surreal, satirical.

0:42:54 > 0:42:56And it borrows characters

0:42:56 > 0:42:58and its visual style from The Dandy.

0:43:04 > 0:43:08We sort of celebrated that world, that strange world

0:43:08 > 0:43:11in which the, especially the DC Thomson characters exist,

0:43:11 > 0:43:13which is sort of...

0:43:13 > 0:43:17I mean, Desperate Dan lives in this sort of cowboy world

0:43:17 > 0:43:22- that has stone walls and pillar boxes.- Cactusville.

0:43:22 > 0:43:24But we sort of put into that

0:43:24 > 0:43:29the world that we knew at the time, you know, which was this sort of...

0:43:29 > 0:43:33We were in this northern English, um...

0:43:33 > 0:43:38post-industrial sort of...hell-scape, really, you know.

0:43:38 > 0:43:41So we just added the bleakness

0:43:41 > 0:43:43and the violence and the social problems

0:43:43 > 0:43:45that we knew from around us

0:43:45 > 0:43:50into this sort of joyful world of innocence from The Dandy.

0:43:50 > 0:43:52And that was really what Viz was.

0:43:52 > 0:43:57We ran a few spoofs of Dandy characters,

0:43:57 > 0:44:00well, Dandy and Beano. Generally, DC Thomson characters.

0:44:00 > 0:44:05Crivens! The beastie's doing a wee jobbie in ma floowerbed!

0:44:05 > 0:44:07We did Corky the Twat,

0:44:07 > 0:44:10Desperately Unfunny Dan,

0:44:10 > 0:44:14Arsehole Kate and Wanker Watson.

0:44:14 > 0:44:16And when we published Wanker Watson,

0:44:16 > 0:44:19we were issued with hat's known in the legal trade

0:44:19 > 0:44:21as a cease-and-desist order,

0:44:21 > 0:44:25which meant that if we were to parody any of DC Thomson's work again,

0:44:25 > 0:44:28legal action would begin against us

0:44:28 > 0:44:31without any further written notice.

0:44:31 > 0:44:35So we felt a bit lost really, for a moment, thinking,

0:44:35 > 0:44:38well, if we can't parody any of DC Thomson's work,

0:44:38 > 0:44:41what are we able to do, you know?

0:44:41 > 0:44:44So we decided to create a brand-new character

0:44:44 > 0:44:47that didn't reflect any of DC Thomson's work.

0:44:47 > 0:44:50And we called this character,

0:44:50 > 0:44:53DC Thompson, The Humourless Scottish Git.

0:44:53 > 0:44:55THEY LAUGH

0:44:55 > 0:44:58His catchphrase was, "Och, readers, I think I've pissed ma kilt."

0:44:58 > 0:45:00THEY LAUGH

0:45:02 > 0:45:05Dennis! You are a menace!

0:45:05 > 0:45:07You're breaking the law!

0:45:07 > 0:45:11Dennis the Menace is copyright, you hear me?

0:45:11 > 0:45:15Why, there's a misunderstanding. This is my son, Dennis.

0:45:15 > 0:45:19- I was just saying what a menace he can be at times.- Bah!

0:45:20 > 0:45:24Come on, Dennis. I'll get you some little sour plum sweets.

0:45:25 > 0:45:29The Viz had been running various parodies of us.

0:45:29 > 0:45:33Desperately Unfunny Dan, Wanker Watson, things like that.

0:45:33 > 0:45:37And we were doing a story Jocks and Geordies,

0:45:37 > 0:45:39which, of course, is us,

0:45:39 > 0:45:43where the Jocks were writing a comic

0:45:43 > 0:45:45and the Geordies stole it.

0:45:49 > 0:45:52This is the Geordies' real competition entry.

0:45:52 > 0:45:54The Not-Very-Good Sharks?

0:45:54 > 0:45:57The Boy with the Big Pants? None of this lot are funny.

0:45:57 > 0:45:59- Rumbled!- Rumbled!

0:45:59 > 0:46:01- Take that!- Take that, that, that!

0:46:01 > 0:46:03- Take that!- Take that!- Take that!

0:46:03 > 0:46:08The Jocks are the winners. That's a real comic punch line.

0:46:08 > 0:46:10The Dandy was now in full colour.

0:46:10 > 0:46:14And in July '99, issue number 3007

0:46:14 > 0:46:16made it Britain's longest-running comic.

0:46:18 > 0:46:21Desperate Dan almost didn't make that issue.

0:46:21 > 0:46:24Two years earlier, The Dandy featured a story

0:46:24 > 0:46:25in which he retired.

0:46:27 > 0:46:31It was coming up to Dan's 60th birthday.

0:46:31 > 0:46:34So we had Dan come into money.

0:46:34 > 0:46:37Big yacht, ran off with the Spice Girls, thought it was a good laugh,

0:46:37 > 0:46:40thought we could maybe make this run for a little while.

0:46:40 > 0:46:45And my Dandy. Can't enjoy breakfast without my Dandy.

0:46:45 > 0:46:47There is no Dandy, sir.

0:46:47 > 0:46:50Seemingly The Dandy will be no more without Desperate Dan.

0:46:50 > 0:46:53What? This can't be true!

0:46:53 > 0:46:55I must see for myself! Ah!

0:46:55 > 0:46:58Where's the editor and all my old pals?

0:46:58 > 0:47:02It must be true. What have I done?

0:47:02 > 0:47:05But of course, the real hardcore Dandy fans were appalled

0:47:05 > 0:47:10that Desperate Dan was not in the comic.

0:47:11 > 0:47:12Mistake.

0:47:12 > 0:47:16Craig Graham has been editor here at The Dandy for five years.

0:47:16 > 0:47:19In 75 years, there's only been four editors here.

0:47:19 > 0:47:23Three times as many men have walked on the moon.

0:47:23 > 0:47:28When I finished at university, I spotted an advert in the local paper

0:47:28 > 0:47:31for a job as, I think, a magazine journalist here,

0:47:31 > 0:47:33or a trainee magazine journalist at DC Thomson.

0:47:33 > 0:47:38And I thought, "That will do me through the summer until I go to teacher-training college."

0:47:38 > 0:47:40And that was 15 years ago now.

0:47:40 > 0:47:44What reaction do you get when you tell people, "I'm the editor of The Dandy"?

0:47:44 > 0:47:46Well, they never really believe you.

0:47:46 > 0:47:49And once you've convinced them that, yeah, there is such a job

0:47:49 > 0:47:51in reality and not just in the comic...

0:47:51 > 0:47:54Is that one of the things people say, "That's not a real job?"

0:47:54 > 0:47:58Yeah, yeah. They say, "That must be a laugh from 9-5 every day."

0:47:58 > 0:48:00And I always say,

0:48:00 > 0:48:03"It is, but it doesnae stop at 5:00."

0:48:03 > 0:48:05You think about it all the time.

0:48:05 > 0:48:09You wake up during the middle of the night and you've had a thought,

0:48:09 > 0:48:11so you scribble it down and think that's really funny

0:48:11 > 0:48:14and you go in at 9:00 in the morning and you think,

0:48:14 > 0:48:17"That wasnae that funny, but there's something there."

0:48:17 > 0:48:20Under Craig, The Dandy evolved.

0:48:20 > 0:48:24In 2007, I think it was, we went fortnightly.

0:48:24 > 0:48:28We started to bring in lots of films and games and things like that.

0:48:28 > 0:48:32Things like Toy Story or like the sort of Madagascar films today.

0:48:32 > 0:48:36And we felt that we could benefit from their popularity,

0:48:36 > 0:48:38so we brought them into the comic.

0:48:38 > 0:48:40And it kinda worked for a while.

0:48:40 > 0:48:44After a while, Toy Story brought out its own magazines,

0:48:44 > 0:48:47so everybody who wanted to read about Toy Story bought that.

0:48:47 > 0:48:51So the benefits to us were fading fairly quickly,

0:48:51 > 0:48:53so we knew we had to change things again.

0:48:53 > 0:48:57So in 2010, we reverted to weekly

0:48:57 > 0:49:01and went back to being a traditional British kids' humour comic.

0:49:01 > 0:49:06But at the same time, we knew that 2010 wasn't 1937 all over again,

0:49:06 > 0:49:08so we brought the celebrities in,

0:49:08 > 0:49:11had a bit of fun with them, took the mickey

0:49:11 > 0:49:16and we've just had loads of fun with the modern kids' lifestyle.

0:49:17 > 0:49:20Five years after Desperate Dan saw the wrecking ball smash The Dandy,

0:49:20 > 0:49:23life imitated art.

0:49:23 > 0:49:25On the 4th December 2012,

0:49:25 > 0:49:29the last edition of The Dandy really was printed.

0:49:29 > 0:49:32On that very day, The Dandy was 75 years old.

0:49:37 > 0:49:40The Dandy, I think, is part of Dundee's history.

0:49:40 > 0:49:42But I'm sorry, it's history.

0:49:42 > 0:49:45Very sad, actually. I don't know why they're finishing it.

0:49:45 > 0:49:47It's part of Dundee's history.

0:49:47 > 0:49:49Kids are not kids any more.

0:49:49 > 0:49:53They're not into comics or things like that, sadly.

0:49:53 > 0:49:56It was an institution when I was growing up.

0:49:57 > 0:49:59With its circulation down to around 8,000,

0:49:59 > 0:50:01a fraction of The Beano's,

0:50:01 > 0:50:05The Dandy just isn't worth printing any more.

0:50:05 > 0:50:09There'll be an earthquake in Burnhill, because that's where Albert Barnes is buried.

0:50:09 > 0:50:11And he'd be turning in his grave

0:50:11 > 0:50:14to know that his pet comic was going down, you know.

0:50:14 > 0:50:16So, what's to become of Beryl?

0:50:16 > 0:50:18Well, she will be, like myself,

0:50:18 > 0:50:21well into her mature years now.

0:50:21 > 0:50:24I would like to think that she was

0:50:24 > 0:50:28somewhere in a little bit of all of us, of my generation.

0:50:28 > 0:50:30But she definitely would be bolshy character.

0:50:30 > 0:50:33Either that, or she's matured

0:50:33 > 0:50:36into a sweet old lady, something like myself.

0:50:36 > 0:50:38I'm very sad about it.

0:50:38 > 0:50:41Because, it's you know, part of my, part of my growing up.

0:50:41 > 0:50:43I was gutted, really.

0:50:43 > 0:50:46Really gutted that it was coming to an end.

0:50:46 > 0:50:48Surely Desperate Dan cannot vanish.

0:50:48 > 0:50:53Lord Snooty's had a revival, thanks to the present Tory government.

0:50:54 > 0:50:59That surely cannot be allowed to slip away.

0:51:00 > 0:51:04Unlike the cartoon editor in the Desperate Dan retiring strip,

0:51:04 > 0:51:06Craig's not joining the dole queue.

0:51:06 > 0:51:10He's going over to the enemy and becoming editor of The Beano.

0:51:10 > 0:51:13But there was still that matter of the final Dandy to produce.

0:51:15 > 0:51:19Excellent! It really looks like Paul McCartney, doesn't it?

0:51:19 > 0:51:21- Yeah, definitely.- Tremendous!

0:51:21 > 0:51:24Now, I've got a cover buff from our art department.

0:51:24 > 0:51:28So we've got the classic logo up here, collector's edition text.

0:51:28 > 0:51:32We'll refine that nearer the time.

0:51:32 > 0:51:36But we do have another obvious question, which is,

0:51:36 > 0:51:40do we do a classic cover, or do we do a modern cover?

0:51:40 > 0:51:43Are you enjoying putting the final edition together?

0:51:43 > 0:51:45Yeah. It's a huge job.

0:51:45 > 0:51:50We're doing 75 characters from The Dandy's 75-year history.

0:51:50 > 0:51:53That is a massive undertaking. It won't be all traditional.

0:51:53 > 0:51:57There'll be bits in there for granddads and great-granddads.

0:51:57 > 0:52:00I'm sure there'll also be stuff for the kids, as well.

0:52:00 > 0:52:02It will be great fun.

0:52:02 > 0:52:05And while it's a lot for work to put it together,

0:52:05 > 0:52:07it's also been an absolute blast.

0:52:07 > 0:52:09It doesnae sound the least big pressured.

0:52:09 > 0:52:11HE LAUGHS

0:52:11 > 0:52:14100 pages in a week. That's quite a lot of pressure.

0:52:20 > 0:52:24Nigel Auchterlounie is drawing the final print edition, Korky the Cat.

0:52:26 > 0:52:28It feels great, actually. Um...

0:52:28 > 0:52:31because I can't be the first.

0:52:31 > 0:52:33THEY LAUGH

0:52:33 > 0:52:35Without a time shield.

0:52:35 > 0:52:38Um...I just hope I don't mess it up.

0:52:40 > 0:52:42He's supposed to be a cat that can talk and walk around.

0:52:42 > 0:52:47That's the nice thing about Korky, is that there's no...

0:52:47 > 0:52:51It's not like a secret agent undercover reporter this or that.

0:52:51 > 0:52:55- He's just a cat and his adventures. - Mm-hm.

0:52:59 > 0:53:02Craig is about to click on "Send."

0:53:02 > 0:53:06When he does, the final issue of The Dandy will go to the print works.

0:53:06 > 0:53:12Three...two...one. Go!

0:53:12 > 0:53:15The last-ever Dandy rolls off the press.

0:53:19 > 0:53:23But The Dandy's not finished yet. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

0:53:23 > 0:53:25These are DC Thomson's Brain Duanes.

0:53:25 > 0:53:27Geeks, to you and me.

0:53:27 > 0:53:29They're creating a Digital Dandy.

0:53:29 > 0:53:32An app where Desperate Dan and his Dandy friends

0:53:32 > 0:53:35can live on for another 75 years.

0:53:37 > 0:53:40What we're effectively doing is turning it into a motion comic.

0:53:40 > 0:53:42We're adding sound and voices, we're adding games into it.

0:53:42 > 0:53:44There'll be some video elements.

0:53:44 > 0:53:46And that's going to be available online

0:53:46 > 0:53:49as a sort of downloadable app

0:53:49 > 0:53:51for mobile phones and tablets.

0:53:51 > 0:53:54There's Desperate Dan, Korky the Cat, Beryl the Peril,

0:53:54 > 0:53:58Keyhole Kate and Bananaman. So all the best-loved characters.

0:53:58 > 0:54:00Kids will be able to download it.

0:54:00 > 0:54:03There'll be scenes within some of the strips,

0:54:03 > 0:54:04so there'll be mini-games within it.

0:54:04 > 0:54:06You swipe through from cell to cell.

0:54:06 > 0:54:09It's still a comic, it's still self-paste.

0:54:09 > 0:54:12It's down to the user to click or swipe onto the next cell.

0:54:14 > 0:54:17There's one scene where Dan's blowing up a gas cannon

0:54:17 > 0:54:20and you've got to click as fast as you can for that to blow up.

0:54:20 > 0:54:23There'll be some stand-alone games, as well,

0:54:23 > 0:54:27and also some video content, competitions and puzzles.

0:54:27 > 0:54:28So, yeah, it's fully interactive.

0:54:28 > 0:54:32Not a flat comic any more, really bring it into the digital age.

0:54:35 > 0:54:39What I think hasn't changed is that kids love to laugh.

0:54:39 > 0:54:42And the things that make them laugh are still the same things

0:54:42 > 0:54:45that made them laugh at any point in history.

0:54:45 > 0:54:48It's a policeman slipping on a banana skin,

0:54:48 > 0:54:50or it's teacher spelling the word wrong

0:54:50 > 0:54:53and the kids can spot it before he does.

0:54:53 > 0:54:55And that kind of humour will never change.

0:54:55 > 0:54:57Well, I tell you something, I...

0:54:57 > 0:55:00It's not necessarily bad news if it goes digital

0:55:00 > 0:55:05because presumably, every comic will be digital soon.

0:55:05 > 0:55:10It feels like the end, but it could be a sort of beginning for it.

0:55:10 > 0:55:13And I would like to see...

0:55:13 > 0:55:16I don't know how you could do things like Big Head and Thick Head.

0:55:16 > 0:55:18You'd have to call them

0:55:18 > 0:55:22Bright and Learning Difficulties and stuff like that.

0:55:22 > 0:55:24THEY LAUGH

0:55:24 > 0:55:27- It's not...- Oh, dear! - It's not going to help, is it?

0:55:27 > 0:55:30Um...it's a pity they couldn't capture

0:55:30 > 0:55:33some of that original spirit of it. I suppose...

0:55:33 > 0:55:36I heard Desperate Dan was going to get

0:55:36 > 0:55:38the big-money transfer to The Beano.

0:55:38 > 0:55:40- It's what he'd do with the cash is the problem.- I always...

0:55:40 > 0:55:45Desperate Dan was always The Dandy's main man.

0:55:45 > 0:55:49So the idea of him going to their rivals...

0:55:49 > 0:55:52So, Harry Hill's been on the front of a few covers,

0:55:52 > 0:55:55but not Funtime Frankie. What's happened there?

0:55:55 > 0:55:58I don't know. I just never got the call.

0:55:58 > 0:56:03I think I'm holding out for the digital version.

0:56:03 > 0:56:08So far, I've met The Dandy writers, the artists and loads of fans.

0:56:08 > 0:56:11I reckon it's time to talk to the man himself.

0:56:11 > 0:56:14But how can I talk to a cartoon?

0:56:14 > 0:56:17How can a cartoon talk to me?

0:56:17 > 0:56:19I'll become a cartoon!

0:56:22 > 0:56:24If something needs to be drawn, I'll draw it.

0:56:26 > 0:56:28Just get your hair right.

0:56:30 > 0:56:34Now, you know I'm only 35, right?

0:56:34 > 0:56:37- Obviously, that's coming across. - Yes, I can see that.

0:56:37 > 0:56:40There you go. Wide-eyed look there. Looking pleased.

0:56:40 > 0:56:41That's definitely me.

0:56:41 > 0:56:44That's what Dan looks like in real life

0:56:44 > 0:56:47and that's what you look like in real life. Sorry.

0:56:55 > 0:56:57There's one person I need to interview

0:56:57 > 0:57:01if I want to get the full scoop on what's going on with The Dandy.

0:57:04 > 0:57:05Ah! There he is now.

0:57:05 > 0:57:09I'll just mosey up to him and get the inside story.

0:57:09 > 0:57:13- Excuse me? Mr Desperate...? - Pesky flies! Shoo!

0:57:13 > 0:57:15Aarrgghh!

0:57:15 > 0:57:17Oh! That was sair!

0:57:17 > 0:57:18Oh-ho!

0:57:18 > 0:57:22- Argh! - HE COUGHS

0:57:22 > 0:57:24Maybe I need to try the direct approach.

0:57:26 > 0:57:29Mr Dan, a few wee questions for you.

0:57:29 > 0:57:31Waah!

0:57:31 > 0:57:33That didnae work out as well as I thought.

0:57:35 > 0:57:39Son, you don't want to be getting in Dan's way at lunchtime.

0:57:39 > 0:57:44No, sirree! Only thing on the big galoot's mind is his grub! Yup!

0:57:46 > 0:57:49Time to cook up a new plan. Hm.

0:57:50 > 0:57:52Got it!

0:57:52 > 0:57:54Ooo, that looks mighty tasty!

0:57:57 > 0:57:59Shucks! Maybe the cow was a bit too fresh!

0:58:02 > 0:58:06Hello, Dan! Could you give me and the viewers a few words about your future

0:58:06 > 0:58:08and what's in store for The Dandy?

0:58:10 > 0:58:12Well, I think I can safely say

0:58:12 > 0:58:17Desperate Dan's got no intentions of giving up without a fight.

0:58:17 > 0:58:19Now, could somebody just call him off?

0:58:19 > 0:58:21Oh, Mammy! Daddy!

0:58:21 > 0:58:25You lunch-rustling, pie-poaching sidewinder!

0:58:25 > 0:58:28The inside of a pie's going to be where you belong

0:58:28 > 0:58:31after I make mincemeat out of you! Come on!

0:58:35 > 0:58:38Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd