Gatwick1946 wrote:Recent reference in a thread by members who are friends in the north, and their mention of The Broons and Our Wullie, struck a chord in my memory.
In the 1950's my parents escaped from the big smoke to the new town of Creepy Crawley, West Sussex ( I felt obliged to accompany them, as was only 5!).
Our neighbours on one side of our brand new council house were Scots and I used to swap comics, and the bumper fun Xmas albums, with their lad of about my age.
I used to enjoy The Broons and Our Wullie, I never got to see The Sunday Post and the Francis Gay column, so I wondered if this was a joke/spoof column or was it for real?
It seems that My Week by Francis Gay is not a spoof, but I am amused by these comic strips, which have in the past, appeared in the aforementioned news sheet:
Wee Harry, Wor Nicky, Silias Snatcher the Truant Catcher, Wishbone Wuzzy, Austen and his Auto, Barnacle Bill, Natty Ned, Wee Jock Sparra.
Did not Dennis the Menace's dog have his own strip at one time? My favourites, in later years were Garth and Jane in the english Daily Mirror.
That's me done then - I'm off now for a slap-up tea!
Kindest regards,
Christopher
The Sunday Post was certainly available in northern England in the 1960s, though possibly only at newsagents near railway stations. A relative used to buy a copy every Sunday at the WH Smiths branch inside Lime Street Station. It was obvious that there was a company "family resemblance" between the strip cartoons in the Post and those in the DC Thomson comic publications (Dandy, Beano, etc).
I can also remember both Garth and Jane in the Daily Mirror, which was one of two dailies bought by my grandmother, who had brought up her three daughters during the 1930s and the second world war. The "Jane" cartoon - as I understand it - was something of a morale-raising item during the early part of the war, though the Wikipedia page
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_(comic_strip) indicates that it might have started just before the war. It seems that it ended in 1959 (I'd thought it was the mid 1960s) and I do recall my grandmother remarking on its disappearance to another relative. There was a "faithful sidekick" character called Georgie. Jane and he got married in order to round off the story.
Although I do recall "Garth", I don't recall very much about it (as, indeed, I don't recall much about "Jane" - neither was aimed at children), but "Garth" seemed to be in general use as a nickname for anyone thought to be blessed with extra strength (a bit like the nickname "Tarzan" was). Apparently, "Garth" ran in the Daily Mirror until the late 1990s, though I had long since ceased seeing the Mirror by then.