The Bash Street Kids
Encyclopedia
The Bash Street Kids is an ongoing comic strip
featuring in the British
comic
The Beano
. The strip was created by Leo Baxendale
under the title When the Bell Rings, and first appeared in The Beano in issue 604, dated 13 February 1954. It became The Bash Street Kids in 1956 and since then, it has become a regular in the comic, featuring in every issue. Since 1961 David Sutherland
has drawn the strip, and has drawn roughly 2100 strips.
s and gown
s and pupils sit at wooden desks with inkwell
s. They are taught by a stereotypical teacher, who is known as Teacher (his wife is called Mrs Teacher). The characters were inspired by the view from the D. C. Thomson & Co. office windows, overlooking the playground at the High School of Dundee
. Leo Baxendale remarks: "In fact, the catalyst for my creation of Bash Street was a Giles
cartoon of January 1953: kids pouring out of school, heads flying off and sundry mayhems. Straight away, I pencilled a drawing of 'The Kids of Bash Street School' and posted it from my home in Preston to R. D. Low, the managing editor of D.C. Thomson's children's publications in Dundee. I received an offhand response, a dampener. It was only after I'd created Little Plum
(April 1953) and Minnie the Minx
(September 1953) that the Beano editor George Moonie travelled to Preston on 20 October 1953 and asked me to go ahead with Bash Street (he gave it the provisional title of 'When The Bell Goes'; when it appeared in The Beano in February 1954, it was titled 'When The Bell Rings')." As time wore on, Bash Street School's wide range of pupils slowly shrank to the trademark ten it is now famous for.
In fact, the story was so widely received an animated adaption was produced not long after featuring as a segment in the STV film The Beano Video Stars.
where they were drawn by Nigel Parkinson.
These feature length strips allowed more detail and depth to go into each character's personality, introducing traits from characters who rarely had speaking lines. For example, Spotty was revealed to be a rather sarcastic and aggressive pupil, as well as Plug to be the more sympathetic and arguably most emotionally prone member. The strips also detailed a more intense rivalry between the kids and the comic's cover star Dennis the Menace
.
s:
Other characters of the strip include:
Some characters are named after their occupation: Teacher and Head, for example. This is typical of eccentric British humour and even borders on surrealism. Teacher's wife is called Mrs Teacher, the headmaster's brother's name is Mr Headsbrother and the children's parents (who look almost exactly the same as their children) are called Plug's Dad and such, even in flashbacks when they are themselves children.
In the earlier years, it was not clear how many pupils there were. The maximum ever was 17, including:
The same characters also appeared in one-page stories (not comic strips) in The Wizard in 1955, entitled "Bash St. School" and featured in the full-page cover cartoon on 23/7/1955.
took over the strip, drawing it in a style similar to how David Parkins was drawing Dennis the Menace
by that point (the strips have had closely connected visual styles since the early 1970s, when Sutherland started drawing them both). At the time it appeared that Sutherland was heading towards semi-retirement, but Parkinson moved over to drawing Dennis the Menace in 2000, and Sutherland returned as artist.
The strip has also had a number of ghost artists through its lifetime, including Gordon Bell
in the early 1970s, John Sherwood later on in the 1970s, Keith Reynolds in the 1980s and Tom Paterson
in the early 1990s. In recent years, Mike Pearse and Kev F. Sutherland
(no relation to David Sutherland) have also occasionally drawn the strip, particularly in long stories.
s over the years, including Pup Parade
, Simply Smiffy
, Plug
, and Singled Out
. The Bash Street Kids Annual
was originally published bi-annually (as The Bash Street Kids Book in those days) but is now out every August and summer specials also used to be printed annually during the 1990s. These featured solo stories for the kids and are therefore a forerunner to the Singled Out strip. Most of these strips were drawn Tom Paterson, who later drew the Singled Out strip itself.
Between 1968 and 1972, The Beano ran a similar series entitled The Belles of St. Lemons
, which featured many similarities to The Bash Street Kids.
The Dandy
has run two similar series firstly Whacko a strip about a teacher who always taught in a suit of armour and taught very unruly kids who always attempted to beat up their teacher but ended up being caned repeatedly which ran in the 1970s. Secondly between 1998 and 2000 a strip entitled P5
, which also featured a class of schoolchildren and their long-suffering teacher. P5 was reprinted in 2006 under the title of Class Act.
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
featuring in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comic
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
The Beano
The Beano
The Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...
. The strip was created by Leo Baxendale
Leo Baxendale
Leo Baxendale is a British cartoonist, who was the creator of the classic Beano strips Little Plum , Minnie the Minx , The Bash Street Kids and The Three Bears .Leo Baxendale was at the end of his National Service days in the RAF, when he decided he...
under the title When the Bell Rings, and first appeared in The Beano in issue 604, dated 13 February 1954. It became The Bash Street Kids in 1956 and since then, it has become a regular in the comic, featuring in every issue. Since 1961 David Sutherland
David Sutherland
David Sutherland is an artist with DC Thomson, responsible for The Bash Street Kids , Dennis the Menace for The Beano, Fred's Bed and the second version of Jak for The Dandy in the early 2000s...
has drawn the strip, and has drawn roughly 2100 strips.
Creation & Concept
Like many long-running UK comic strips, The Bash Street Kids is anachronistically frozen in the era in which it began. It portrays Class 2B of Bash Street School, Beanotown, where the teacher and headmaster still wear mortar boardMortar Board
Mortar Board is an American national honor society whose purpose is to recognize outstanding students dedicated to the values of scholarship, leadership, and service. The Cornell University Der Hexenkreis chapter, founded in 1892, is the oldest and predates the national society's founding in 1918...
s and gown
Gown
A gown is a loose outer garment from knee- to full-length worn by men and women in Europe from the early Middle Ages to the 17th century ; later, gown was applied to any woman's garment consisting of a bodice and attached skirt.A long, loosely-fitted gown called a Banyan was worn by men in the 18th...
s and pupils sit at wooden desks with inkwell
Inkwell
An inkwell is a small jar or container, often made of glass, porcelain, silver, brass, or pewter, used for holding ink in a place convenient for the person who is writing...
s. They are taught by a stereotypical teacher, who is known as Teacher (his wife is called Mrs Teacher). The characters were inspired by the view from the D. C. Thomson & Co. office windows, overlooking the playground at the High School of Dundee
High School of Dundee
The High School of Dundee is an independent, co-educational, day school in the city of Dundee, Scotland which provides both primary and secondary education to just over one thousand pupils...
. Leo Baxendale remarks: "In fact, the catalyst for my creation of Bash Street was a Giles
Carl Giles
Ronald "Carl" Giles , often referred to simply as Giles, was a cartoonist most famous for his work for the British newspaper the Daily Express....
cartoon of January 1953: kids pouring out of school, heads flying off and sundry mayhems. Straight away, I pencilled a drawing of 'The Kids of Bash Street School' and posted it from my home in Preston to R. D. Low, the managing editor of D.C. Thomson's children's publications in Dundee. I received an offhand response, a dampener. It was only after I'd created Little Plum
Little Plum
Little Plum is a fictional character in the UK comic The Beano.The eponymous hero and his friends Chiefy, Pimple and Hole-in-um-Head are members of the "Smellyfeet" American Indian tribe, who spend much of their time clashing with their rivals the "Puttyfeet" tribe. Other characters include Dr...
(April 1953) and Minnie the Minx
Minnie the Minx
Minnie the Minx is a fictional character in the British comic The Beano. Created and originally drawn by Leo Baxendale, she first appeared in issue 596, dated 19 December 1953 making her the third longest running Beano character, behind only Dennis the Menace and Roger the Dodger...
(September 1953) that the Beano editor George Moonie travelled to Preston on 20 October 1953 and asked me to go ahead with Bash Street (he gave it the provisional title of 'When The Bell Goes'; when it appeared in The Beano in February 1954, it was titled 'When The Bell Rings')." As time wore on, Bash Street School's wide range of pupils slowly shrank to the trademark ten it is now famous for.
Politically Correct Make Over Controversy
in 1994 (The Kids' 40th Anniversary), it was revealed that The Bash Street Kids would go through a major revamp in order to appeal to a more politically correct and modern audience. Major changes included Danny's trademark school hat to be replaced by a top hat, Fatty to become fit and muscular and Tom-boy Toots to act more feminine. The school itself was to be replaced by a technologically advanced 'academy' and teacher was to be sacked in favour of a robot. A public outrage was sounded with petitions and publicity stunts coming from all over Britain to return the characters make to their old selves. However, all proved to be a public hoax when the story introducing the new and improved Bash Street Kids saw them evidentally return to their old ways. The then editor Eaun Kerr was estatic by the fan reception citing the publication 'even got death threats!'.In fact, the story was so widely received an animated adaption was produced not long after featuring as a segment in the STV film The Beano Video Stars.
Feature Length Strips
By 2000, The Bash Street Kids had reached such a heightened popularity they were all featured in feature length strips taking up a whole Beano comic. These were often drawn by Mike Pearce and Kev F. Sutherland though in the late 00's they were moved into the comic's sister publication BeanoMAXBeanoMAX
The BeanoMAX is a monthly British comic published by D.C. Thomson & Co. Ltd It is a spin-off of the UK comic, The Beano. Each issue has 44 pages and costs £3.50.The first issue was published on February 15, 2007 and was a Comic Relief special.- Strips :...
where they were drawn by Nigel Parkinson.
These feature length strips allowed more detail and depth to go into each character's personality, introducing traits from characters who rarely had speaking lines. For example, Spotty was revealed to be a rather sarcastic and aggressive pupil, as well as Plug to be the more sympathetic and arguably most emotionally prone member. The strips also detailed a more intense rivalry between the kids and the comic's cover star Dennis the Menace
Dennis the Menace (UK)
Dennis the Menace, later called Dennis the Menace and Gnasher and now Dennis and Gnasher, is a long-running comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano, published by D. C...
.
Characters in the strip
The strip centres around Class 2B, which contains ten pupilPupil
The pupil is a hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to enter the retina. It appears black because most of the light entering the pupil is absorbed by the tissues inside the eye. In humans the pupil is round, but other species, such as some cats, have slit pupils. In...
s:
- Danny - The leader, with the soul of a pirate. Wears a skull and crossbonesJolly RogerThe Jolly Roger is any of various flags flown to identify a ship's crew as pirates. The flag most commonly identified as the Jolly Roger today is the skull and crossbones, a flag consisting of a human skull above two long bones set in an x-mark arrangement on a black field. This design was used by...
sweaterSweaterA sweater, jumper, pullover, sweatshirt, jersey or guernsey is a garment intended to cover the torso and arms. It is often worn over a shirt, blouse, T-shirt, or other top, but may also be worn alone as a top...
which his grandma knitted for him and a floppy red school cap, which indicates his rebellious nature. He is quite crafty, with a unique intelligence. He was appointed leader very early on in the strip, after he gave each kid a wine gumWine gumWine gums are chewy, firm pastille-type sweets similar to gumdrops without the sugar coating. While generally manufactured from gelatin, at least one winegum, Swedish Fish, contains no gelatin; all have their own mixes containing various sweeteners, flavorings, and colorings...
. He is one of the central characters in The Beano Interactive DVD alongside Dennis, Gnasher, Minnie the Minx and Roger the DodgerRoger the DodgerThis is the article for The Beano comic strip, for other uses please see Roger the Dodger Roger the Dodger is a fictional character featured regularly in the UK comic The Beano...
. His real name has been revealed in The Wizard to be Daniel Deathshead Morgan. Singled Out has called him 'Deathshead' in the title header recently.
- Erbert - A short-sighted boy who struggles to see, even with his spectacles. The rest of the class (excluding Cuthbert) have great fun swapping his thick-rimmed spectacles for others in the class and watching the resultant mayhem. In older strips the character is sometimes referred to as Herbert instead of Erbert. 'Erbert is sometimes considered to be the 'least' mischievous student and is often referred to as being like a human mole.
- Fatty - A fat boy who can never stop eating. Being called Fatty does not bother him - in fact, he likes it. It is only in the later strips that Fatty has been made fun of for his weight, to which he usually just reacts in trying to prove the others wrong. According to the wizard comic his surname was Brown
- Plug - A hideously ugly pupil who uses his face defensively; he is so ugly that when he pulls a face, he becomes handsome. He has an impish sense of humour. His name derives from the term plug-ugly. He later appeared in his own comic, called simply PlugPlug (comic)Plug was a British comic that ran for 76 issues from 14 September 1977 until 4 February 1979, when it merged with The Beezer.A spin-off from The Bash Street Kids comic strip in The Beano, the comic was based around the character Plug who was a distinctive character in the Bash Street Kids strip...
(1977–1979), which starred him and his two pets, Pug from Pup ParadePup ParadePup Parade was a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano. It centred around The Bash Street Kids' dogs, known as The Bash Street Pups, and their many adventures. It made its first appearance in issue 1326, dated 16 December 1967, and was drawn by Gordon Bell. The dogs were all anthropomorphic...
and Chunkee the Monkey. This strip was later incorporated into The Beezer comic. Plug's "real name" was revealed as "Percival Proudfoot Plugsey" on the cover of Plug. This name is only occasionally referenced to in the Beano most recently in Singled Out, he was addressed by his full name by Teacher. Plug was originally known as Pug. The Beano claims the "l" was added when classmate Smiffy had one to spare, having mis-spelt "silly". Plug has been shown to have two sisters named Plugella and Plugena who look just like him but wearing women's clothes. In the longer Bash Street Kids Adventures stories drawn by Kev F. SutherlandKev F. Sutherland-Career:Since 2005, Sutherland has written, produced and performed as The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre, appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, in theatres internationally and on television...
, Plug is softer than the other Bash Street Kids in being the only one with a girlfriend.
- Sidney - Toots' twin brother and the keeper of a zoo's worth of animals. He wishes to become a vet when he grows older, because he knows more about animals than anything else. Sidney has spiky hair resembling a chimney sweepChimney sweepA chimney sweep is a worker who clears ash and soot from chimneys. The chimney uses the pressure difference caused by a hot column of gas to create a draught and draw air over the hot coals or wood enabling continued combustion. Chimneys may be straight or contain many changes of direction. During...
's brush in which he takes pride.
- Smiffy - The naive, somewhat stupid pupil who often confuses genderGrammatical genderGrammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
s and nounNounIn linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
s. For example, when Teacher calls the register and he is supposed to say 'Present, sir', he says 'Gift, miss' instead. He can sometimes be very kind and aware of things on an emotional level, similar to an idiot savant, but most of the time he cannot remember what colour the sky is. In his brief involvement in The Wizard, he was given the name 'John Smith'.In 1985 Smiffy has appeared in two spin-off strips the first called Says Smiffy, which ran from 1971-1972, and the second called Simply SmiffySimply SmiffySimply Smiffy was a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano, first appearing in issue 2254, dated 28 September 1985, and continuing for a year or so after that. It was drawn by Jerry Swaffield....
, which ran from 1985-1987, where he starred alongside his brother Normal Norman. In 2008Smiffy gained a pet pebble called Kevin, this character even had his own feature in the Beano issue 3604 entitled Where's Kevin. It first appeared in a Singled Out story in 2008 and also in a Bash Street Kids story in 2010. He has appeared far more in 2011.
- Spotty - Originally called Jasper, a short character who is often compared to a Christmas puddingChristmas puddingChristmas pudding is a pudding traditionally served on Christmas Day . It has its origins in medieval England, and is sometimes known as plum pudding or plum duff, though this can also refer to other kinds of boiled pudding involving dried fruit.-Basics:Many households have their own recipe for...
. He is proud and protective of the multitudinous black spots that cover his face; any attempts to remove them are chased off. He is quite handy when he wants to be, with his attire (his extraordinarily long tieNecktieA necktie is a long piece of cloth worn for decorative purposes around the neck or shoulders, resting under the shirt collar and knotted at the throat. Variants include the ascot tie, bow tie, bolo tie, and the clip-on tie. The modern necktie, ascot, and bow tie are descended from the cravat. Neck...
) often helping the kids out of tough situations. In the 1981 Beano BookThe Beano AnnualThe Beano Annual is the current name of the book that has been published every year since 1939, to tie in with the children's comic The Beano. there have been 73 editions They are traditionally published in August, in time for Christmas, and since 1965 they have had the date of the following year...
, it was revealed that Spotty has 976 spots. He is often sarcastic and insulting towards his peers.
- Toots - Sidney's twin sister, the only girl in the class and the youngest. A tomboyTomboyA tomboy is a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of the gender role of a boy, including the wearing of typically masculine-oriented clothes and engaging in games and activities that are often physical in nature, and which are considered in many cultures to be the...
who can be as bossy as Danny when she wants to be, but has more of a heart than any of her friends. She is very tough and the boys have no problem letting her join in their games. Loves music and can often be seen with a "boogie box" (a CD-player) towing behind her or listening to headphones rather than teacher. In a recent issue, Toots claims she fancies Dennis the MenaceDennis the Menace (UK)Dennis the Menace, later called Dennis the Menace and Gnasher and now Dennis and Gnasher, is a long-running comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano, published by D. C...
and fires a Valentines card at him, using a toy rocket; this strip was drawn by Nigel ParkinsonNigel ParkinsonNigel Parkinson is a British cartoonist who currently works for D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd and mainly draws for The Beano and The Dandy.-Biography:...
. A recent strip has shown all the boys (except obviously Sidney) hoping to dance with her or get a Valentine's card from her, only for her to choose Winston the cat instead.
- Wilfrid - A thoughtful, introspective boy, whose thoughts are hidden behind the depth of the green jumper that goes all the way up to his noseHuman noseThe visible part of the human nose is the protruding part of the face that bears the nostrils. The shape of the nose is determined by the ethmoid bone and the nasal septum, which consists mostly of cartilage and which separates the nostrils...
. He resembles a tortoiseTortoiseTortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
and has a mystery concerning his neck, which is never seen: whenever he takes off his jumper, all we see is a vestVestA vest is a garment covering the upper body. The term has different meanings around the world:Waistcoat :. This is called a waistcoat in the UK and many Commonwealth countries, or a vest in the US and Canada. It is often worn as part of formal attire, or as the third piece of a lounge...
as high up as his jumper. However below his jumper has been revealed but his neck was covered by Wilfirds huge chin.
- Cuthbert Cringeworthy - The brightest child in the class, and a teachers' pet who tends to be bossy, rude, spoilt and ostracised by the others. He has a name for every letter of the alphabet. First appearing in 1972, he looks quite like Teacher in miniature (a play on the DC ThomsonD. C. Thomson & Co. LtdD. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, is a publishing company based in Dundee, Scotland, best known for producing The Dundee Courier, The Evening Telegraph, The Sunday Post, Oor Wullie, The Broons, The Beano, The Dandy and Commando comics...
comics' tradition that pets look like their owners — e.g. Dennis the MenaceDennis the Menace (UK)Dennis the Menace, later called Dennis the Menace and Gnasher and now Dennis and Gnasher, is a long-running comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano, published by D. C...
and Gnasher — and his status as teachers' pet) and Walter the Softy of the Dennis the Menace strip. Danny's first comment on Cuthbert was 'He reminds me of someone I don't particularly like'. Cuthbert's character appears to have changed slightly in recent years; he is still seen as a swot and is still as bright as ever, but (particularly in longer strips by the likes of Mike Pearse and Kev F. SutherlandKev F. Sutherland-Career:Since 2005, Sutherland has written, produced and performed as The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre, appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, in theatres internationally and on television...
) he is sometimes shown to be 'one of the gang' and occasionally appears as part of the Kids' 'team' (contrary to earlier strips where he never seemed to like the other kids), sometimes coming up with intelligent planPlanA plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with timing and resources, used to achieve an objective. See also strategy. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions, through which one expects to achieve a goal...
s to aid their cause or save the school. It should be noted that Cuthbert does not appear in all the strips; he appears in fewer strips than any other pupil.
- An eleventh pupil, Wayne was introduced following a competition held by BBC's Blue PeterBlue PeterBlue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having first aired in 1958. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC channel. During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time...
to find a new Bash Street Kid. The winning entry was announced on March 14, 2007 and revealed to be "Wayne's 'in' pain". Wayne has fat, puffy cheeks, hair like a dandelion and a problem with standing. He is also said to be very talkative. He constantly wears a plaster cast and sling and is supposed to suffer comical misfortunes like Calamity JamesCalamity JamesCalamity James is a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano. It is about a boy, named Calamity James, who has disastrous luck. He first appeared on November 1, 1986, in issue no. 2311. A copy of his first strip is viewable here. His strip replaced Biffo the Bear and Little Plum, which had both been...
. Wayne has never been in a Singled Out story or any of Kev F Sutherland's Bash Street Kids' Adventures stories. So far, however, his lack of involvement since his inception has been widely noted. After a year, Wayne disappeared. Cuthbert and Wayne have only appeared three times in the same strip, including two in the 2009 Beano annual. However, these had probably been drawn when Wayne was appearing in the weekly comic and so it was probably his last appearance.
Other characters of the strip include:
- Teacher - Class 2B's long-suffering teacher, who is called 'Teacher' in the strip. However, his name was revealed to be Algernon in a 1970's summer specialThe Beano Summer SpecialThe Beano Summer Special is like the Beano with extra comic strips, which as its name suggest was released during the summer months and cost more than the regular comics. This special first started in 1963 with a joint Beano-Dandy summer special and then in 1964 the first Beano summer special...
. He always wears a mortar board and has a domineering wife, 'Mrs Teacher'.
- Headmaster (Headward Headington-Hail/Chocilus Bicius) - The pompous and portly school headmaster. He is very fond of tea and biscuits, and permanently wears his academic gown and mortar boardMortar BoardMortar Board is an American national honor society whose purpose is to recognize outstanding students dedicated to the values of scholarship, leadership, and service. The Cornell University Der Hexenkreis chapter, founded in 1892, is the oldest and predates the national society's founding in 1918...
. Teacher spends much of his career toadying to Head.
- Janitor - The school's fat caretakerProperty caretakerA Property caretaker is a person, group or organization that cares for real estate for trade or financial compensation, and sometimes as a barter for rent-free living accommodations...
. He hates litter and pupils who break the rules. He enjoys bossing Winston about, but is lazy himself.
- Winston - The school's cat. Anthropomorphic, he is often seen mopping the floor alongside Janitor. Winston is crafty and often concocts his own schemes when Janitor frustrates him. He is always seen wearing the same hat as Janitor.
- Olive - The school cook (and BeanoThe BeanoThe Beano is a British children's comic, published by D.C. Thomson & Co and is arguably their most successful.The comic first appeared on 30 July 1938, and was published weekly. During the Second World War,The Beano and The Dandy were published on alternating weeks because of paper and ink...
office tea lady), who first appeared in the strip in 1981. Everyone hates her food, as the ingredients for it include items such as old books. On the other hand, she has a high opinion of her cuisine, which is a constant source of worry to the school's pupils and staff. Due to the inedible and frequently disgusting meals she serves, industrial-sized boxes of indigestion remedies have occasionally been seen on the canteen tables. However, in a recent edition, she bought the best quality food from a market and raced off to her kitchen to put it in the freezer to keep it fresh; but she accidentally lost control of her bike on the way and was spinning for 23 days, so when she got to her kitchen, she had rotten food and was too dizzy to put the food in the right bowls. As her disastrous cooking had an explanation, she was forgiven.
- Mrs Teacher - Teacher's overbearing wife, who bears an uncanny resemblance to him, and is almost always shown to be very assertive, bossing Teacher around while he is at home and yelling at the Kids during a memorable strip, wherein she took over the class as a supply teacher. In another issue, she was seen injuring the pupils in a break-dancing competition, because they had injured her husband.
- Techno - A scienceScienceScience is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
teacher who appeared in the strip during the mid-1990s and was actually a robotRobotA robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
in the form of the cartoon Inspector GadgetInspector GadgetInspector Gadget is an animated television series that revolves around the adventures of a clumsy, simple-witted cyborg detective named Inspector Gadget – a human being with various bionic gadgets built into his body. Gadget's arch-nemesis is Dr...
with gadgets around his body. Techno proved so popular that he was awarded his own strip for a limited run and appeared in The Beano Book of Amazing Facts. He returns in the Bash Street Kids Annual 2008.
- The Blob Street Kids - A group of schoolchildren from a nearby school, who became rivals of the Bash Street Kids. Each member of the Bash Street Kids has a direct rival from the Blob Street Kids. A similar sort of rivalry is seen in The Bash Street PupsPup ParadePup Parade was a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano. It centred around The Bash Street Kids' dogs, known as The Bash Street Pups, and their many adventures. It made its first appearance in issue 1326, dated 16 December 1967, and was drawn by Gordon Bell. The dogs were all anthropomorphic...
.
- The Posh Street Kids - A group of rival schoolchildren from a school much posher than Bash Street.
Some characters are named after their occupation: Teacher and Head, for example. This is typical of eccentric British humour and even borders on surrealism. Teacher's wife is called Mrs Teacher, the headmaster's brother's name is Mr Headsbrother and the children's parents (who look almost exactly the same as their children) are called Plug's Dad and such, even in flashbacks when they are themselves children.
In the earlier years, it was not clear how many pupils there were. The maximum ever was 17, including:
- Teddy - A stereotypical teddy boyTeddy BoyThe British Teddy Boy subculture is typified by young men wearing clothes that were partly inspired by the styles worn by dandies in the Edwardian period, styles which Savile Row tailors had attempted to re-introduce in Britain after World War II...
who appeared mainly in the 50's. - Ella - One of only two girls (the other is Toots).
- Jimmy - A boy who looks like Smiffy, but wears a cap.
- Gasbag - A curly haired boy.
The same characters also appeared in one-page stories (not comic strips) in The Wizard in 1955, entitled "Bash St. School" and featured in the full-page cover cartoon on 23/7/1955.
Artists
Leo Baxendale drew it until 1962, when David Sutherland replaced him, initially using a similar drawing style to Baxendale, but simplifying it later in the decade. Sutherland has drawn the majority of the strips since then, except for a period from 1998 to 2000, when Nigel ParkinsonNigel Parkinson
Nigel Parkinson is a British cartoonist who currently works for D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd and mainly draws for The Beano and The Dandy.-Biography:...
took over the strip, drawing it in a style similar to how David Parkins was drawing Dennis the Menace
Dennis the Menace (UK)
Dennis the Menace, later called Dennis the Menace and Gnasher and now Dennis and Gnasher, is a long-running comic strip in the British children's comic The Beano, published by D. C...
by that point (the strips have had closely connected visual styles since the early 1970s, when Sutherland started drawing them both). At the time it appeared that Sutherland was heading towards semi-retirement, but Parkinson moved over to drawing Dennis the Menace in 2000, and Sutherland returned as artist.
The strip has also had a number of ghost artists through its lifetime, including Gordon Bell
Gordon Bell (artist)
Gordon Bell is an artist who lives in the UK. From the 1960s onward he has worked extensively for D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, publishers of The Beano and The Dandy comics . His sketchy, breezy cartoon style places the emphasis firmly on the foreground characters, with the backgrounds often consisting...
in the early 1970s, John Sherwood later on in the 1970s, Keith Reynolds in the 1980s and Tom Paterson
Tom Paterson
Tom Paterson is a Scottish comic artist who drew characters for Fleetway in 1973–1990, and D.C Thomson from 1986-onwards. He lives in Leith, with three kids, and is a Hearts supporter.He is famous for drawing comics such as:-Fleetway:...
in the early 1990s. In recent years, Mike Pearse and Kev F. Sutherland
Kev F. Sutherland
-Career:Since 2005, Sutherland has written, produced and performed as The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre, appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, in theatres internationally and on television...
(no relation to David Sutherland) have also occasionally drawn the strip, particularly in long stories.
Other appearances and spin-offs
The strip has had various spin-offSpin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
s over the years, including Pup Parade
Pup Parade
Pup Parade was a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano. It centred around The Bash Street Kids' dogs, known as The Bash Street Pups, and their many adventures. It made its first appearance in issue 1326, dated 16 December 1967, and was drawn by Gordon Bell. The dogs were all anthropomorphic...
, Simply Smiffy
Simply Smiffy
Simply Smiffy was a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano, first appearing in issue 2254, dated 28 September 1985, and continuing for a year or so after that. It was drawn by Jerry Swaffield....
, Plug
Plug (comic)
Plug was a British comic that ran for 76 issues from 14 September 1977 until 4 February 1979, when it merged with The Beezer.A spin-off from The Bash Street Kids comic strip in The Beano, the comic was based around the character Plug who was a distinctive character in the Bash Street Kids strip...
, and Singled Out
Bash Street Kids - Singled Out
Singled Out was a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano. It first appeared in issue 3226, dated 15 May 2004, drawn by Mike Pearse.Based on The Bash Street Kids, Singled Out focuses on one character each week and builds a one-page story around them. The first strip was about Fatty...
. The Bash Street Kids Annual
The Bash Street Kids Annual
The Bash Street Kids Annual was a book that has been published yearly since 1979 to tie in with the children's comic The Beano, specifically The Bash Street Kids comic strip. there have been 26 editions. They are published in the autumn in time for Christmas, and have the date of the following...
was originally published bi-annually (as The Bash Street Kids Book in those days) but is now out every August and summer specials also used to be printed annually during the 1990s. These featured solo stories for the kids and are therefore a forerunner to the Singled Out strip. Most of these strips were drawn Tom Paterson, who later drew the Singled Out strip itself.
Between 1968 and 1972, The Beano ran a similar series entitled The Belles of St. Lemons
The Belles of St. Lemons
The Belles of St. Lemons was a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano, first appearing in issue #1495, dated March 13, 1971, although the characters themselves had first been introduced in the 1968 edition of The Beano Annual....
, which featured many similarities to The Bash Street Kids.
The Dandy
The Dandy
The Dandy is a long running children's comic published in the United Kingdom by D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd. The first issue was printed in 1937 and it is the world's third longest running comic, after Detective Comics and Il Giornalino...
has run two similar series firstly Whacko a strip about a teacher who always taught in a suit of armour and taught very unruly kids who always attempted to beat up their teacher but ended up being caned repeatedly which ran in the 1970s. Secondly between 1998 and 2000 a strip entitled P5
P5 (comics)
P5 was a short-lived comic strip in the UK comic The Dandy, made as a replacement to First Class Which had run between December 1993 and 1997.It was drawn by Dennis the Menace artist Jimmy Hansen.-Overview:...
, which also featured a class of schoolchildren and their long-suffering teacher. P5 was reprinted in 2006 under the title of Class Act.
Video
- The Bash Street Kids appear in two segments of 'The Beano Video' released in the late '90s. In the first, a new music teacher is hired for the school. After attempting and failing to teach the kids, he resolves in simply listening to Winston the Janitor's Cat's warbling citing it 'music to his ears' after listening to The Bash Street Kids singing. The next segment involves the head master's attempt to make Plug handsome after his hideous looks have become a major ridicule of the school. He sends Teacher and the kids off to the HimalayasHimalayasThe Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
where the meet a group of Monks. After stopping for a horrible dinner than making up for it in a expensive Burger place, they finally find 'the keeper' whom claims can make anyone beautiful provided they bathe in his lake. However, instead of bathing Plug, the monk pushes the other kids into the lake. Here, they all begin to morph into plug-like creatures. It is then revealed that the monk also looked like Plug and claimed that the entire class needed a makeover 'accept Plug, of course'. The last segment features Spotty accidentally falling into a pot of Olive the cook's pea soup. Incedentally, this causes him to look like an extra-terrestrial giving Danny an idea for a prank. They fool teacher into believing that Spotty is an alien and a rubbish bin outside is his space ship. All goes array, however, when Teacher finds out he has been tricked and punishes the pupils by making them stay behind after school and paint the class room ceiling.
- The Bash Street Kids make yet another appearence in The Beano Video-Stars, however, their only segment is one based from their controversial make over in 1994. They do, however, feature in two songs during the film such as 'The Beano Rap' and the finale song of their segment 'We're the kids from Bash Street School...'
Theme Parks
- Before Beanoland was turned to Wild Asia in the UK theme park Chessington World of AdventuresChessington World of AdventuresChessington World of Adventures Resort is a theme park and zoo in South West London, England. It lies south of Central London. Historically opened as Chessington Zoo in 1931, a theme park was developed alongside it, opening in 1987...
, The Bash Street Kids had their own ride 'The Bash Street Bus'. They were also featured in the theming of the water balloon segment of the park, as well as images and standees posted around in various places.
Video Games
- Only Plug makes an appearence as a playable character in the PCgame Beanotown RacingBeanotown RacingBeanotown Racing is a PC Game and has The Beano and a few Dandy characters. It was released in 2003.There are ten characters :...
, driving a rubbish bin themed cart. However, Bash Street School does feature as a race track.
Toys and Games
- Robert Harrop has designed various figures based on the Bash Street Kids comic strips, as well as statues and ornaments. There was also a target practice game featuring the characters, as well as a Mcdonalds happy meal toys featuring a number of the Bash Street Kids.