Times change – but the Beano is still a good laugh

It was my birthday this week. I have been on the planet 80 years.

- David Taylor-Gooby

People have been very kind. One of my brothers, knowing my interest in serious political literature, sent me both the Beano and the Dandy annuals. Another sent me a Daily Mirror publication showing what was in the news on my birthday every year since I was born. Looking at these made me reflect on what has changed, and what hasn’t in the last 80 years -and what challenges we face ahead.

The old favourites I used to love to seem to have disappeared from the Dandy and the Beano. No longer is there Biffo the Bear (the Bear in Red Trousers) in the Beano, or Korky the Cat in the Dandy. (My wife said I looked a bit like Korky the Cat). I always wear red running shorts because in an early edition the Mayor announced that the Beanotown Funrun had been won by a “Bear in Red Trousers” as if it was an everyday occurrence for a bear to win a race.

When I did the Great North Run (a few years ago) the Mayor arrived in robes and tricorn hat to set us off. I couldn't keep a straight face because he looked just like the mayor of Beanotown.

Enough of this foolery. What is more important is how have social attitudes changed if at all over 80 years in the Beano and the Dandy? The humour is still anarchic.