The Lemon Fool

Who remembers The Perishers cartoon strip that ran from the late 1950s in the Daily Mirror (with subsequent reprints)?
I have been rereading some Perishers annuals and found them even funnier and more subtle then originally. Its characters - the crabs in the Pooliverse (with an US-style money-grabbing preacher crab) visited annually by the Eyeballs in the Sky, the sad-looking Indian bloodhound B. H. (Calcutta) Failed who claimed to be a reporter for the "The West Crunge Clarion and Dubious Advertiser", the Caterpillar and Fred Beetle, Kilroy the tortoise shaped like a German helmet – all so utterly bizarre that they could have come straight from the late Peter Cook’s monologues or Blackadder.

Do others still find The Perishers as funny or am I stuck in a nostalgic time-warp ?

You're not alone. I haven't looked lately, but I certainly used to find them amusing on the rare occasions when a copy of the Daily Mirror came within my range. I liked the distinctly feral character of the main protagonists, whose randomly mongrel mutts were full of such worldly, cynical wisdom. Wasn't there also a character called Baby Grumpling? Splendidly observed.

all so utterly bizarre that they could have come straight from the late Peter Cook’s monologues or Blackadder.

I was recently moved to take another look at the Daily Mail's Flook cartoon strips from the 1960s and 1970s. Some sort of a space alien with a snout like a pig, with a curious ability (and editorial licence!) to take a subversive sideways view on current affairs. Flook was often well wide of the accepted mores of the time. Not to mention the Conservative Party.....

It shouldn't have been a surprise, then, to learn that Flook was essentially the brainchild of George Melly, who wrote most of the scripts. Ably assisted by Barry Took, Humphrey Lyttelton and (genuine surprise) Barry Norman. No wonder so many of the barbs stuck.

BJ

I picked up some Beau Peep annuals at a charity shop. I'd never come across these before and loved them.

R6

I remember them vaguely, although I also remember there was an animated version on kids telly - around the mid 80s I think. The only detail I I can remember is the bloodhound singing a song "It's the same the whole world over...it's the big dog that gets the bone..."