The Bash Street Kids
The Bash Street Kids is a comic strip in the British comic magazine The Beano. It also appeared briefly in The Wizard as series of prose stories in 1955. The strip, created by Leo Baxendale as When the Bell Rings!, first appeared in issue 604. It became The Bash Street Kids in 1956 and has become a regular feature, appearing in every issue. From 1962, until his death in 2023, David Sutherland drew over 3000 strips in his time as illustrator.
History
Like many long-running UK comic strips, The Bash Street Kids is mostly frozen in the era when it began in 1954. It portrays Class 2B of the Bash Street School in Beanotown, where the teacher and headmaster wear gowns and the pupils sit at wood desks with inkwells. They are taught by a stereotypical "Teacher", whose wife is "Mrs Teacher". The characters were inspired by the view from the D. C. Thomson & Co. office windows, overlooking the High School of Dundee playground. According to Leo Baxendale, "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 and Minnie the Minx that the Beano editor George Moonie travelled to Preston on 20 October 1953 and asked me to go ahead with Bash Street." Over time, the Bash Street School's large number of pupils slowly shrank to its trademark ten. When they first appeared, the strips consisted of the kids outside school; the settings were increasingly inside the school, and the strip was retitled The Bash Street Kids on 11 November 1956 with "the kids" preparing for a pantomime.In 1994, it was announced that The Bash Street Kids would be overhauled to appeal to a more politically correct, modern audience. Changes included the replacement of Danny's trademark school hat by a top hat, Fatty becoming fit and muscular and Tom-boy Toots acting more feminine. The school would be replaced by a technologically advanced "academy", and Teacher by a robot. A protest began, accompanied by petitions and publicity stunts throughout Britain, demanding that the characters remain the same. The proposal turned out to be a hoax when the story introducing the new Bash Street Kids saw them in their old ways. Editor Euan Kerr was pleased with the fan response, saying that the publication "even got death threats!" Shortly afterwards, an animated adaptation was produced as a segment of The Beano Video Stars.
By 2000 The Bash Street Kids was a feature-length strip, filling an entire Beano book. Often drawn by Mike Pearce and Kev F. Sutherland, during the late 2000s the strips moved to Beano sister publication BeanoMAX. These feature-length strips were more detailed, delving into an obscure character's personality and introducing new traits. Spotty was revealed as sarcastic and aggressive, while Plug was a more sympathetic, emotional character. The strips detailed a rivalry between the kids and the comic's cover star, Dennis the Menace. Mike Pearce soon began penciling a spin-off from the original strip, The Bash Street Kids – Singled Out, a single-page comic concentrating on one "kid" a week. Pearce retired, the strips were taken over by Tom Paterson before being mothballed and they were later collected into two annuals.
In July 2013, coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the strip, a street in Dundee was renamed "Bash Street".
In May 2021, the character "Fatty" was renamed "Freddy", in an attempt to stop children using the name as an insult for overweight peers. The character "Spotty" was renamed "Scotty" in December 2021.
In June 2021, two new characters, Harsha and Mandi, were introduced to the strip. Harsha already appeared in another strip, Har Har's Joke Shop, which is about her family and the joke shop her father Hari "Har Har" Chandra owns. Mandi previously had her own occasional strip that dealt with mental health issues to promote the charity YoungMinds, and as such her main trait is that she worries about things.
In June 2022, three more characters, Stevie, Khadija, and Mahira, were introduced to the strip. All three had their own strips prior to their addition. In addition, Cuthbert was given more of a spotlight from this point onwards, as he only showed up in the strip on different occasions throughout the year.
Class 2B
The strip features Class 2B, which contains fifteen pupils.Danny
Daniel Deathshead "Danny" Morgan, was the first identified member of the roguish members of Class 2B, first appearing in the comic strip's debut and becoming the leader after he gave each kid a wine gum. Danny often devises the kids' pranks and escape routes from school. Although he is clever he does poorly in school, primarily due to his laziness and short attention span. Danny is often described as having the "soul of a pirate", the reason he gets caught up in rebellious schemes and boisterous activities. Like most of the other characters he is usually rude to adults, once asking Smiffy to speak up because he couldn't hear him over Teacher. In later strips Danny has some respect for Teacher, often helping him out of trouble. Although he hates school, like the other children he found it hard to cope when the Bash Street School was closed. As the leader Danny is prone to conceit, and in the 2006 Beano annual he announces that his conker is indestructible in a competition. His swelled head is often deflated by a fellow student. In the present, Danny usually wears a skull and crossbones jumper and a floppy red school cap.Danny seems especially close to Toots, calling her his second-in-command, and is most annoyed by Smiffy's stupidity and Spotty's sarcasm. He occasionally enjoys making fun of Plug's looks and Fatty's weight. Danny has an intense rivalry with Dennis the Menace, highlighted in a strip where the two compete to find a treasure under The O2 Arena and ending with Danny outwitting Dennis; they often argue in crossover strips. Although Danny also dislikes Roger the Dodger and Minnie the Minx, their rivalries are not as intense and he once had a crush on Minnie. He is a central character in The Beano Interactive DVD with Dennis, Gnasher, Minnie the Minx and Roger the Dodger.
'Erbert
Herbert Henry "'Erbert" Hoover is a short-sighted boy who struggles to see even with his spectacles, first appearing in issue 696. 'Erbert is considered the least-mischievous student, Beano Top Trumps – Erbert is least menacing of all Bash Street Kids and is said to resemble a human mole. Except for Cuthbert, the rest of the class have fun swapping his thick-rimmed glasses with others and seeing the resultant mayhem. In older strips, the character is sometimes called Herbert instead of 'Erbert. His short-sightedness is shared by his parents, who have ended up in different parts of town on many parents' evenings.Feature-length strips and crossovers brand most of 'Erbert's mischief as accidental or the result of misdirection. During an escape, 'Erbert is usually bumping into a wall or running in the opposite direction. His short-sightedness is renowned; in The Beano Annual 2000 the characters take a cruise to Perth, only to reach shore at Perth, Scotland. When they go to the captain's quarters, they discover that 'Erbert has put himself in charge of the ship.
Although he is quiet and friendly, 'Erbert can wreak as much havoc as his classmates. He is a source of entertainment for the others; Sidney and Spotty once send him into a field full of cow pats, with misleading directions for getting out. Despite this, they consider him "one of the kids". When he moves to the Bash Street Academy 'Erbert receives contact lenses to improve his sight, discarding them when he returns to his old school.
His full name is a reference to former United States president Herbert Hoover.
Freddy
Frederick Joseph "Freddy" Brown first appeared in issue 607. He is a large, round boy who is always eating, only in later strips is he ridiculed for his weight; he usually reacts by trying to prove the others wrong, but earlier he is indifferent. When Danny tricks Freddy into completing a long assault course to prove his fitness, he breaks the equipment. Although he is usually the only student able to eat school cook Olive's meals without incident, in the 2009 annual her curry makes him ill. Freddy has several stories about him in the Beano Library series. In the academy makeover, he has slimmed down, but regains his former girth after being freed from brainwashing.Originally, Freddy was named "Fatty", but he was renamed in 2021 to prevent the old name from being used to taunt overweight children.
Plug
Percival Proudfoot "Plug" Plugsley first appeared in issue 606. He is a lanky, gangling character with a large overbite, protruding ears, two buck teeth and a wide nose. On the cover of Plug his name is given as Percival Proudfoot Plugsey, although in some earlier strips he is named Claude. Plug's real name is only occasionally used in The Beano, such as in Singled Out when Teacher addresses him by his full name. He is originally known as Pug; according to The Beano, the "l" was added when Smiffy had one to spare after misspelling "silly".Despite, or perhaps because of his appearance Plug is one of the more sympathetic Bash Street Kids, often ready to defend those he feels have been unjustly treated; he once calms Danny down after he loses patience with Smiffy's stupidity. He has on one occasion fainted from seeing his own reflection, and considers himself the most handsome boy in Beanotown.
Plug had his own comic from 1977 to 1979 featuring him and his two pets, and was the first Beano character with a spin-off. Plug was later incorporated into The Beezer.
He has two sisters, Plugella and Plugena, who closely resemble him. However, in earlier strips his father was shown to be quite handsome and Plug is described as taking after his mother in appearance. In the September 2014 issue of The Beano he is described as Jonah's nephew, implying that he is the son of Jonah's sister Jinx.
With Kev F. Sutherland, Plug had a more dominant role and was frequently a story's main character. In one he has a girlfriend, making him the first Beano character to do so.
Although Plug received plastic surgery for the Bash Street Academy makeover, he soon returned to his familiar appearance. When he sees his friends brainwashed into behaving, he saves them by installing a virus on the robot teacher's disc drive.