Roll with the punches

• In the 18th century, Dr Johnson associated Punch and Judy shows with medieval morality plays: ‘The modern Punch is descended from the ancient Vice’

• Punch made his first appearance in England in Covent Garden. An annual Covent Garden May Fayre & Puppet Festival celebrates his association with the area. Performances were long popular in London, as in the 1930s (left)

• In 1985, a group of leading ‘professors’ founded The College of Punch and Judy Professors ‘to promote and encourage the highest standards in performance and presentation of the show’

• ‘Professorship’ often runs in families. Punch and Judy dynasties include the Codmans (Liverpool, the north Wales coast), the Staddons (Westonsuper-mare) and the Maggs (Bournemouth, Redruth)