Seven decades of 10-year-old scamp Dennis, who has never lost his appeal

HAPPY birthday to the oldest 10-year-old in the world . . . Dennis the Menace turns 70 today.

It was on March 17, 1951, that the loveable prankster-extraordinaire first appeared in the Beano.

“It’s a great achievement because, although it’s his 70th anniversary, every year on the 17th of March he’s 10-years-old again,” said Mike Stirling, head of Beano Studios Scotland.

“The thing we love about him is that even though he first appeared in 1951, he’s just grown in popularity over the years. He is just as popular nowadays as he was to kids back then.”

Dennis’s first appearance was in a black-and-white strip on just a half page.

“That’s where any new characters were introduced, as a test to see what the reaction was like,” said Mike.

Fortunately Dennis was an instant hit with young Beano readers, who found a scamp they could identify with and have done over the past seven decades.

Mike said that introducing Dennis the Menace was quite a radical move at a time when comics were mostly adventure stories where the main characters were grown-ups.

“This idea of a wee boy becoming one of the stars of the comic was massive,” he said.

“But there was market research that had the editors saying kids wanted to see characters that reflect themselves more.

“But not only was it a kid character, it was a kid character who was getting one up on adults.

“Dennis became massively popular right away.

“It was because of Dennis we had his cousin Minnie, then the Bash Street Kids and Roger the Dodger all appearing in the next five years.

“That was when the kids took over the comic, and that’s the secret behind us continuing,” he said.

“All we have had to do over the years to keep the comic relevant and updated is just make the kid characters reflect the kids in the here-and-now and the type of things they are into, the things they do and the mischief they get up to.”

Dennis, in his trademark black and red striped jumper, with faithful hound Gnasher at his side, has been a cultural phenomenon and counts some stellar names among his fans.

Kurt Cobain wore that distinctive Dennis the Menace jumper, as did the punk movement. Eric Clapton is reading a copy of the comic on the cover of his album Blues Breakers, David Bowie included Beano on his list of 100 favourite reads, and Ian Rankin credits Dennis with encouraging him into reading.

Dennis even has one fan who is out of this world, or rather in a galaxy far, far away – Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill.

“Mark first discovered the Beano when he was filming the first Star Wars movie, then he became a member of the fan club when he was filming the second when his little boy Nathan was born, so they joined at the same time,” said Mike.

To take out his membership, the acclaimed actor rang the Beano offices.