The Bash Street Kids

The Bash Street Kids is an ongoing comic strip featuring in the British comic The Beano. The strip was created by Leo Baxendale under the title When the Bell Rings, and first appeared in The Beano in issue 604, dated 13 February 1954. It became The Bash Street Kids in 1956 and since then, it has become a regular in the comic, featuring in every issue. Since 1961 David Sutherland has drawn the strip, and has drawn roughly 2,100 strips.

History
Like many long-running UK comic strips, The Bash Street Kids is anachronistically frozen in the era in which it began. It portrays Class 2B of Bash Street School, Beanotown, where the teacher and headmaster still wear mortar boards and gowns and pupils sit at wooden desks with inkwells. They are taught by a stereotypical teacher, who is known as Teacher (his wife is called Mrs Teacher). The characters were inspired by the view from the D. C. Thomson & Co. office windows, overlooking the playground at the High School of Dundee. Leo Baxendale remarks: "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 (April 1953) and Minnie the Minx (September 1953) that the Beano editor George Moonie travelled to Preston on 20 October 1953 and asked me to go ahead with Bash Street (he gave it the provisional title of 'When The Bell Goes'; when it appeared in The Beano in February 1954, it was titled 'When The Bell Rings')." As time wore on, Bash Street School's wide range of pupils slowly shrank to the trademark ten it is now famous for. When they first appeared, the strips consisted of the kids' time outside of the school; however, as they began to feature more and more inside the school itself, the strip was retitled 'The Bash Street Kids' on November 11, 1956. The strip in question featured 'the kids' preparing for a pantomime.

In 1994 (The Kids' 40th anniversary), it was revealed that The Bash Street Kids would go through a major revamp in order to appeal to a more politically correct and modern audience. Major changes included Danny's trademark school hat to be replaced by a top hat, Fatty to become fit and muscular and Tom-boy Toots to act more feminine. The school itself was to be replaced by a technologically advanced 'academy' and teacher was to be sacked in favour of a robot. A public outrage was sounded with petitions and publicity stunts coming from all over Britain to return the characters back to their old selves. However, all proved to be a public hoax when the story introducing the new and improved Bash Street Kids saw them evidently return to their old ways. The then editor Euan Kerr was ecstatic by the fan reception citing the publication 'even got death threats!'.

The story was so widely received an animated adaptation was produced not long after featuring as a segment in the video The Beano Video Stars.

By 2000, The Bash Street Kids had reached such a heightened popularity they were all featured in feature length strips taking up a whole Beano comic. These were often drawn by Mike Pearce and Kev F. Sutherland though in the late 2000s they were moved into the comic's sister publication BeanoMAX where they were drawn by Nigel Parkinson. These feature length strips allowed more detail and depth to go into each character's personality, introducing traits from characters who rarely had speaking lines. For example, Spotty was revealed to be a rather sarcastic and aggressive pupil, as well as Plug to be the more sympathetic and arguably most emotionally prone member. The strips also detailed a more intense rivalry between the kids and the comic's cover star Dennis the Menace. Soon, Mike Pearce began penciling a spin-off to the original strip entitled The Bash Street Kids - Singled Out; which would be a singular page comic concentrating on one 'Kid' every week. As Pearce retired, however, the strip was taken over by Tom Paterson before being retired completely. These were later collected into two separate annuals.

As The Beano's mascot Dennis the Menace was revamped, he featured less and less alongside other Beano characters. Soon, the comic became somewhat taken over by the character based on the popularity of his new TV series albeit the controversial makeover. However, as the comic began reverting to normal, The Bash Street Kids now has three extra spin offs within the comic, including Simply Smiffy, Winston and The Bash Street Burp. In the Beano's 75th Birthday Edition in July 2013, Bash Street School was destroyed and the kids moved to 'Beano High'.

Characters


The strip centres around Class 2B, which contains ten pupils:

Danny
Danny - Full name is Deathshead Danny Morgan. Generally depicted wearing a skull and crossbones jumper and a floppy red school cap, Danny was appointed leader very early on in the strip, after he gave each kid a wine gum. He is a major character within The Bash Street Kids, often devising their pranks and escape routes out of school. Whilst clever, Danny is extremely challenged when it comes to school work, mainly due to his lazy nature and short attention span. He is often described as having the 'soul of a pirate' which is why he often gets caught up in rebellious schemes and boisterous activities. Like most other characters, Danny is most often rude to his elders, on one occasion asking Smiffy to speak up because he couldn't hear him over 'teacher'. Despite this, later strips note he has a certain amount of respect for Teacher, often helping him out in dire situations. Although he hates school, like the other children he did find it hard to cope when Bash Street School was closed down. With his leader status, Danny does seem prone to becoming big-headed, such as a conker competition in the Beano annual 2006 where he proclaimed his was indestructible. However, his big headedness is often brought down by a fellow Bash Street member after a prompted thump.

Amongst the others, Danny seems especially close to Toots citing her as his Second in Command and seemingly gets most frustrated toward Smiffy's stupidity and Spotty's sarcasm. However, he does enjoy making fun of Plug's looks and Fatty's weight from time to time. Danny also has an intense rivalry with Beano star Dennis the Menace and his gang menaces. This was highlighted in a strip where the two competed to find a treasure located underneath The O2 Arena, ending in Danny outwitting the menace. Since then, the rivalry has been kept in place, as the two would often be seen arguing during crossover strips. He also dislikes Roger the Dodger, though is willing to ask when in need of a dodge, and Minnie the Minx, however the rivalry is nowhere near as intense. He is one of the central characters in The Beano Interactive DVD alongside Dennis, Gnasher, Minnie the Minx and Roger the Dodger. Singled Out has called him 'Deathshead' in the title header recently.

During the controversial makeover where The Bash Street Kids moved schools to attend Bash Street Academy, Danny was hypnotised into proper behavioural standards.

'Erbert
Erbert - A short-sighted boy who struggles to see, even with his spectacles. The rest of the class (excluding Cuthbert) have great fun swapping his thick-rimmed spectacles for others in the class and watching the resultant mayhem. In older strips the character is sometimes referred to as Herbert instead of 'Erbert. 'Erbert is sometimes considered to be the 'least' mischievous student and is often referred to as being like a human mole. His short sightedness is shared by his parents, who have on countless occasions ended up in different parts of the town during parents evening. During an escape plan, 'Erbert can usually be seen bumping into a wall or running in the opposite direction.

Playing on his references of being the least mischievous, feature length strips and cross overs brand most of the mischief 'Erbert gets up to as being by accident or through false direction. His short sightedness is renowned amongst other Beano stars, most evident in a strip in The Beano Annual 2000 where the stars had taken a cruise destined for Perth, Australia; only to hit shore in Perth, Scotland. Upon making their way up to the Captain's quarters, the stars found that it was 'Erbert who had put himself in charge of the ship.

Whilst quiet and friendly, 'Erbert has been shown to be equally able to cause havoc like his classmates. He is often a source of entertainment for the others, as on one occasion where Sidney and Spotty sent him out into a Cow Pat field giving him misleading directions on how to get out. Despite this, they still consider him as 'one of the kids'.

Upon his move to Bash Street Academy, 'Erbert was given contact lenses to improve his sight. When he returned to his old school, however, he discarded them, resuming his short sighted antics.

Fatty
Fatty - Full name is Fatty Brown. A large, rounded boy who is always eating. It is only in the later strips that Fatty has been made fun of for his weight, to which he usually just reacts in trying to prove the others wrong, whereas previously he just didn't care. On one occasion, he was tricked by Danny to do a large assault course to prove his fitness. He did so, but ended up breaking the equipment much to the dismay of the other kids. He is the only known student to eat the school cook Olive's meals without caution, which caused a lot of trouble for him in one of the annuals, as eating her curry made him ill. Fatty has had a small number of stories centering around him in the Beano Library series.

During his attendance at Bash Street Academy, Fatty was put through an intense fitness programme in order to make him muscle-bound.

Plug
Plug is a lankish, gangling character in The Bash Street Kids, whose trademark is his horrifying face, which consists of a large overbite, two buck teeth and wide nose. Plug's "real name" was revealed as "Percival Proudfoot Plugsey" on the cover of his own comic Plug (though according to some earlier strips his real name was Claude). This name is only occasionally referred to in the Beano, most recently in Singled Out, when he was addressed by his full name by Teacher. Plug was originally known as Pug. The Beano claims the "l" was added when classmate Smiffy had one to spare, having mis-spelt "silly". A recent strip has announced Plug is the winner of every annual 'pull a funny face' event in Beanotown's history despite not entering.

Despite his outward appearance, Plug is generally the more sympathetic of The Bash Street Kids, often ready to stick up for those who he feels have been unjustly treated. On one occasion, he even calmed down Danny after he had lost his temper due to Smiffy's stupidity. Despite being frequently told so, Plug is oblivious to his hideous looks, having never seen his reflection. He has, on more than one occasion, vainly referred to himself as the most handsome boy in Beanotown.

Arguably, he is one of the most successful Bash Street members. He appeared in his own comic, called simply Plug (1977–1979), which starred him and his two pets, Pug from Pup Parade and Chunkee the Monkey, making him the first Beano character to achieve a spin-off. This strip was later incorporated into The Beezer comic. He was also featured on a Beano Club T-Shirt as well as Beano merchandise.

Plug has two sisters named Plugella and Plugena who look just like him but wearing women's clothes. His father, on the other hand, was shown in earlier strips to be quite handsome much to the confusion of the other Bash Street Kids. An editor's note, however, denotes that this is due to Plug's looks taking after his mother.

Under Kev F. Sutherland, Plug took a more dominant role, often being the main character in stories. In one he acquired a girlfriend, marking the first Beano character, aside from Walter, to do so.

For the controversial Bash Street Academy make-over, Plug received plastic surgery, however, his hideous face could not be held back and soon he reverted to normal. After seeing his friends brain-washed into behaving, Plug quickly saves them by installing a virus into the robot teachers disc drive.

Sidney
Sidney - Full name is Sidney Pye. He is Toot's twin brother, whose spiked haircut represents something of a chimney sweeping brush. Sidney has been shown to have a more trickster nature than that compared to The Bash Street Kids, his main targets seemingly Smiffy. On one occasion, when Bash Street were to put on a Nativity play, Smiffy had asked what sound a sheep made. Sidney replied with 'woof' causing him and Wilfred to go into hysterics when Smiffy ruined the rehearsal. He also regularly hands out quips and remarks on the other Kids, much to whoever isn't the target's amusement. On more than one occasion, this has caused him and Spotty to fight or argue due to him being a more common recipient.

Sidney also has a love for animals, often seen in strips to have a large array of pets ranging from elephants to mice. The mouse has appeared on more than one occasion, often used as a part of The Kids' plans.

During the Bash Street Academy make-over, Sidney's Chimney Sweep hair was shaved and he was seemingly hypnotised.

Smiffy
Smiffy - The most unintelligent boy in the class. For example, when Teacher calls the register and he is supposed to say 'Present, sir', he says 'Gift, miss' instead. He can sometimes be very kind and aware of things on an emotional level, similar to an idiot savant, but most of the time he cannot remember what colour the sky is. In his brief involvement in The Wizard, he was given the name 'John Smith'. Smiffy has appeared in two spin-off strips the first called Says Smiffy, which ran from 1971–1972, and the second called Simply Smiffy, which ran from 1985–1987, where he starred alongside his brother Normal Norman. In 2008 Smiffy gained a pet pebble called Kevin, this character even had his own feature in the Beano issue 3604 entitled Where's Kevin. It first appeared in a Singled Out story in 2008 and also in a Bash Street Kids story in 2010. He has appeared far more in 2011.

During the Bash Street makeover, Smiffy had a new brain installed in his head, which made him the smartest kid of the group.

Spotty
Spotty is a short character who wears a blue collared jersey and an abnormally long striped tie. He is proud and protective of the multitudinous black spots that cover his face; any attempts to remove them are chased off. He is quite handy when he wants to be, with his attire (his extraordinarily long tie) often helping the kids out of tough situations. In the 1981 Beano Book, it was revealed that Spotty has 976 spots.

Spotty is perhaps the most insulting of The Kids, often teasing Plug for his looks and Fatty for his weight. On one occasion, after a sexist remark toward Toots, Spotty ended up in a brawl between the two. When Toots complained to teacher about the detention being unfair, Spotty smarmily reminded her of equal rights, only to receive another smack. Teacher has regarded him as the mouthiest of the Kids too, as in Singled Out and Feature Length Strips, Spotty would tend to interrupt and commentate the lessons abruptly. He is extremely sarcastic and full of himself, often becoming very protective of his spotted nature, masculinity and short stature. He, like Danny, has an extreme dislike of Dennis the Menace, especially due to his menacing of him during his 50th birthday.

Due to his spotted nature, most of his attire consists of spots. During The Bash Street Academy make-over, though, Spotty's spots were removed as well as his aggressive, sarcastic nature.

Toots
Toots - Her full name is Toots Pye, she is the only girl of Class 2B and Sidney's twin sister. Although she is a Tomboy, on countless occasions strips have depicted Toots as having more of a feminine role than that of say Minnie the Minx. For example, she is a fan of most popular boy bands and has admitted to a crush on Dennis the Menace, so much so she has sent him a Valentine's card. This is considered strange since most of The Bash Street Kids have a dislike for Dennis, however, upon other strips noting she is friends with Minnie the Minx it is unsurprising. As yet, she is the only member of Bash Street to show any degree of attachment to either characters outside of talking terms.

Equally as bossy as Danny and surprisingly tough for her stature, Toots is also considered second in command of the gang. Should Danny be absent, it is often she who takes control. Her bossiness was exemplified in a feature length entitled Queen Toots, where she found that she was somehow connected to royalty. When it became evident she was taking advantage of her power, Dennis stepped up proclaiming she couldn't boss him around. He was quickly disposed of in a makeshift prison tower, which promptly became home of other Beano characters as well as The Bash Street Kids. She loves music and can often be seen with a "boogie box" (a CD-player) towing behind her or listening to headphones rather than teacher.

Although she enjoys the company of the boys, she often shows disdain, naivety or exasperation toward some of their more boyish behaviour, though more often than not she is in the thick of such situations. During her stay at Bash Street Academy, she was seen wearing a frilly dress with her hair and face made up to be cuter. Although not explained, it is assumed that she was, like Danny, hypnotised.

Wilfred
Wilfred is the quietest of The Bash Street Kids whose thoughts are hidden behind the depth of the green jumper that goes all the way up to his nose. He resembles a tortoise and has a mystery concerning his neck, which is never seen: whenever he takes off his jumper, all we see is a vest as high up as his jumper.

Wilfred doesn't often have much contribution toward story in The Bash Street Kids, often simply present in the background and occasionally in speaking roles. However, unlike 'Erbert, most mischief is done intentionally. He is the shortest of the group, as often pointed out by other kids. He is often seen to hang around with Spotty and 'Erbert though on occasion Sidney. He also has a love for turtles, due to their similar appearance and nature.

During The Bash Street Academy storyline, he was revealed to have a large chin under his jersey. However, it was later revealed to be prosthetic as he simply pulled it off.

Cuthbert
Cuthbert Cringeworthy is the brightest child of the class, and a teachers' pet. He has a name for every letter of the alphabet. First appearing in 1972, he looks quite like Teacher in miniature (a play on the DC Thomson comics' tradition that pets look like their owners – e.g. Dennis the Menace and Gnasher – and his status as teachers' pet) and Walter the Softy of the Dennis the Menace strip. Danny's first comment on Cuthbert was 'He reminds me of someone I don't particularly like'. Cuthbert's character appears to have changed slightly in recent years; he is still seen as a swot and is still as bright as ever, but (particularly in longer strips by the likes of Mike Pearse and Kev F. Sutherland) he is sometimes shown to be 'one of the gang' and occasionally appears as part of the Kids' 'team' (contrary to earlier strips where he never seemed to like the other kids), sometimes coming up with intelligent plans to aid their cause or save the school. He tends to wish to become one of the gang rather than alienated from them, something he has on occasion accomplished. He is liked, however, due to his intelligence and love of school work he never quite fit in with the Kids. The Janitor, on one occasion, even acknowledged this, citing the boy will never gain any friends. He also appears to be the only Kid who complies with school uniform and the only one who gives in homework. One strip, during the school dance, hinted he had a crush of sorts on the only girl Toots, however, she quickly rejected him. It should be noted that Cuthbert does not appear in all the strips; he appears in fewer strips than any other pupil.

It seemed he was not present during the make-over for unknown reasons.

Other characters

 * Teacher - Class 2B's long-suffering teacher, who is always called 'Teacher' in the strip. However, his name was revealed to be Algernon in a 1970's The Beano Summer Special. He always wears a mortar board and has a domineering wife, 'Mrs Teacher'. Most (if not all) people related to him look uncannily similar to him. He drives an ancient crank started car, which is often used by the Kids in their exploits.


 * Headmaster (Headward Headington-Hail/Chocilus Bicius) - The pompous and portly school headmaster. He is very fond of tea and biscuits, and permanently wears his academic gown and mortar board. Teacher spends much of his career toadying to Head.


 * Janitor - The school's fat caretaker. He hates litter and pupils who break the rules. He enjoys bossing Winston about, but is lazy himself.


 * Winston - The school's cat. Anthropomorphic, he is often seen mopping the floor alongside Janitor. Sometimes portrayed as the real force behind the caretaking of the school, he is often overshadowed by the Janitor. Winston is crafty and often concocts his own schemes when Janitor frustrates him. He is always seen wearing a similar hat to Janitor. Winston currently has his own strip in the 'Funsize Funnies', starting in issue #3660 and drawn by Paul Palmer.


 * Olive - The school cook (and Beano office tea lady), who first appeared in the strip in 1981. Otherwise kindly, she is frowned upon by the other staff and pupils due to her utterly disgusting cooking (her food often looks as if it is still alive, and her tea has been shown to burn holes through walls). Conversely, she has a high opinion of her cuisine and does not often change her methods, which is a constant source of worry to the school's pupils and staff. Due to the inedible and frequently disgusting meals she serves, industrial-sized boxes of indigestion remedies have occasionally been seen on the canteen tables. Fatty is often the only pupil that will even consider eating her lunches.


 * Mrs Teacher - Teacher's overbearing wife, who bears an uncanny resemblance to him, and is almost always shown to be very assertive, bossing Teacher around while he is at home and yelling at the Kids during a memorable strip, wherein she took over the class as a supply teacher. In another issue, she was seen injuring the pupils in a break-dancing competition, because they had injured her husband.


 * Techno - A science teacher who appeared in the strip during the mid-1990s and was actually a robot à la Inspector Gadget with gadgets around his body and a generally futuristic look. Techno proved so popular that he was awarded his own strip for a limited run and appeared in The Beano Book of Amazing Facts. He returns in the Bash Street Kids Annual 2008.


 * The Blob Street Kids - A group of schoolchildren from a nearby school, who became rivals of the Bash Street Kids. Each member of the Bash Street Kids has a direct rival from the Blob Street Kids. A similar sort of rivalry is seen in The Bash Street Pups.


 * The Posh Street Kids - A group of rival schoolchildren from a school much posher than Bash Street.


 * An eleventh pupil, Wayne was introduced following a competition held by BBC's Blue Peter to find a new Bash Street Kid. The winning entry was announced on 14 March 2007 and revealed to be "Wayne's in pain". Wayne has fat, puffy cheeks, hair like a dandelion and a problem with standing. He is also said to be very talkative. He constantly wears a plaster cast and sling, suffering comical misfortunes like Calamity James.

After a year, Wayne disappeared, having never featured in a Singled Out story or any of Kev F Sutherland's Bash Street Kids' Adventures stories. Notably, Wayne only appeared three times in a strip featuring Cuthbert, including two in the 2009 Beano annual.

Some characters are named after their occupation: Teacher and Head, for example. Teacher's wife is called Mrs Teacher, the headmaster's brother's name is Mr Headsbrother and the children's parents (who look almost exactly the same as their children) are called Plug's Dad and such, even in flashbacks when they are themselves children.

In the earlier years, it was not clear how many pupils there were. One page showed as many as 28, including:
 * Teddy - A stereotypical teddy boy who appeared mainly in the 1950s.
 * Ella - One of only two girls (the other is Toots).
 * Jimmy - A boy who looks like Smiffy, but wears a cap.
 * Gasbag - A curly haired boy.

The same characters also appeared in one-page stories (not comic strips) in The Wizard in 1955, entitled "Bash St. School" and featured in the full-page cover cartoon on 23 July 1955.

Artists
Leo Baxendale drew it until 1962, when David Sutherland replaced him, initially using a similar drawing style to Baxendale, but simplifying it later in the decade. Sutherland has drawn the majority of the strips since then, except for a period from 1998 to 2000, when Nigel Parkinson took over the strip, drawing it in a style similar to how David Parkins was drawing Dennis the Menace by that point (the strips have had closely connected visual styles since the early 1970s, when Sutherland started drawing them both). At the time it appeared that Sutherland was heading towards semi-retirement, but Parkinson moved over to drawing Dennis the Menace in 2000, and Sutherland returned as artist.

The strip has also had a number of ghost artists through its lifetime, including Gordon Bell in the early 1970s, John Sherwood later on in the 1970s, Keith Reynolds in the 1980s and Tom Paterson in the early 1990s. In recent years, Mike Pearse and Kev F. Sutherland (no relation to David Sutherland) have also occasionally drawn the strip, particularly in long stories.

Other appearances and spin-offs
The strip has had various spin-offs over the years, including Pup Parade, Simply Smiffy, Plug, and Singled Out. The Bash Street Kids Annual was originally published bi-annually (previously known as The Bash Street Kids Book) but is now out every August, and summer specials also used to be printed annually during the 1990s. These featured solo stories of each character, and are therefore a forerunner to the Singled Out strip. Most of these strips were drawn by Tom Paterson, who later drew the Singled Out strip itself.

Between 1968 and 1972, The Beano ran a similar series entitled The Belles of St. Lemons, which featured many similarities to The Bash Street Kids.

The Dandy has run two similar series. The first was Whacko in the 1970s, a strip about a teacher who always taught in a suit of armour due to his unruly pupils. The second was printed between 1998 and 2000, a strip entitled P5, which also featured a class of schoolchildren and their long-suffering teacher. It was reprinted in 2006 under the title of Class Act.

Video

 * The Bash Street Kids appear in The Beano Video released in the late 1990s.


 * The Bash Street Kids make yet another appearance in The Beano Video-Stars, in 1994.

Theme parks

 * Before Beanoland was turned to Wild Asia in the UK theme park Chessington World of Adventures, The Bash Street Kids had their own ride 'The Bash Street Bus'. They were also featured in the theming of the water balloon segment of the park, as well as images and standees posted around in various places.

Video games

 * Only Plug makes an appearance as a playable character in the PC game Beanotown Racing. However, Bash Street School does feature as a race track.

Toys and games

 * Robert Harrop has designed various figures based on the Bash Street Kids comic strips, as well as statues and ornaments. There was also a target practice game featuring the characters, and a McDonald's Happy Meal toys set featuring a number of the Bash Street Kids.