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First Class! Dennis and BEANO friends mark his 70th anniversary on new set of Royal Mail stamps

By John Freeman on July 1, 2021

Beano Studios is marking the 70th year of the iconic comic character Dennis with the launch of a stamp collection in partnership with Royal Mail.

Six stamps look back at Dennis through the ages; from his first ever black-and-white comic strip in 1951, to important events in his life, including meeting his baby sister, Bea, adopting Gnasher, and even finding out that his dad is a grown-up version of Dennis from the 1980s.

A further four stamps, exclusively illustrated by the current Dennis artist, Nigel Parkinson, show the culmination of an exclusive comic strip. The strip, written especially for Royal Mail is featured in the Presentation Pack.

Dennis at 70 Royal Mail Stamps - Presentation Pack

The story focuses on Dennis’s birthday celebrations and includes a brief ‘history of Menaces’. The light-hearted episodes end with a birthday surprise, with the final comic strip frame revealing the four new stamps.

“Dennis has stamped his spirit on generations of kids for the last 70 years and continues to spread smiles and laughs between kids, parents and grandparents,” says Vanessa Andre is, Franchise Planning & Partnerships Director, Beano Studios. “Having Royal Mail join our licensing programme to mark this incredible year is very special and we can’t wait for fans to get their hands on this latest piece of Dennis history.”

1951 – First Dennis the Menace Strip
1968 – Gnasher arrives
1974 – Front cover debut
1979 – Dennis adopts Rasher the pig
1998 – Dennis meets sister Bea
2015 – Dennis reveals Dad was Dennis

“We are delighted to be celebrating the birthday of this national treasure in partnership with this quintessentially British institution, Royal Mail,” added Charlie Donaldson, Joint Managing Director, Rocket Licensing. The bespoke artwork is so fun and eye-catching, it’s a very special collection for Beano that we are excited to see shared.”

Natasha Ayivor, Royal Mail said: “For seven decades, Dennis has been entertaining children by getting into all manner of mischief fand mayhem. Generations have experienced the excitement and anticipation of reading about Dennis’s latest prank.

“Royal Mail is delighted to be honouring Dennis and Gnasher with a set of stamps as the ultimate birthday present.”

For more than 50 years, Royal Mail’s Special Stamp programme has commemorated anniversaries and celebrated events relevant to UK heritage and life. Today, there are an estimated 2.5 million stamp collectors and gift givers in the UK and millions worldwide. Her Majesty The Queen approves all UK stamp designs before they are issued.

Beano was first published by DC Thomson in July 1938 and is still put together in its original Dundee headquarters and printed in the UK each week. Beano has an ABC of 45,644 – an increase of 9.0% YOY. The brand reaches over five million kids a month on its digital network, centred around multi-award winning Beano.com and fans in more than 100 countries across the world can watch Dennis & Gnasher: Unleashed!, the Emmy nominated TV series.

• The full set of 10 stamps, available in a Presentation Pack, retails at £13.65. The stamps and range of collectible products are available today, 1st July 2021, from www.royalmail.com/dennisandgnasher

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.