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National Library of Scotland celebrates Beano’s 80th anniversary with special one day event in Glasgow

By John Freeman on July 19, 2018

Current ‘Beano’ characters ‘Minnie the Minx’,’Dennis the Menace’ and ‘Gnasher’.

Join the National Library at Kelvin Hall in Glasgow at a special event to wish a very happy 80th birthday to the iconic Scottish comic, The Beano.

80 years ago, the launch of The Beano revolutionised British comics. It was an immediate success and by 1950 circulation was close to two million copies per issue.

This special one-day event on Saturday 28th July offers a chance to see rare items from the Library’s collections, including the first edition of The Beano, the first Beano annual and other vintage Beano books and memorabilia.

Original Beano artwork will also be on display, kindly loaned by Beano publishers D C Thomson.

Detail of front cover of first edition of ‘The Beano’, 30 July 1938

The Library’s copy of the first ever issue of The Beano comic is one of only 25 known to exist. Cover dated 30th July 1938, it was printed in colour, had 28 pages and sold for two pence.

Characters in the first issue included ‘Wee Peem’ and ‘Helpful Harry’, which were precursors of famous current characters ‘Minnie the Minx’ and ‘Dennis the Menace’.

‘Lord Snooty and his Pals’ also featured as well as a clockwork boy called ‘Tin-Can Tommy’ and an ostrich called ‘Big Eggo’, recently revived for the comic by Lew Stringer.

• Celebrating 80 years of Beano – 10.00 – 16.00 Saturday 28th July 2018, Kelvin Hall, Glasgow. Free. Drop-in session — no need to book. Suitable for children of all ages, families very welcome

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.