Who Remembers The Topper’s “Tyme Twins”?

By John Freeman on September 2, 2025

Homage to Doctor Who turns up in all sorts of places – especially British weekly humour comics of yesteryear. In this case, as a cameo in the first episode of “The Tyme Twins”, created for Topper by Tim Quinn, with art by John K. Geering.

For those unfamiliar, The Topper was a long running anthology comic, launched by DC Thomson in 1953 until 1990, merging with with two other comics, Buzz and Sparky in 1975 and 1977. The Topper eventually merged with another comic The Beezer in 1990 becoming The Beezer and Topper, ending its run in 1993. A few of the characters going on to appear in The Beano and The Dandy.

“Having grown up in a Victorian house of nooks and crannies, I’d always had an interest in all things historic,” says Tim of the strip’s origins. “And so it was hardly surprising I went on to create many tales of children tootling back and forth through Time on pogo sticks, space hoppers and skateboards.

The first episode of “The Tyme Twins” from The Topper No. 1358, by Tim Quinn (who supplied the image, noting with interest that the page is turning yellow with age “much like myself”) and John Geering

“‘The Tyme Twins’ was originally going to feature Tim Tyme and his dog Grimm Tyme, but the editor felt children would have a hard time believing in a dog on a pogo stick and so gave Tim a twin. The time travel element was obviously more believable than a talking dog. Go figure editors.”

“The Tyme Twins”, the first episode drawn by John Geering, co-creator of Bananaman, made their debut in early 1979, in Issue 1358, running until Issue 1394.

This wasn’t Tim’s only brush with time travel gags for DCT. He also wrote a strip for the 1979 Monster Fun annual, “Rex”, which had elements of time travel to it, including a Dalek. What a lovely surprise to wake up to.

Plus, a few years later, he created Tim Tyme, a time traveller through American history, who appeared in Children’s Digest, a US children’s publication for the Saturday Evening Post.

Tim Quinn, perhaps best known to downthetubes readers for his work for Marvel UK, including the long running “Doctor Who?” strip for Doctor Who Magazine, working with cartoonist Dicky Howett, was born in Liverpool in 1953, the very same year Beryl the Peril first appeared in The Topper. Coincidence? We think not!

Educated by Irish Christian Brothers whose prospectus boasted, ‘We will instill a fear of God into your child’, it was little wonder Tim chose a life in entertainment. He’s still busy today, encouraging kids across the country to draw comics, and still writing. His latest book, Bigger Than The Beatles: The Authorised Biography of a Dream Daffodil, is available now.

Lancashire-based artist John Keith Geering (9th March 1941 – 13th August 1999), who grew up in Latchford, is best known for his work for DC Thomson comics including The Beano, Cracker, The Dandy, Nutty, Plug, Sparky, and The Topper. You’re probably most familiar with his work on “Bananaman” (the character originally created for Nutty by Dave Donaldson and Steve Bright) and “Puss ‘n’ Boots”, for Sparky. He also drew topical and political satire cartoons for British newspapers, worked for Cosgrove Hall on animated series such as Danger Mouse, illustrated children’s books, designed Ken Dodd’s Diddymen and worked on the big screen version of Roald Dahl’s BFG.

The Topper ©️ DC Thomson Media

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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as 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.