The Bash Street Kids

 The Bash Street Kids are a comic strip that features in the Beano and has featured in every edition since it started in February 1954. Like many other long running comic strips the characters are frozen in a timewarp from the era that they began and so the characters in the Bash Street Kids, Class 2B from Bash Street School, still sit at wooden desks with ink wells, wear shorts, jumpers and ties and are taught by teachers in capes and mortar boards.

The gang are made up of 11 characters Danny, 'Erbert, Fatty, Plug, Sidney, Smiffy, Spotty, Toots, Wilfrid, Wayne and Cuthbert Cringeworthy. They are taught by a teacher simply known as Teacher, who is married unsurprisingly to Mrs Teacher.

•  Danny - is the leader of the gang and wants to be a pirate. He wears a skull and crossbones sweater which his grandma knitted for him and a floppy red school cap. He is crafty and intelligent. His full name is Daniel Deathshead Morgan.
• 'Erbert - is short-sighted and struggles to see things even when he's wearing his glasses. Stories often revolve around the rest of the class swapping his thick-rimmed glasses for others in the class and watching the chaotic results. 'Erbert is often seen as less mischievous than the rest of the class. 'Erbert is short for Herbert
• Fatty - is a fat boy who can't stop eating. He's not bothered about being fat and in fact revels in it and when teased about it trys to prove his tormentors wrong.
• Plug - is a hideously ugly boy with buck-teeth, huge sticky out ears and a goofy face. His main defensive weapon is his sense of humour. His name derives from the term plug-ugly. Plug's "real name" is Percival Proudfoot Plugsey.
• Sidney - is Toots' twin brother and has masses of animals. When he grows up he wants to become a vet because he knows more about animals than anything else. Sidney has spiky hair which looks like a toilet brush. Sidney's bad luck and basic stupidity often lead him into trouble.
• Toots - is Sidney's twin sister and the only girl in the class.  She is a tomboy who is equally as bossy as Danny, but has a softer side than the others. She is Danny's right-hand "man".
• Smiffy - is the naive and slightly dumb one who often confuses his words. An example of this is when Teacher calls the register and he is supposed to say 'Present, sir', he says 'Gift, miss' instead. He has two brothers, Whiffy and Normal Norman. His real name is John Smith.
• Spotty - is the short pupil with an extremely spotty face, 976 to be exact, of which he is very proud. He is quite handy when he wants to be and his clothes which includes an extraordinarily long tie is often used to get the kids out of tight spots.
• Wilfrid - is a thoughtful, introspective boy, whose is renowned for his clothes which are huge green jumper that goes all the way up to his nose. He is by nature shy and gentle. He resembles a tortoise and even when he takes off his jumper, all you see is a vest as high up as his jumper. Wilfrid does not usually speak.
• Cuthbert Cringeworthy - is the swot of the class and is the teachers' pet and is often left out by the rest of the class. In later strips he has become more a member of the gang.
• Wayne - is the newest of the Bash Street Kids only being introduced in 2007 after a Blue Peter competition. 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 after various accidents.

 The Bash Street Kids were first drawn in 1954 and were created by Leo Baxendale who drew them until 1962. At this time David Sutherland took over, initially he copied the same style but over the years tweaked this into a more simple style. Sutherland has drawn the majority of the strips since then, except for a period between 1999 and 2000 when Nigel Parkinson drew the strip. In 2000 Parkinson moved on to drawing Dennis the Menance which meant that Sutherland needed to be brought back from semi-retirement to continue drawing the strip.

There have also been a number of "Ghost Artists" over the years, including Gordon Bellin the early 1970s, John Sherwood later on in the 1970s, Keith Reynolds in the 1980s and Tom Paterson in the early 1990s. Recently Mike Pearse and Kev F Sutherland have occasionally drawn the strip.

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