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For 75 years, Dennis the Menace – wearing his signature red-and-black striped shirt and joined by his scruffy sidekick Gnasher – has been delighting children with his unapologetic mischief.

Dennis the Menace debuted in the Beano comic for children in March 1951 and quickly became a favourite with readers. His name derives from the music hall song Dennis the Menace from Venice, and his distinctive silhouette (very like that of his “Abyssinian wire-haired tripe hound” Gnasher) was first drawn on a cigarette pack in a pub in the Scottish town of St Andrews.

Coincidentally, on the other side of the Atlantic, another “naughty” boy called Dennis made his first appearance in a syndicated newspaper comic strip on the same day as British Dennis. In contrast to his British namesake, American Dennis is a blond five-year-old with a round face, blue and black striped t-shirt and red dungarees. American Dennis’s mischief comes from his misguided attempts to be helpful, rather than British Dennis’s deliberate misbehaviour.

The appearance of Dennis the Menace has changed somewhat over time, in his height, length of his legs and his possession of a catapult. But his spiked hair, red and black striped jumper, black shorts, knobbly knees and oversized boots have remained.

Like his predecessor William Brown...

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