Re: The Pages of Punch

1960: Uses of jam

This scenario looks very odd to me. Portable TV sets in 1960? I don’t remember them and I wonder whether it only existed in the cartoonist’s imagination. I suppose it is meant to be battery powered. It would have had to be a pretty big battery.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1960: The wind of change in 409 AD

The cartoonist imagines that the then current end of colonialism had some similarity with the situation when the Romans left Britain. He was quite wrong.

The Romans left simply because they no longer had the resources to defend this island. They had not taught the Britons to defend themselves. Indeed, the locals had not been allowed to bear arms – in order to prevent a later day Boudicca from rebelling. We don’t know what exactly happened when the legions departed because we have no written records as to what happened after they left. Some records might have been written but, if so, none of them have survived.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1960: Mocking ‘Pure’ Maths

The cartoonist is having fun at the expense of seriously advanced boffins. There is a tendency to mock things that people don’t understand.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1963: Gerald overdoing things

Exuberant Gerald does not suit the speaker who expects a more restrained attitude.

I certainly can't do this.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1961: The Music Scene

1961 is a bit early in the development of the music scene. It clearly was at the start of its tremendous growth.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1962: The corset industry

The stout customer knows what she really needs. Her absurd shoes and tiny feet show that Anton will not depart from her signature feature. Corsets are now out of fashion and the profession of corsetier is entirely obsolete.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1973: Real Estate

Martin is basking in his wife’s praise.

We can identify the artist Bud Handesman as an American not only because of his name but also because of his use of the term ‘real estate’. His humour is also essentially American.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1961: The retreat from Moscow

Gerald Scarfe treats us with an example of his sardonic take on life. Napoleon has underestimated his Russian foes. Without coming to terms with him they leave him with no option but to make an ignominious retreat short of food and warm clothing. The French soldier on the left is ignoring the suffering experienced by making a crude snowman.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1962: Responsive toes

The snake charmer turns his attention to his own toes.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1961: Heavy Sunday Paper

Here Anton is drawing attention to the plethora of supplements that were then becoming essential to the Sunday papers.