Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: The absolute minimum

It could be seen as a step in the right direction. Short hair might suggest a brisk get down to business attitude. The niece’s facial expression does not support this interpretation.

In three months’ time none of this would matter but there was clearly no inkling of this fact.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Perils of being a War Worker

He war work is to drive a car for staff officers thus freeing up a man for active service. Changing a wheel is part of the job. The general should be showing appreciation of her dedication – but he isn’t.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Chutzpah!

It is really difficult to imagine any way in which the Batman can deputise for the General.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: I’ve heard that one before

This joke appeared in Punch in 1918. In 1955 I was a National Service conscript recruit and our Platoon Sergeant came out with exactly the same insult on the Parade Ground. I’m betting that he had not learned this from a 35 year old copy of Punch. It obviously was an old army joke.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: The lure of the uniform

The soldier is talking big and it is having the desired effect on his girl-friend. Make the most of it, little man, after the Armistice your uniform won’t be that special anymore.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Another lady driver

She too seems to be unaware that policemen control traffic. This type of joke has appeared here before. I wonder whether it stems from a gut feeling that women should not be driving motor cars.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: My brother Esau is an hairy man, but I am a smooth man

Here HM Bateman isn’t quite presenting his famous formula of ‘the man who…’ with astonished onlookers being appalled with what they were seeing. It is, however, quite close to it.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: It wasn’t me

I suppose the General is using a commonly used expression meaning what was the man doing at the start of the war. The essence of the joke seems to be that the man was addressing the General in this way. That seems to be unlikely.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: Domestic life near the front

Why does the Officers Mess keep rabbits? It certainly isn’t to enjoy the company of domestic pets. They clearly do it in order to augment their army rations. The sergeant uses the same diplomatic language used to indicate soldiers who have died and those who have received wounds seriously severe to qualify them for return to Britain for prolonged hospital care.

Murgatroyd and Clarence, having ‘gone west’, show no signs of violence visible on their corpses. This is unlikely and this is obviously done to spare the readers of Punch from another reality of war. Fritz sending over a big one means that the Germans have sent over a massive shell.

Re: The Pages of Punch

1918: War without fighting

George Belcher is true to form here. Not for him, to tell the story of upper class people dealing with the war. The point being made by Mrs Smales’ friend is illogical. Fighting is what a war is about. On the other hand wars do give rise to various unwarlike situations not all of them unpleasant. I doubt whether that is the point of this joke.