It's such a pleasure to think of the generations of kids who grew up reading & enjoying his work. You can imagine what a privilege it was to have a father with such a fantastic job. My father, Tom Williams, was a cartoonist for IPC (Whizzer & Chips) & DC Thomson (the Dandy, the Beano) from the 1970s through to his death last year. To get a copy, one had to be a registered customer. I grew up in Britain during the war years, when the Dandy and Beano came out every other alternative week. I'm forever in debt to the lowbrow lessons gleaned from Dennis and his ilk. I grew up on Beanos and Dandys in 1970s Canada, and become one of my country's leading kids' cartoonists, writing and drawing for Chickadee magazines and annuals, and creating a weekly comic strip for the Toronto Star. My British-born grandparents made sure they passed down an important part of their culture by giving out Beano Annuals every year. But I make children laugh, and that must be one of the greatest jobs there is. The farmers insist they do, as they grow food. I occasionally get into debates at the pub in my Suffolk village about who has the most important job. Comics didn't do me any harm as my father said they would. I grew up in the mining village of Grimethorpe - there wasn't a great deal of money around, my Dad worked down the pit, so we didn't have a great many books.Д«ut I always had comics and these encouraged me to be a habitual reader. I came from what I guess would be called a deprived background. Comics are a good starting point, and that's why the Beano has even been used as a language teaching tool in Japan. I read comics as a boy and it didn't stop me going on to read Beowulf in Old English. Kids love to get one over on adults - that's one of the main themes of the stories When DC Thomson launched the comic, it was during the Depression - a far harsher and crueller world than we live in now. I loved it at that age it was the same with my kids and now with my grandchildren.Д«eano certainly doesn't depict a sweet world, nor is it from a kinder, gentler time.

If somebody's trousers fall down or they get kicked up the arse, kids love it. It appeals to that anarchic side of kids, the side that enjoys seeing someone get one over on adults. I think the Beano still sells after all these years because it epitomises British humour - it's very surreal with a lot of slapstick, which goes right back to Charlie Chaplin. It's a great pleasure to laugh as I work, interpreting a good gag from the scriptwriters. The reason I enjoy doing this is that I never changed - I still laugh at the same things I laughed at as a kid. It's just like a dream to work for these comics. From the age of six, I read both it and Dandy religiously. Like most people I first came across the Beano as a kid. A 65 whoopee cushion salute will mark the Beano's anniversary

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