The Pages of Punch

1981: Advice Sought

I suspect that this is a reference to silly questions directed at people who give out advice.

1982: Changing the past

Introducing modern concepts into a bygone story is a common theme here. This menacing horseman takes his social worker with him when is a busy marauding.

1982: Intrepid country women

How are we to take this? Gormless town dwellers perhaps. What does he mean by horrible? Someone must have thought this was worth publishing.

1982: Animal experimenting

It seems that the idea is to discover how well the mice can work their way through a maze. What the boffins are witnessing is flagrant cheating. This initiative should be applauded but is banned because it does not suit the scientists.

:lol::lol::lol:

The mice will take over the world!

1981: A thwarted ambition

The joke here is that he claims that he failed as a writer by not joining the Bloomsbury group. In reality you only got to join the group after you had succeeded as a writer.

1982: That Christmas party tradition

Here we have a reference to that Christmas party custom when all the norms of behaviour are temporarily suspended. During my 40 working years I never witnessed it. (The last 10 years don’t really count because I was working for myself!)

Oh I remember that sort of thing. One Christmas, at our office party, my immediate boss’s head suddenly appeared over the top of a filing cabinet just as HIS boss was making a speech. When a titter went up through his audience, he must have been wondering what the hell he’d said that was so funny!

1981: Modern Art again…

Debunking ‘modern’ art has been a consistent theme in Punch for a long time. The joke here appears to be that Mr Bradshaw really is a child’s version of a man.

1981: The tabloids

This joke could appear today and would be just as relevant.

Yes, indeed! I wonder why he chose the Express? Certainly not as bad as some.

1981: Not embarrassed

The boy’s lack of embarrassment is seen as a sign of the times. This joke could not have appeared twenty years earlier. ‘Santa’ looks as though he is deliberately ignoring what he sees.

1982: Frontiers were being crossed

I suspect that here there was a time when all kinds of new things were possible.

1982: Versatile parrot

This parrot can do much more than say ‘who’s a pretty boy’ but the owner isn’t impressed.

1982: In the funeral parlour

I wonder how many episodes like this occur in real life.

Another excellent Honeysett cartoon. :slight_smile:

Some more here for fans.

https://punch.photoshelter.com/gallery/Martin-Honeysett-Cartoons/G0000OD137yiEZ9o/

What a splendid set of cartoons, Judd!

:slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile:

1982: Premier broadcaster

I suppose that it is God who is the subject of this BBC’s TV team’s investigation. Today there is far less acceptance of the unique role of either the deity or the broadcaster.

1982: What is the risk?

What is the risk? Is it being caught ‘in flagrante’? Or is it setting the hay on fire with careless use of the ‘after’ cigarette?