Just Dandy

Today is December 4th. It’s true. I checked my calendar to confirm it.

Anything special happen on this day in history?

Not much, but here’s a few:

1872 Mary Celeste found crewless by the British ship Dei Gratia
1881 Los Angeles Times first published
Thomas Carlyle (1795) and Ronnie Corbett (1930) were born on Dec 4th
Benjamin Britten (1976) and Frank Zappa (1993) both died on Dec 4th.

And in 1937, D.C. Thomson of Dundee published the first edition of children’s comic, The Dandy.

Today, Dec 4th, 2012, they publish the last print edition of that same comic. From now on, it will be online.

So this morning, as I nipped out for trivia like bread and milk, and essentials like lottery tickets and tobacco, I bought a copy of this last ever print Dandy.

It set me back £4 (about $6) but hey, am I counting? This will be worth a fortune in years to come. Not in my lifetime, but my great-great-great-great grandchildren will turn up on the Antiques Roadshow and the 22nd Century equivalents of Arthur Negus and Tim Wonnacott will eschew the ancient smartphones and iPads to wax eloquent over this magnificent publication printed (naturally) on real paper.

For me, this classic come filled with memories of the 1950s when, every week, my brother would buy The Dandy and I would buy The Beano, and when we were done, we would swap so we could each keep up with Korky the Cat, Biffo the Bear, Desperate Dan and Dennis the Menace.

Break times at school would be taken over with vital debates on the latest state of play with, Beryl the Peril, Winker Watson and Brassneck, or how long-suffering Aunt Aggie coped with Desperate Dan’s demands for cow pies.

One of the great joys of Christmas in those austere times was opening the annuals; giant, hardbacked editions of our favourite weekly comics; a glut of reading that would take days to get through.

I can still sense that excitement now; the anticipation of reserving a few hours to read this final issue of The Dandy. And when I’ve read it, I will encase it in polythene, and it will never be opened again. Instead it will be allowed to gain in value.

For now, I’m looking forward to this afternoon when I can travel back through time and engage again in that wonderful, innocent fun from a more innocent age.

And not a microchip in sight.