Punch

That's the Way to Do it! A History of Punch and Judy

Punch is such a droll, diverting vagabond, that even those who have witnessed
his crimes are irresistibly seduced into laughter by his grotesque antics and his
cynical bursts of merriment, which render him such a strange combination of
the demon and the buffoon.
- Thomas Frost, The Old Showmen, 1881

Punch Arrives in England

Punch in the 17th century

A puppet play that would have featured a version of Punch was first recorded in
England in May 1662, by the diarist Samuel Pepys. He noted seeing it in Covent
Garden, performed by the Italian puppet showman Pietro Gimonde from
Bologna, otherwise known as Signor Bologna:
Thence to see an Italian puppet play that is within the rayles there, which is
very pretty, the best that ever I saw, and a great resort of gallants.
- Samuel Pepys Diary, 9 May 1662

Bologna was one of many entertainers who came to England from the
continent following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. Unlike todays
Punch and Judy, performed with glove puppets in canvas booths with the
audience outside, Bologna used marionettes puppets with rods to their heads
and strings or wires to their limbs and performed within a transportable
wooden shed, and as such would have been quite a novelty.

Pepys was so delighted by the show that he brought his wife to see it two
weeks later, and in October 1662 Bologna was honoured with a royal command
performance by Charles II at Whitehall, where a stage measuring 20ft by 18ft
was set up for him in the Queens Guard Chamber. The king rewarded Signor
Bologna, alias Pollicinella with a gold chain and medal, a gift worth 25 then,
or about 3,000 today.

Other Italian puppeteers appeared in London, and on 10 November 1662 Pepys

took his wife to see another show in a booth at Charing Cross performing: the
Italian motion, much after the nature of what I showed her at Covent Garden.
This may have been the show of Anthony Devoto who had a puppet show at
Bartholemew Fair, and at Charing Cross in 1667, 1668, 1669 and 1672, when a
warrant of 11 November 1672 permitting him to Exercise & Play all Drolls and
Interludes referred to him as: Antonio Di Voto puncinello. Devotos booth was
visited by the other famous 17th century diarist John Evelyn who referred to it
as: the famous Italian puppet play, but by 1675 the site was cleared and
Devotos booth was replaced with a statue of Charles I.
The exact nature of the shows that Pepys saw remains unclear, but we know
one of them was accompanied by dulcimer music, and that Punch, as his name
was anglicised, would have been one of several characters, his role providing
comic relief in whatever the subject of the play.

Pepys usually referred to the shows as Polichinello, a name relating to Punchs

roots in the Italian commedia dellarte, where masked actors improvised
comic knockabout plays around a number of stock characters, and Polichinello
was the subversive, thuggish character whose Italian name Pulcinella or
Pulliciniello may have developed from the word pulcino, or chicken, referring to
the characters beak-like mask and squeaky voice.

Commedia dellarte developed in Italy in the mid 16th century, and an

anonymous 18th-century drawing depicts an itinerant family of masked
performers, in costume as they travel, the father dressed as Pulcinello in his
characteristic white costume and tall hat.

Troupes of Commedia actors established themselves in France, where a print by

Jean Brain (1638 - 1711) published in Paris in the early 18th century depicted
a masked Punch character appearing on the French stage. He is not a puppet,
but his nose, chin and pot belly indicate his ancestry to the Punch we know
today, while his stance indicates a comic, bird-like walk.

Like his Italian ancestor, Punch always carried a big stick or 'batone', as the
Italians called it, with which to fight his opponents, despite it sometimes being
used to beat him. Today a wooden stick split at one end is often used, to create
the percussive noise of the magic 'slapstick' traditionally used by Harlequin in
early pantomime.

The tradition of marionette shows featuring Polichinelle was established in Paris

by the mid 17th century, when a puppet show performed by Pierre Datelin
(1567 - 1671), known as Jean Brioch, included the character in the marionette
shows he established at the great fairs of Saint-Laurent and Saint-Germain. The
puppeteers that Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn saw in the 1660s and 1670s
may well have been presenting Italian shows as performed in France, and we
know that Signor Bologna performed at the Saint-Laurent Fair in Paris in 1678,
with marionettes including his: Roman Policinel.

Punch and his ancestors always had a ridiculous voice, even on the human
stage. At Londons May Fair in 1699 the commentator Ned Ward described a
puppet show: where a senseless dialogue between Punchinello and the Devil
was conveyed to the ears of the listening rabble through a tin squeaker.
Punchs characteristic voice comes from the use of a reed retained at the back
of the Punchmans or professors mouth, calling for expert alternation of reed
use when Punch is talking to other characters. In Britain the reed is called a
swazzle, and in France a sifflet-pratique. Its most common Italian name was
pivetta, but also sometimes strega, or witch, and franceschina, after
Franchescina, one of Punchs wives in the commedia dellarte who had a voice
like a witch. Swazzles are made of thin metal today, but bone or ivory were
formerly used, each equally tricky to master and easy to swallow.

Covent Garden PiazzaDeschars en habit de Polichinel au Divertissement de

Villeneuue Saint-Georges
Punch Settles In

Punch in the 18th century

Mr Punch made himself thoroughly at home in Britain during the 18th century.
His wife was the shrewish Dame Joan who made his life a misery, and his
hunched back and pot belly became more pronounced.

The marionette Punch was the celebrity disrupting the action in puppet plays
all around the country, in established puppet theatres and in fairground booths
where puppets were a popular feature of all the great fairs and small country
wakes throughout the century. Punch provided comic relief, and in 1728 the

satirist Jonathan Swift mentioned the excitement generated at fairgrounds by

his curious voice:

'Observe the Audience is in Pain

When Punch is hid behind the Scene,
But when they hear his rusty Voice
With what Impatience they rejoice.'
- Jonathan Swift: A Dialogue Between Mad Mullinex and Timothy, 1728
Habit de Polichinel Napolitan, Hand-coloured engraving by Francois Joullain,
illustration from Riccobonis Histoire du Theatre Italien by Luigi Riccoboni,
published by Cailleau, Paris, 1731. Museum no. S.1215-2010. Victoria and
Albert Museum, London
Habit de Polichinel Napolitan, Hand-coloured engraving by Francois Joullain,
illustration from Riccobonis Histoire du Theatre Italien by Luigi Riccoboni,
published by Cailleau, Paris, 1731. Museum no. S.1215-2010. Victoria and
Albert Museum, London
Punch was a leading character in the marionette shows of Martin Powell
(d.1725), the puppeteer who tapped into the taste of the town for puppets,
making himself wealthy and Punch more famous. Powell had a marionette
theatre in Bath in 1709 where Punch and Joan danced in Noahs Ark in the
biblical play The Old Creation of the World, and by 1710 Powell was performing
in London, in St. Martins Lane, in a room adapted as a puppet theatre, and in
1711 he moved to the Seven Stars, a tavern in Covent Gardens Little Piazza
where his plays were performed with quite elaborate scenery, and candle
footlights.

Punch did not yet have his own play but featured in a variety of Powells plays,
some lampooning famous people, or satirising theatrical fashions such as
Italian opera. In The False Triumph we hear that: Signor Pulcinella appeared in
the role of Jupiter, descending from the clouds in a chariot drawn be eagles and
sang an aria to Paris. Whatever the story, it was customary for Punch to fight
the Devil, traditionally the adversary of Vice in mediaeval Morality plays.
Sometimes the Devil won, as mentioned in passing in the epilogue of a play of
1741:

'Our catastrophe
Does not with puppet rules agree;
Vengeance for Punchs crimes should catch him.
And at last the Devil fetch him.'
More usually Punch was victorious, and in 1765 Dr. Johnson recalled the Devil
being: very lustily belaboured by Punch.

Punch had a marionette theatre named after him in 1738 when the actress and
puppeteer Charlotte Charke (1713 - 1760), daughter of the actor and
playwright Colley Cibber, was granted a license to open Punchs Theatre in
James Street, off the Haymarket. Her wooden cast was provided with elegant
scenery and costumes for satirical marionette plays, or versions of those on the
regular stage, with Punch the novelty character performing roles such as
Falstaff, or dancing with his wife Joan. As she wrote:

'For some time I resided at the Tennis-Court with my Puppet Show, which was
allowed to be the most elegant that was ever exhibited. I was so very curious
that I bought mezzotintos of several eminent Persons, and had the faces
carved for them. Then, in regard to cloaths, I spared for no cost to make them
splendidly magnificent, and the scenes were agreeable to the rest.'
- Charlotte Charke: A Narrative of the Life of Mrs Charlotte Charke, 1755
Foote, the Devil and Polly Pattens, The Macaroni & Theatrical Magazine,
February 1773. Museum no. S.1004-2010. Victoria and Albert Museum,
London
Foote, the Devil and Polly Pattens, The Macaroni & Theatrical Magazine,
February 1773. Museum no. S.1004-2010. Victoria and Albert Museum,
London
The enterprise was short-lived. She sold the marionettes while on tour, but
where Powell and Charke led, others followed suit. Punch was such a popular
character that when the actor Samuel Foote (1721 - 1777) produced his
Primitive Puppet Show the satirical play The Handsome Housemaid; or, Piety
in Pattens at the Haymarket Theatre on 15 February 1773, featuring real actors
and life-sized figures with strings attached, the audience in the upper gallery
created a disturbance and tore up the benches on the opening night, partly
because of the absence of Punch. As The Morning Chronicle noted:

'from the illiberal, unmanly conduct of the gallery, it seemed as if some of the
persons had come to the theatre, not in hopes of seeing a primitive but a
modern puppet-shew, and that they grew out of temper because Punch, his
wife Joan, and Little Ben the Sailor, did not make an appearance.'
- The Morning Chronicle 16 February 1773
Foote revised his show, introduced songs and a human Punch, seen by the
curtain stage left in an illustration of a scene from the play published in a
contemporary magazine.

As Charlotte Charke had found, marionette shows were expensive to operate,

and by the end of the 18th century glove puppet versions of the Punch show,
performed in small portable booths became a familiar sight on city streets and
country lanes instead. An illustration of such a show published in London in
1785 refers to it as the Italian puppet show, supporting the theory that the
glove puppet Punch shows were performed by a new influx of Italian showmen
in London. Punch was here to stay, with no strings attached, and while Punch
integrated himself in Britain a similar process took place in other parts of
Europe, resulting in Punchs European cousins including Kasperle in Southern
Germany and Austria, Polichinelle in France, Karakoz in Turkey and Petrushka in
Russia.

Punch the Glove Puppet

Punch in the 19th century

Punch and Judy shows were familiar sights on the streets throughout the 19th
century, their performances often heralded by a drums or panpipes played by
the Punchmans accomplice or bottler whose job collecting the money in a
bottle gave rise to his soubriquet. In 1801 Joseph Strutt described the meagre
existence of a contemporary puppeteer:

'In the present day the puppet-show man travels about the streets when the
weather will permit, and carries his motions with the theatre itself, upon his
back. The exhibition takes place in the open air; and the precarious income of
the miserable itinerant depends entirely on contributions of the spectators,

which as far as one may judge from the square appearance he makes, is very
trifling.'
- Joseph Strutt: Sports and Pastimes of the People of England, 1801

Vingette by Ann Dibdin, aquatint by John Hill from Charles Dibdens

Observations of a Town 1801-1802. Museum no. S.937-2010. Victoria and
Albert Museum, London.
Vingette by Ann Dibdin, aquatint by John Hill from Charles Dibdens
Observations of a Town 1801-1802. Museum no. S.937-2010. Victoria and
Albert Museum, London.
An 1801 engraving of a country Punch and Judy show in a booth depicts Punch
still wearing the sugar-loaf hat or coppolone, and the white smock of his Italian
relations, similar to that worn in the Italian show in Rome depicted by Pinelli in
1815. But generally Punch in England had discarded his plain white Italian
costume by the middle of the 18th century and had started to wear the red and
yellow motley of the English jester or fool.

With Punchs move from marionette stage to portable booth came new clothes
and new companions. By 1825 we hear in Bernard Blackmantles The English
Spy of his wife being called Judy instead of Joan: old Punch with his Judy in
amorous play, and of Punchs having a Toby the dog, usually played by a real
dog.

A dancing Punch was a star of the stage at Covent Garden Theatre in

November 1825, when the comic French acrobatic dancer Charles-Francois
Mazurier (1798 - 1828) made a hit with his comic Punch dance in The
Shipwreck of Policinello, a play by Jean-Baptiste Blache. Mazurier had made a
success with the role in Paris in 1823 at the Porte Saint Martin Theatre, under
its original title Pulcinelle Vampire. The manager Charles Kembles address to
the audience at Covent Garden noted Mazuriers hump, and his similarity to a
marionette:

'Come, all ye admirers of Punch,

Come and gaze on our Policinelle,
Did ever a soul wear a hunch

Or scream with his voice half so well?

And his joints are so supple they seem

As if they were hung upon wires;
And his leaps, and his walks, and his screams,
Are what every Parisian admires'
- Charles Kembles Address. Reprinted in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement
and Instruction, 19 November 1825.

The earliest script of a Punch and Judy show dates from 1827 when the
journalist John Payne Collier visited Piccini, the 82-year old Italian Punchman
who had worked in London since he arrived in 1779. Collier was to record the
script at a special performance, while the artist George Cruikshank drew each
scene. Cruikshank noted that the script was: a faithful copy and description of
the various scenes represented by this Italian, whose performance of Punch
was far superior in every respect to anything of the sort to be seen in the
present day. Punch historians have doubted the veracity of the script, but the
illustrations vividly recreate the action and characters, many of which we know
today. Some, like Pretty Polly, the Scaramouch with his extending neck, and the
Blind Man, are more unfamiliar but relate to characters that existed in Italian
versions of the story.

Punch and Judy show, possibly by George Cruikshank, 19th century. Museum
no. S.675-2010. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Punch and Judy show, possibly by George Cruikshank, 19th century. Museum
no. S.675-2010. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Punch and Judy shows were not just for children in the early 19th century.
Aspects of the comedy such as the marital strife between Punch and Judy, and
in Piccinis show the relationship between Punch and his girlfriend Pretty Polly,
obviously struck a chord with many adult members of the audience. Punch was
a well known celebrity with the satirical magazine named after him in London
in 1841, childrens picture books published based on his shows, and images of
him proliferating on all manner of household artefacts, from doorstops to
babys rattles.

As today, some censured the shows for Punchs violent behaviour, but Punch
and Judy found an ally in Charles Dickens, whose novels include several
references to the shows. Dickens defended them as enjoyable fantasy that
would not incite violence:

'In my opinion the Street Punch is one of those extravagant reliefs from the
realities of life which would lose its hold upon the people if it were made moral
and instructive. I regard it as quite harmless in its influence and as an
outrageous joke which no one in existence would think of regarding as an
incentive to any kind of action or as a model for any kind of conduct.'
- Charles Dickens (1812 - 1870) Letter to Mary Tyler, 6 November 1849

Many clearly agreed with Dickens, and Punch continued to gain respectability
when Punchmen were invited to perform in private homes, where they probably
modified and adapted their show to suit a more refined audience. The Punch
and Judy showman interviewed by Henry Mayhew in 1851 mentioned the
evening (or hevening) parties at which he performed:

'We do most at hevening parties in the holiday time, and if theres a pin to
choose between them I should say Christmas holidays was the best. For
attending hevening parties now we generally get one pound and our
refreshments as much s they like to give us.
- Henry Mayhew (1812-1887): London Labour and the London Poor
A Punch and Judy show was performed by John Philip Carcass (1865 - 1938) for
Queen Victoria at Osborne House, and Punch and Judy shows were certainly
considered suitable entertainment for Victorian Christmas celebrations, as can
be seen from an illustration in The Graphic in December 1871 showing an
audience of immaculately dressed children watching Punch brandishing his
stick from the booth, with the drummer or outside man in the foreground.

Punch and Judy even crossed the Atlantic in the late 19th century. A 'merry
dialogue between Joan and his wife' featured in what was probably a
marionette show in Philadelphia in 1742, and in 1850 a Punch and Judy show
was performing at Sandy Bar in San Francisco. When William Judd (b.1841)
emigrated to the States in 1867 he developed a business selling everything
needed for a travelling Punch and Judy show including a: Superior Punch and

Judy Theatres and carved wooden figures, most costing $1.75, but the
crocodile $2, Hector the Horse $1.50, a baby 50 cents and a cudgel 10 cents.
Richard Codman II (1865 - 1951) performed in the States twice, and in 1892
performed in, his dog Toby received lavish praise from The Boston Globes
columnist reviewing the show at Austin & Stones museum in Boston.

Il Casotto dei Burattini in RomaMonsieur Mazurier in the Character of

PolchinelleThe Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Punch and JudyPreparing
for the Fair
Punch at the Seaside

Another place that Punch found audiences as the century progressed was at
the seaside, on the beach or the newly fashionable seaside piers. Victorian
seaside resorts became the fastest growing towns in Britain in the latter part of
the century. The introduction of railways and later of excursion trains catering
for crowds meant that more people could visit the seaside and take advantage
of the increased leisure time resulting from reduced working hours, and the
August Bank Holiday introduced in 1871. Splendid new hotels catered for
prosperous visitors to stay, while day-trippers joined the throng and had time to
enjoy the Punch and Judy shows that began to be a standard part of the
entertainment on offer.
By the end of the century a Punch and Judy show could attract huge audiences,
as shown by Martin Paul in his photograph of a Punch and Judy show at
Ilfracombe in 1894.

.
Punch in the 20th century

Puppetry in Britain declined generally in the early 20th century with audiences
drawn to other forms of entertainment including music hall, variety and
cinema, and from the 1950s, television that introduced new puppet characters
to children in the popular programmes. Some Punch and Judy showmen
continued to work street pitches in towns and cities in the early 20th century,
but traffic conditions made it increasingly difficult. At the seaside however
Punch and Judy continued to be a popular feature of entertainment, especially
for children, except in wartime when many Punchmen were serving in the

forces, and British coastal towns were prohibited areas. The Punchman Percy
Press gave hundreds of shows with ENSA during the Second World War to the
troops however, with Punch in battledress and a gas mask, Judy into a NAAFI
cap, and a Hitler doll instead of the hangman Jack Ketch who is always hanged
by Punch.

In 1951 there was a Punch and Judy show in Battersea Park for the Festival of
Britain, but by 1952 when the poster Sunny Rhyl was published, Punch and
Judy shows were most commonly found at the seaside, and almost exclusively
regarded as childrens entertainment. This poster shows an audience of
children except for the parents as token adults, not a welcome situation for the
bottler collecting money at the end of the show.

Many of the Punch and Judy showmen or professors performing during the
first half of the 20th century were carrying on an oral tradition, performing
shows that their fathers or grandfathers had developed, often with figures they
had made. Known as the swatchel omis they included the Staddons of Weston
super Mare, the Maggs of Redruth and Bournemouth, the Smiths of Poplar
including Albert Smith who worked in London in the 1930s and his brother
Charlie who gave up his Margate pitch in 1963, and the Codmans Richard
Codman I who started his summer show on Llandudno Promenade in 1864 and
a winter show in Liverpools Lime Street in 1868, his son Richard Codman II
who took over the Liverpool show in 1888 and who always appeared before the
public in his grey topper, red scarf, frock coat, checked trousers and spats, and
whose younger brother Herbert worked the show at Llandudno until he died in
1961, Richard Codman III whose brother Bert worked in Colwyn Bay and Rhoson-Sea, and Herbert Codmans son Jack who took over the Llandudno pitch in
1961. As another Codman, Jack, once said: The Codmans never retire from the
show. They transfer from one box to another.

Another group of Punchmen working in the mid to late 20th century have been
called the beach uncles, performers who have assimilated the traditions of the
swatchel omis but who were not part of established Punchmen families, while a
third group has been dubbed: the counter culturalists - performers who
emerged in the 1970s and 1980s and who were drawn to the tradition for its
lifestyle and because it offered an alternative to corporate ideology.

Despite academic classifications of the types of Punchmen, every Punch and

Judy show had at its heart the same anarchic star Mr Punch with his relentless
baton, his annoying baby and wife, and the same knockabout comedy. Many
featured the same characters, but within each show there were considerable
variations, those of the swatchel omis handed down from previous
generations, each fiercely proud of its own traditions. Some included turns
such as the Chinese jugglers who tossed spinning plates from one to the other,
the boxing match and a neck-stretching puppet. Some retained a Beadle
character, while others had replaced it with a Policeman, but most featured the
Crocodile as Punchs meanest adversary instead of the Devil. Punch and Judy
shows are the same but different, their differences reflecting the individualities
of their professors. Nevertheless, all who become adept and strong enough to
perform a show that requires the performer to keep both arms up in the air for
extended periods of time, alternate voices whilst keeping a swazzle in his
mouth, remember a script and which puppet to bring on next, and manipulate
objects with the fingers of their puppets above their heads have to be
passionate about Punch and his traditions.

Bert Codmans Punch & Judy booth at Colwyn BayProfessor Richard Codman
lll's Punch and Judy booth outside Lime Street Station, LiverpoolPercy Press
Senior holding Judy and Baby outside his booth, and Mr Punch in his booth, in
front of the crocodile.
Judy gives Mr Punch the baby to look after. Geoff Felix's Punch and Judy show,
May Fayre, Covent Garden, May 2012. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Judy gives Mr Punch the baby to look after. Geoff Felix's Punch and Judy show,
May Fayre, Covent Garden, May 2012. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Punch in the 21st century

Mr Punch was in Covent Garden at the restoration of the monarchy in 1662,

and he was at the Millennium Dome exhibition in Greenwich in 2000 when
Punch and Judy shows played daily. Hes got the hump, and hes keeping it,
despite Punch and Judy shows being identified in a government website as one
of the twelve most important British icons including Stonehenge, a cup of tea,
Alice in Wonderland and the Routemaster bus. He has a Punch & Judy College
of Professors dedicated to his performance, a Punch & Judy Fellowship to bring
professors together. Hes more about booking than bottling now, and can still
be seen around the country delighting audiences at festivals, fetes, shopping
centres, holiday parks, schools, parties, corporate events, Christmas Fairs and
naturally, the seaside.

Punchinello who Pepys saw in Covent Garden in 1662 can be seen there every
May, flouting political correctness and entertaining audiences in the same spirit
that he has done for over 350 years. He hasnt gone far, but hes come a long
way. Now thats the way to do it!

A Short History of Mr Punch

Punch & Judy ShowThe Character of Mr Punch is descended from the Italian
clown Pulcinella who featured in the Commedia Dell' Arte medieval tradition of
the 15th Century. Players toured Europe and Samuel Pepys recalls seeing such
a troupe in Covent Garden in 1662 during the festivities surrounding the
wedding of Charles II. This date is considered 'Punch's Birthday' and Mr Punch
first become popular in London under the name Punchinello before it was
shortened to the Mr Punch we know today.
This new irreverent wooden star was taken up by British puppeteers for his
moral story could be used to comment on the politics of the day and so he
traveled around the country for the next century. By 1800, he had become a
hand puppet in the little street corner stages used by travelling puppeteers and
known as Puppet Booths, new characters were added, he gained a wife, called
Judy and began taking on British theatrical traditions.

This transformation from an adult morality play with plenty of contemporary

social comment and satire to the colourful knockabout 'Punch and Judy Show'
we know today performed using Glove Puppets was brought about as Punch
absorbed the comedy of the Slapstick theatrical tradition.

As performing in towns became more difficult Mr Punch travelled on the newly

arrived railways to the seaside where he entertained the great British working
class as they took their holidays - this is the image of the seaside Punch and
Judy Show which we are most familiar with. So the Italian Pulcinella was
transformed into childrens entertainment, a role in which Punch saw out the
end of the 19th Century and the entire 20th Century. Mr Punch with his Punch &
Judy Show is still going strong over 300 years later.

"Pinocchio is rewarded for his docility by being turned into a little boy. True
comedy makes the child in us want to turn into Mr. Punch" John Kerrigan,
English Comedy. Cambridge University Press 1994"

Mr Punch a Medieval Hero in a Victorian Morality Play

Mr Punch Medieval hero
The tale of Punch and Judy varies from puppeteer to puppeteer and has
changed with history but the Punch and Judy Show we know today although
touched by victorian morality retains a medieval vibrancy and energy as Punch
is both villain and hero of the day.
Told as a straight morality tale without the comedy and force of Mr Punch's
character, Punch and Judy is a grim story, - but that is true of most traditional
tales. The joy of Punch and Judy is that children will immediately grasp and
loudly tell Mr Punch when he has been 'bad' but will recognise and relate to Mr
Punch, as they know themselves how hard it is to always be 'good'. The
comedy of Punch and Judy lies in Mr Punch's unrepentant behaviour, boundless
energy and disregard for figures of authority as Punch deals with each new
situation and his overarching belief that he is really a 'good boy' when we all
know Mr Punch is not.

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of the truth" Albert
Einstein