"usually it was because he could not stop himself from rescuing people in distress or just generally being a selfless chap. Regardless of this, he always got there in the nick of time and, having just finished his fish and chips, went on to win the championships or even, in ""end of series"" stories, break the world record for the mile and utter his famous catchphrase ""I ran 'em all!” Vic Whittle writes: Alf Tupper was 18 years of age when he first appeared in ""Rover"" in 1949 and he continued his adventures in ""Victor"" in the early 1960s. He"
"Joe Btfsplk Joe Btfsplk was a character in the satirical comic strip ""Li'l Abner"" by cartoonist Al Capp (1909–1979). He is well-meaning, but is the world's worst jinx, bringing disastrous misfortune to everyone around him. A small, dark rain cloud perpetually hovers over his head to symbolize his bad luck. Hapless Btfsplk and his ever-present cloud became one of the most iconic images in ""Li'l Abner"". One storyline in the early 1970s features him trapping his cloud in a special anti-pollutant jar. Joe becomes romantically involved with a gal for the first time—until her crazed ex-boyfriend shows up to kill"
"Norris Goff Norris Goff (May 30, 1906 – June 7, 1978) was an American comedian in radio and film best known for his portrayal of Abner Peabody on the rural comedy ""Lum and Abner"". Nicknamed ""Tuffy,"" Goff was born in Cove, Arkansas, but soon moved to Mena, Arkansas where he met his longtime friend and partner Chester Lauck (Lum) and graduating from Mena High School in 1924. Despite their fame as backwoodsmen, both actors graduated from the University of Arkansas, where Goff became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. Goff and his partner had experience as blackface entertainers, but"
"Al Capp Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip ""Li'l Abner"", which he created in 1934 and continued writing and (with help from assistants) drawing until 1977. He also wrote the comic strips ""Abbie an' Slats"" (in the years 1937–45) and ""Long Sam"" (1954). He won the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award in 1947 for Cartoonist of the Year, and their 1979 Elzie Segar Award, posthumously for his ""unique and outstanding contribution to the profession of cartooning"". Comic strips"
"through rural West Virginia and the Cumberland Valley as a teenager. (This was years before the Tennessee Valley Authority Act brought basic utilities like electricity and running water to the region.) Leaving ""Joe Palooka"", Capp sold ""Li'l Abner"" to United Feature Syndicate (later known as United Media). The feature was launched on Monday, August 13, 1934, in eight North American newspapers—including the ""New York Mirror""—and was an immediate success. Alfred G. Caplin eventually became ""Al Capp"" because the syndicate felt the original would not fit in a cartoon frame. Capp had it changed legally in 1949. His younger brother Elliot"
"a dandruff shampoo. According to Al Capp, ""btfsplk"" is a rude sound. During public lectures, Capp demonstrated this sound by closing his lips, leaving his tongue sticking out, and then blowing out air, which is colloquially called a ""raspberry"" or Bronx cheer. Joe Btfsplk Joe Btfsplk was a character in the satirical comic strip ""Li'l Abner"" by cartoonist Al Capp (1909–1979). He is well-meaning, but is the world's worst jinx, bringing disastrous misfortune to everyone around him. A small, dark rain cloud perpetually hovers over his head to symbolize his bad luck. Hapless Btfsplk and his ever-present cloud became one"
"her nipple."" Holy Soap have said that Alf's most memorable moment is ""The classic episode ripping off ""It's A Wonderful Life"", in which Alf, in the middle of a brain tumour operation, is led through Summer Bay history as if he had never existed."" They also describe him as ""the Lou Carpenter of Summer Bay, a miserable but lovable legend who will never leave."" Hampshire culture website Get Hampshire branded Alf a ""legendary misery-guts"". They also said he is commonly known for his use of declining Australian slang with sayings such as ""flamin' mongrel"". Yahoo!7 opined he had become ""a"
"local storekeeper). Upon retirement he lived in Palm Springs, California. He died of a stroke at the age of 72 in Palm Desert, California. Norris Goff Norris Goff (May 30, 1906 – June 7, 1978) was an American comedian in radio and film best known for his portrayal of Abner Peabody on the rural comedy ""Lum and Abner"". Nicknamed ""Tuffy,"" Goff was born in Cove, Arkansas, but soon moved to Mena, Arkansas where he met his longtime friend and partner Chester Lauck (Lum) and graduating from Mena High School in 1924. Despite their fame as backwoodsmen, both actors graduated from"
"Wilson Tucker Arthur Wilson ""Bob"" Tucker (November 23, 1914 – October 6, 2006) was an American theater technician who became well known as a writer of mystery, action adventure, and science fiction under the name Wilson Tucker. Tucker was also a prominent member of science fiction fandom, who wrote extensively for fanzines under the name Bob Tucker, a family nickname bestowed in childhood (his own mispronunciation of the nickname ""Bub""). He became a prominent analyst and critic of the field, as well as the coiner of such terms as ""space opera"". Born in Deer Creek, Illinois, for most of his"
"Ally Sloper Alexander ""Ally"" Sloper is the eponymous fictional character of the comic strip Ally Sloper. He is one of the earliest comic strip characters and he is regarded as the first recurring character in comics. Red-nosed and blustery, an archetypal lazy schemer often found ""sloping"" through alleys to avoid his landlord and other creditors, he was created for the British magazine ""Judy"" by writer and fledgling artist Charles H. Ross, and inked and later fully illustrated by his French wife Émilie de Tessier—a rare woman comic-strip artist at the time—under the pseudonym ""Marie Duval"" (or ""Marie Du Val""; sources"
"months of improvisation they invented a character they called Harry Kipper and began experimenting with different theatrical formats to use him in. Upon being expelled for being ""too experimental"" they took to the road, touring constantly. When von Haselberg and Routh coined the name Kipper Kids, they were originally called Harry and Alf Kipper and had two distinctly different characters. Because von Haselberg and Routh could never remember who was Harry and who was Alf, they dropped the name Alf and decided to call each other Harry. At the same time they decided to make their characters identical. Thus the"
"Alf Garnett Alfred Edward ""Alf"" Garnett is a fictional character from the British sitcom ""Till Death Us Do Part"" and its follow-on and spin-off series ""Till Death..."" and ""In Sickness and in Health"". Alf also starred in the chat show ""The Thoughts of Chairman Alf"". The character was created by Johnny Speight and played by Warren Mitchell. Alf was born in Wapping around 1917. He was always unpopular as a lad and it was said he only began going out with his wife Else, whom he had known since they were children, as a result of his mother's intervention. A"
"Nibbles (Tom and Jerry) Nibbles (also known as Tuffy) is a fictional character from the ""Tom and Jerry"" cartoon series. He is the little, blue/gray, diaper-wearing orphan mouse whose cartoon debut came in the 1946 short ""The Milky Waif"". Tuffy was later featured in the 1949 Academy Award-winning short ""The Little Orphan"". The character's first actual appearance came in the 1942 comic book ""Our Gang Comics"" #1, where despite his diaper, he was presented as a peer of Jerry rather than a younger individual. In the comics, the gray mouse's name was given as Tuffy Mouse from the start. When"
"burp and eat cats, and can whistle without opening his mouth. He had a best friend on his home planet named Malhar Naik. He has friends named Skip, Rick, Stella, and a girlfriend named Rhonda, all of whom also escaped the explosion. He attended high school for 122 years and was captain of a ""Bouillabaisseball team"", a game played on ice using seafood as a ball. ALF is troublesome, sarcastic, slovenly and cynical, and sometimes puts himself at the risk of being discovered while perpetrating some of his often-unintentional pranks. However, if things have gone too far, he does as"
"Tuckerization Tuckerization (or tuckerism) is the act of using a person's name (and sometimes other characteristics) in an original story as an in-joke. The term is derived from Wilson Tucker, a pioneering American science fiction writer, fan and fanzine editor, who made a practice of using his friends' names for minor characters in his stories. For example, Tucker named a character after Lee Hoffman in his novel ""The Long Loud Silence"", and after Walt Willis in ""Wild Talent"". H. P. Lovecraft's acquaintance Robert Bloch published ""The Shambler from the Stars"", in the September 1935 ""Weird Tales""; its unnamed, doomed protagonist"
"Alfred Tipper Alfred Henry Tipper (12 July 18672 April 1944), also known by the pseudonyms Professor Tipper and H.D. (reported to be an initialism for Henry Dearing or Harold Deering), was an Australian showman, competitive and endurance cyclist, and outsider artist. His combined interests in mechanics, fitness and entertainment led to a long career as a trick cyclist and builder of miniature bicycles. Following his death, Tipper's artistic abilities were recognised by the Australian painter Albert Tucker, who promoted Tipper's paintings in the modernist art and literary magazine ""Angry Penguins"". Tipper was born on 12 July 1867 in the regional"
"Thomas has become a vocal supporter of the British charity ChildLine, a telephone counselling service for children and young people. In an interview, Thomas commented, ""I don't know if my life is going to be easier because I'm out, but if it helps someone else, if it makes one young lad pick up the phone to ChildLine, then it will have been worth it"". Thomas is often known by the nickname 'Alfie', gained as a result of his uncanny resemblance to the alien title character in the TV sitcom ""ALF"". He suffered a major health scare in February 2006. He"
"except in the separately drawn set-piece of Daffy singing ""The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"" in which just a slight lisp can be heard. In ""The Scarlet Pumpernickel"" (1950), Daffy has a middle name, Dumas as the writer of a swashbuckling script, a nod to Alexandre Dumas. Also, in the ""Baby Looney Tunes"" episode ""The Tattletale"", Granny addresses Daffy as ""Daffy Horatio Tiberius Duck"". In ""The Looney Tunes Show"" (2011), the joke middle names ""Armando"" and ""Sheldon"" are used. Tex Avery and Bob Clampett created the original version of Daffy in 1937. Daffy established his status by jumping into the water, hopping"
"reprinting of the entire 43-year history of ""Li'l Abner"" spanning a projected 20 volumes, began on April 7, 2010. Al Capp Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip ""Li'l Abner"", which he created in 1934 and continued writing and (with help from assistants) drawing until 1977. He also wrote the comic strips ""Abbie an' Slats"" (in the years 1937–45) and ""Long Sam"" (1954). He won the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award in 1947 for Cartoonist of the Year, and"
"has been called up to go to war. However, the letter which is shown on screen is addressed to Alfred Garnet with only one T. Later in the film, Alf says that the call-up papers were a mistake because he was in a Reserved Occupation and thus ineligible for service, so possibly the authorities had confused him with someone with a similar name. In the TV series and films, Alf is always shown as a pipesmoker, usually smoking a Straight Billiard type pipe. The character was a staunch defender of smoking and Warren Mitchell himself received the award of Pipe"
"of the crowd and manages to record a three-minute mile. The character's adventures were written by Gilbert Lawford Dalton using the pen name W S K Webb, and a book, ""The Truth About Wilson"" collected a number of the text stories in the 1960s. Thought by Paul Gravett to be the prototype of the ""astonishing sporting prodigies"" who became popular in British comics, (cf. Alf Tupper, Roy of the Rovers), Gravett describes him as an ""unassuming totally dedicated loner, [wanting] no glory or publicity"". Although his stories were initially told in prose, a move to the comic papers ""The Hornet"""
"Alfred Coppel Alfred Coppel, Alfredo Jose de Arana-Marini Coppel (November 9, 1921 – May 30, 2004) was an American author. Born in Oakland, California, he served as a fighter pilot in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. After his discharge, he started his career as a writer. He became one of the most prolific pulp authors of the 1950s and 1960s, adopting the pseudonyms Robert Cham Gilman and A.C. Marin and writing for a variety of pulp magazines and later ""slick"" publishers. Though writing in a variety of genres, including action thrillers, he is known for"
"trombonist dog character. Floyd Gottfredson made regular use of the character in his comic strips and later artists sometimes borrowed the character. Arizona Goof (original Italian name: Indiana Pipps) is an archaeologist and a cousin of Goofy. Arizona has a rare habit of not using beds, doors, or stairs. Instead, he sleeps in a tent, enters and exits houses through windows and climbs floors by a rope. Arizona is fond of a specific brand of liquorice candy (the brand is called ""Negritas"" in original Italian language version, ""Tuju"" in the Finnish language translation), which he never travels without and is"
"Ally Sloper Award The Ally Sloper Awards were a series of annual, now defunct awards designed to recognise veteran British comic creators, initiated by the comics historian Denis Gifford in 1976. From 1978 they were awarded under the auspices of the Association of Comic Enthusiasts, also founded by Gifford. The awards were named after Ally Sloper, the nineteenth century British comic character championed by Gifford as the world's first comic character. Gifford also launched and edited an ""Ally Sloper"" 'comic magazine' in 1976. The award itself was a figurine of Ally Sloper, based on brass doorstops which were produced as"
"Alvin Karpis Alvin Francis Karpis (born Albin Francis Karpavičius; August 10, 1907 – August 26, 1979), a Depression-era gangster nicknamed ""Creepy"" for his sinister smile and called ""Ray"" by his gang members, was a Canadian-born (naturalized American) criminal of Lithuanian descent known for being a leader of the Barker–Karpis gang in the 1930s. Karpis led the gang along with Fred Barker and Arthur ""Doc"" Barker. There were only four ""public enemies"" ever given the title of ""Public Enemy #1"" by the FBI and he was the only one to be taken alive. The other three, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd,"
"beside or within a trailer park, as a place for dogs and cats to roam about without leashes. 47th Fighter Squadron is known as the DogPatcher's their A-10C aircraft are named after the characters from Lil Abner. Each airplane has artwork depicting these characters located on the inside of the boarding ladder door Dogpatch Dogpatch was the fictional setting of cartoonist Al Capp's classic comic strip, ""Li'l Abner"" (1934–1977). In Capp's own words, Dogpatch was ""an average stone-age community nestled in a bleak valley, between two cheap and uninteresting hills somewhere."" The inhabitants were mostly lazy hillbillies, who usually wanted"
"own terms, it comes as near perfection as makes no difference."" Much of Tucker's short fiction was collected in ""The Best of Wilson Tucker"" (Timescape, 1982; ). Tucker's habit of using the names of friends for minor characters in his fiction led to the literary term ""tuckerization"" or ""tuckerism(s)"". For example, Tucker named a character after Lee Hoffman in his novel ""The Long Loud Silence"", and after Walt Willis in ""Wild Talent"". Wilson Tucker Arthur Wilson ""Bob"" Tucker (November 23, 1914 – October 6, 2006) was an American theater technician who became well known as a writer of mystery, action"
"death. He later got involved with and nearly married his upstairs neighbour Mrs Hollingberry. They later broke it off but remained good friends. As of 1998, Alf was still living in the East End and Miss Hollingberry was still his neighbour. In the episode 'State Visit' (20 February 1967) Alf gives his full name as Alfred Edward Garnett. Alf was a working class man, forever complaining that he worked and worked and yet lived somewhere near the poverty line, and was a staunch supporter of the Conservative Party, although he didn't support one-time leader Margaret Thatcher, because he believed that"
"for various homes, places of business and government buildings throughout the show's run. Whenever someone asks the time it's always half-past. McGee has a reputation for telling tall tales, and there are occasional jokes linking this propensity to his name ""Fibber"". In the episode ""Fibber Changes His Name"" (March 25, 1941), he goes so far as to claim that ""Fibber"" is his actual given name and not just a nickname. According to McGee, ""I was named after my fourth cousin, Walpole J. Fimmer .. but the minister who christened me had a cold in his head."" None of the show's"
"for the name Adolph (as a child, he was routinely called ""Ahdie"" instead). The name change may have also happened because of the similarity between Harpo's name and Adolph Marks, a prominent show business attorney in Chicago. Urban legends stating that the name change came about during World War I due to anti-German sentiment in the US, or during World War II because of the stigma that Adolf Hitler imposed on the name, are groundless. His first screen appearance was in the film ""Humor Risk"" (1921), with his brothers, although according to Groucho, it was only screened once and then"
"the ""Half Holiday"" comic ceased production. Attempts after the war to revive Sloper proved short-lived, as Sloper was a somewhat stereotypical Victorian and Edwardian type, and did not fit into the new post-war world. Ally Sloper Alexander ""Ally"" Sloper is the eponymous fictional character of the comic strip Ally Sloper. He is one of the earliest comic strip characters and he is regarded as the first recurring character in comics. Red-nosed and blustery, an archetypal lazy schemer often found ""sloping"" through alleys to avoid his landlord and other creditors, he was created for the British magazine ""Judy"" by writer and"
"Dogpatch Dogpatch was the fictional setting of cartoonist Al Capp's classic comic strip, ""Li'l Abner"" (1934–1977). In Capp's own words, Dogpatch was ""an average stone-age community nestled in a bleak valley, between two cheap and uninteresting hills somewhere."" The inhabitants were mostly lazy hillbillies, who usually wanted nothing to do with progress. Li'l Abner's backwater hometown chiefly consisted of dismal log cabin hovels, pine trees, “tarnip” fields and hog wallows—and was often referred to by its inhabitants and outsiders as being the most miserable and unnecessary place on earth. The menfolk were too lazy to work, yet Dogpatch gals were"
"and John Reid. On 9 June 2010 during Prime Minister's questions David Cameron referred to Ed Balls as ""the new Alf Garnett of British politics"" following his comments on immigration. Alf Garnett Alfred Edward ""Alf"" Garnett is a fictional character from the British sitcom ""Till Death Us Do Part"" and its follow-on and spin-off series ""Till Death..."" and ""In Sickness and in Health"". Alf also starred in the chat show ""The Thoughts of Chairman Alf"". The character was created by Johnny Speight and played by Warren Mitchell. Alf was born in Wapping around 1917. He was always unpopular as a"