Fred Basset facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Fred Basset |
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Fred Basset logo featuring two poses of Fred
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| Author(s) | Alex Graham (1963–1993) Arran Keith (1993–present) |
| Illustrator(s) | Michael Martin (1993–present) |
| Current status/schedule | Current daily strip |
| Launch date | July 8, 1963 |
| Alternate name(s) | Wurzel in Germany, Lillo il Cane Saggio (Lillo the wise dog) in Italy, Lorang in Norway, Laban in Sweden, and Retu, Pitko or Koiraskoira in Finland |
| Syndicate(s) | Chicago Tribune Syndicate (1960s–2001) Universal Press Syndicate/Universal Uclick/Andrews McMeel Syndication (2001–present) |
| Genre(s) | Humor |
Fred Basset is a popular comic strip about a funny male basset hound dog. A Scottish cartoonist named Alex Graham created the cartoon. It first appeared in the Daily Mail newspaper on July 8, 1963. Since then, it has been shared and published in newspapers all over the world.
Fred's cartoon strips have different names in other countries. For example, he is called Wurzel in Germany and Lillo il Cane Saggio (which means Lillo the wise dog) in Italy. In Norway, he is Lorang, and in Sweden, he is Laban. In Finland, he can be Retu, Pitko, or Koiraskoira.
Contents
The Story of Fred Basset
The Fred Basset comic strip has been published in the United Kingdom since 1963. It appeared in the Daily Mail and later in The Mail On Sunday. Alex Graham based the character Fred on his own dog, Frieda. He drew more than 9,000 comic strips!
Alex Graham passed away on December 3, 1991. After his death, there were enough of his cartoons saved to last about 18 months. Then, the comic strip continued with new drawings by Michael Martin. Alex Graham's daughter, Arran Keith, also helped keep the family connection alive. This means new cartoons are still being made, not just old ones being shown again.
The drawings by Michael Martin started out looking very similar to Alex Graham's original style. But after the year 2000, the drawing style became a bit more relaxed. Even today, the cartoons still have Alex Graham's original funny and thoughtful ideas. Fred and his family live in a world that mostly looks like the time before the 1990s. There are only a few small hints of modern life, like satnav or a newer car.
Even though Fred has been in newspapers for many years, he might not be as famous as some other cartoon characters. You can find Fred Basset comics in newspapers today. You can also get them by email or read them online on websites like GoComics.com.
Meet the Characters
Fred's owners are a husband and wife who are middle-aged. Their names are never mentioned in the comic strip. The husband works in the City of London. He likes to spend time at his local pubs, which are called The Swan, The Chequers, and The Rose and Crown. He often seems a bit grumpy. He spends a lot of his free time reading the newspaper, taking Fred for walks, and playing golf.
The wife takes care of the house and the family. She has a busy social life with her friends. Sometimes, the comic shows her as a bad driver who has many accidents with the family car. The family also has some relatives. These include "her rich eccentric" Uncle Albert and her sisters, one living in the UK and one overseas. In the mid-1990s, a new relative called "her Aunt Flo" was introduced.
Fred's immediate family does not have any children. However, characters named Amanda and the Tucker Twins appear regularly in the comics.
The names of places and people in the comic often come from people and places Alex Graham knew. For example, some areas in the comic are said to look like Scotland. He would also use the names of his family friends. Tinker's Wood, a place mentioned in the comic, was named after a house where Graham once lived.
The comic strips usually avoid talking about current events. This helps them stay funny for a long time. There was one mention of The Beatles and the family's sofa that keeps getting fixed. These are some of the few clues about the time period. There are also mentions of New Year in 1970 and 1971. The comic also mentioned January 1, 1973, when the UK joined the Common Market.
The comics drawn by Michael Martin have more mentions of modern things. These include mobile phones and microwave ovens. They also sometimes refer to popular culture, like the phrase 'Am I bovvered?' in a 2008 book.
The early comic strips usually told a complete story in just one day. Stories where Fred stayed at Jock's house or Uncle Albert visited for a few days were rare exceptions. Sometimes, a series of strips over several days would have a common theme, like Christmas or summer holidays. But they didn't usually have a continuing story. Later Michael Martin strips sometimes follow a story for a few days. This happened with a birthday party in a 1997 book or stories about a summer holiday or buying a new car.
Fred's Personality
Fred Basset seems to have been "born" around 1959, based on comments in the very first cartoons. But like many cartoon characters, he never seems to get older! Fred often makes clever and funny observations. Sometimes, the comics are a bit surreal. In one early strip, his owners even mentioned that they thought the Fred Basset comic in the newspaper that day was "quite amusing." Later comics show Fred, his owners, and even people passing by, strangely aware of the Fred Basset comic strip in the newspaper. They comment on it, not realizing that their own Fred is the character in the comic!
Fred can be a bit snobby and enjoys the nicer things in life. This was very clear in the comics drawn by Alex Graham. He also likes to misbehave and can be selfish. He enjoys chasing other dogs but can be a coward when bigger, more aggressive dogs are around.
Fred has a few dog friends. A small black Scottie dog named Jock is a regular companion. Later, a Yorky (a Yorkshire terrier) also appears. His canine girlfriend is Fifi the poodle. His enemy is an Alsatian dog named Brutus. Fred likes to chase cats, but he admits he wouldn't know what to do if he actually caught one!
Fred Basset Books
Fred Basset comics have been collected into many books around the world. In the UK, a long series of books reprinted most of the newspaper strips. These were books number 1 (from 1963) to book 45 (from 1993). Later books, starting from 1994, included the cartoons drawn by Michael Martin. They also included Alex Graham's color cartoons until all of his saved artwork was used up by the 1996 book.
In 1977, a large hardback book called "Fred Basset and the Spaghetti" was published. This book was a children's story, not the usual comic strips. It was written by Alex Graham's son, Neilson, and had illustrations by Alex himself.
In 1989, a collection called "Fred Basset Bumper Book No 2" was released. This title has caused some confusion because there isn't a "Bumper Book No 1." A similar collection from 1988, "Fred Basset 25 Years," is thought to be its unofficial first part.
Color strips, which were used in The Mail On Sunday, started appearing in book 36 in 1984. This caused a delay in reprinting the black and white strips. By book 41 in 1989, they were still using strips from 1984. The next book, number 42, skipped a lot of cartoons. It jumped from strip 6483 (where book 41 ended) to strip 8159, which was dated 1990. The missing cartoons have not been published since they first appeared in the newspaper.
The special "Fred" handwriting font used in the comics was created by Les Hulme until the early 2000s. A similar version of this font is still used today.
The yearly books (annuals) from Michael Martin's era (1994 to 2008) often had older Alex Graham artwork on the front cover. But inside, they only featured the newer strips drawn by Martin. The 2009 annual was the first to have a Michael Martin drawing on the front cover.
Fred Basset annuals are usually printed in black and white. However, from 1984 (book no 36) to 1990 (book no 42), and also for the 1994 and 1995 annuals, some parts were printed in color. The current versions available online on 'gocomics' are usually in color. The printing quality in some later books, like the 2008 and 2009 volumes, was not very good. Many strips looked faded, almost like a bad photocopy. The 2010 annual was still in black and white, but the printing quality was much better.
One Fred Basset book appeared in the USA in 1969, called Meet Fred Basset. Several books were published in Australia from 1979 to 1985, and one in Germany.
As of 2009, Summersdale Publishers UK started publishing the Fred Basset Yearbook. They also released a gift book with some of the older cartoons in color, called 'Fred Basset for Garden Lovers', in September 2009.
The 2010 Annual, released in October 2010, had an unusual title: "Fred Basset Yearbook 2010–2011." This was done to make the book seem new and sell well into 2011. This is a tradition for annuals since the 1930s, where they were dated for the next year so buyers wouldn't think they were old editions.
A special 50th anniversary annual, Fred Basset Celebrating 50 Years, was published in 2013 by Summersdale Publishers.
Fred in Other Media
J Salmon Ltd currently prints a Fred Basset calendar. It shows twelve cartoons drawn by Michael Martin for each month.
Fred Basset, even though he's a comic strip character, was often read on the radio in Australia. The comedian Hamish Blake would read the comic strip on the Today Network's Hamish and Andy Show. This happened on Friday afternoons. His co-host, Andy Lee, would try to stop him in funny ways. Andy would try everything from locking Hamish in a trash can to breaking his camera! But Hamish always managed to read the whole comic. The comedy duo also own a real greyhound dog named "Fred Basset" that races in Victoria, Australia.
Fred Basset TV Show
In mid-1977, a short television cartoon series about Fred Basset was shown on the BBC. Each episode was about 5 minutes long. The show was made by Bill Melendez Productions, and the voice of Fred was done by actor Lionel Jeffries. A total of 20 episodes were created.
