HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Fred Basset'' is a
comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...
about a male basset hound. The cartoon was created by Scottish
cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...
Alex Graham and published first in the ''
Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
'' on 8 July 1963. Fred's cartoon strips are renamed as ''Wurzel'' in
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
, ''Lillo il Cane Saggio'' (Lillo the wise dog) in
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, ''Lorang'' in
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
, ''Laban'' in
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
and ''Retu'', ''Pitko'' or ''Koiraskoira'' in
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...
.


Publication history

''Fred Basset'' has been published in the United Kingdom newspaper ''
Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
'', and latterly ''
The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first pub ...
'', from 1963 to the present. Alex Graham based Fred on his own dog Frieda and drew over 9,000 comic strips. Alex Graham died on 3 December 1991. Once the stockpiled 18 months' worth of Alex Graham cartoons had been published, they were continued in Graham's style with artwork by Michael Martin and Graham's daughter, Arran Keith, continuing the family link. They are new cartoons being published, not merely re-runs of earlier ones. The Michael Martin drawings started out with the general style and humour of the original Graham ''Freds'', but after around 2000 a more casual style of drawing is apparent. The current cartoons still have Alex Graham's original whimsical theme. Fred and his family still live in a pre-1990s era, with only a few hints to modern life, such as
satnav A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning. It allows satellite navigation devices to determine their location (longitude, latitude, and altitude/elevation) to high pre ...
and them finally buying a more modern car, as shown in the 2008 annual. Despite Fred's many years featured in newspapers around the world, he is not as well known as other cartoon characters. ''Fred Basset'' is currently syndicated in newspapers using the current Michael Martin strips and is available by email subscription or online direct from GoComics.com and others.


Characters and story

Fred's owners are a middle-aged husband and wife, who are not given names in the strip. The husband is a professional worker in the
City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
. He enjoys socialising at his local pubs, The Swan and The Chequers and The Rose and Crown. He is shown often as being temperamental and spends much free time reading the newspaper, walking Fred, and playing golf. The wife manages the house and the family, and has a busy life socialising with friends. She is shown several times as being a bad driver with many accidents with the family car. Known relations to the family are "her rich eccentric" Uncle Albert and her sisters, one in UK and one overseas. A new relation introduced during the mid-1990s was mentioned as "her Aunt Flo". There are no children in Fred's immediate family, although Amanda and the Tucker Twins appear regularly. The names and areas pictured are made from places and people Alex Graham knew, areas are said to resemble Scotland. Family friends' names would be used, as was Tinker's Wood, taken from a house Graham lived in. Topical references in the strips are kept to a minimum. One mention of
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
and the family's continually recovered lounge sofa suite are among the few giveaways of their age. There are mentions of New Year during 1970 and 1971 and 1 January 1973 when the UK entered the
Common Market The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...
. The Michael Martin era strips have more topical references and mention of modern appliances, such as
mobile phones A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while ...
and a
microwave oven A microwave oven (commonly referred to as a microwave) is an electric oven that heats and cooks food by exposing it to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range. This induces polar molecules in the food to rotate and produce ...
, and feature some popular culture references such as ' Am I bovvered?' in the 2008 annual. The early strips do not generally feature follow-on storylines. Storylines with Fred staying at Jock's house or Uncle Albert staying a few days are among the only times the a story extended beyond the single strip format. A variant of this are sequences of strips over several days having a common theme such as for Christmas or summer holidays, but without narrative continuation. Again, some later Michael Martin strips do follow on for a few days, as with a birthday party mentioned in the 1997 book or stories such as a summer holiday or buying a new car. The first copyright dates (then for
Associated Newspapers DMG Media (stylised in lowercase) is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Harmsworth Printing, Harmsworth Media and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust. It is based at Northcliffe House in ...
) were added to the cartoon strips during 1969.


The nature of Fred

Fred Basset himself seems to have been born during 1959 from comments in the earliest cartoons, and in true cartoon style, seems not to age. Fred's observations can be wry and a certain amount of surrealism is evident, with one early strip having his owners mention they thought the ''Fred Basset'' strip in the day's newspaper was "quite amusing" (cartoon 553 in book number 4). Later strips mention both Fred, his owners and passers-by being surreally aware of the newspaper ''Fred Basset'' strip and commenting as such, unaware that their own Fred is the character mentioned. Fred has a certain amount of snobbishness and appreciates the finer qualities of life, as shown clearly in the Alex Graham era strips, with attitudes of the time. He is equally at home misbehaving, being selfish, chasing other dogs and being a coward when more aggressive dogs are around. A small black Scottie (
Scottish terrier The Scottish Terrier ( gd, Abhag Albannach; also known as the Aberdeen Terrier), popularly called the Scottie, is a breed of dog. Initially one of the highland breeds of terrier that were grouped under the name of ''Skye Terrier'', it is one ...
) dog, Jock, is a regular companion, as well as Yorky (a Yorkshire terrier) in later years. A canine girlfriend, Fifi the
poodle The Poodle, called the Pudel in German and the Caniche in French, is a breed of water dog. The breed is divided into four varieties based on size, the Standard Poodle, Medium Poodle, Miniature Poodle and Toy Poodle, although the Medium Poodle var ...
, appears too. An Alsatian dog, referred to as Brutus, is his adversary. Fred likes chasing cats but freely admits he would not know what to do with one if he caught it.


Books

''Fred Basset'' features in many books worldwide, in the UK a long-running series of books reprints most of the newspaper strips. These are books number 1 (1963) to book 45 (1993). Later books dated by year, 1994 onwards, include the Michael Martin drawn cartoons, as well as Graham's colour ones until the Alex Graham cartoons stock had ended by the 1996 book. During 1977, a large hardback book entitled "Fred Basset and the Spaghetti" was published by ''The Daily Mail''. It featured a children's story, not the usual comic strips, written by Alex Graham's son, Neilson, together with illustrations by Alex. During 1989, a compilation book entitled "Fred Basset Bumper Book No 2" was issued. The title has since caused confusion, as there is no Bumper Book No 1 as such. A book published during 1988, "Fred Basset 25 Years", a similar compilation, is considered its forerunner. Colour strips as used in ''The Mail on Sunday'' were added from book 36 during 1984. This backlogged the black and white strips, and by book 41 during 1989 they were still using 1984 strips. The next book 42 jumped from book 41 ending with strip 6483 to strip 8159 dated 1990. The missing cartoons remain unpublished since the original newspaper strips. The distinctive "Fred" handwriting font was supplied by Les Hulme until the early 2000s. A variant of the font is still used today. The Michael Martin era annuals from 1994 to 2008 featured earlier Alex Graham artwork on the front, yet only featured the contemporary Martin strips inside. The 2009 annual is the first one to feature a Michael Martin front cover. Fred Basset annuals are usually only printed in black & white, but for years 1984 (book no 36) to 1990 (book no 42) as well as the 1994 & 1995 annuals they were printed with some in colour. The current 'gocomics' online versions are usually in colour. The poor picture reprint quality that marred the 2008 volume is still present in the 2009 book. Many strips look weak and washed out on the finer detail, looking like a photocopy. The 2010 annual is still in black and white, though the printing quality is much better. One ''Fred Basset'' book appeared in USA during 1969, ''Meet Fred Basset'' published as a 'Fawcett Gold Medal Book'. Several books appeared in Australia from 1979 to 1985 and one published in Germany. As of 2009, Summersdale Publishers UK published the ''Fred Basset Yearbook'' and published a gift book featuring some of the cartoons from previous strips in colour. 'Fred Basset for Garden Lovers' was published in September 2009. The 2010 Annual, released in October 2010, is unusually entitled "Fred Basset Yearbook 2010–2011", in an attempt to keep the book selling in 2011. This follows a tradition of annuals since the 1930s which were dated the next year to stop buyers thinking it was an older edition. A special 50th anniversary annual, ''Fred Basset Celebrating 50 Years'' was published in 2013 by Summersdale Publishers.


In other media

J Salmon Ltd J Salmon Ltd, founded in 1880, was a UK-based printing and publishing firm, and was the oldest established postcard and calendar publisher in Britain. It is based in Sevenoaks, Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the ho ...
currently print a Fred Basset calendar displaying twelve cartoons drawn by Michael Martin. Fred Basset, despite being a comic strip character, was read on radio regularly by
Hamish Blake Hamish Donald Blake (born 11 December 1981) is an Australian comedian, television and radio presenter, actor and author. Since 2003, he has worked with Andy Lee as part of the comedy duo Hamish and Andy. The pair have performed live and on te ...
throughout Australia on the
Today Network The Hit Network is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 41 radio stations broadcasting a hot adult contemporary music format, as well as 6 digital radio stations. Histor ...
's
Hamish and Andy Hamish & Andy are an Australian comedy duo formed in 2003 by Hamish Blake and Andy Lee. Best known for their various drive time radio programmes on the Hit Network, which aired in multiple formats until 2017, their shows gained consistently ...
Show (weekdays 4-6pm) on Friday afternoons (approx 5:50pm). Andy Lee does his best to stop the reading – trying everything from locking Hamish in a wheelie bin to smashing Hamish's digital camera in order to deter him. However, Hamish always reads the entire comic. The duo also own a real greyhound called "Fred Basset" which is raced in Victoria.


Fred Basset television cartoon series

During mid-1977 a short-lived 5 minute television cartoon of ''Fred Basset'' was shown on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, made by
Bill Melendez Productions Melendez Films (formerly Bill Melendez Productions and Melendez Features, Inc.) is a film animation studio. It was founded in 1962 by Steven C. Melendez, the son of ''Peanuts'' animator Bill Melendez. The studio produced the ambitious animated ...
, voiced by actor
Lionel Jeffries Lionel Charles Jeffries (10 June 1926 – 19 February 2010) was an English actor, director, and screenwriter. He appeared primarily in films and received a Golden Globe Award nomination during his acting career. Early life Jeffries was born in ...
. 20 episodes were produced.


References


Notes


Sources consulted

*The Fred Files, Orion Books, 2005 *'Fred Basset' Annuals & books 1963-date *"Fred Basset" VHS Video Castle Vision


External links

*
Fred Basset
' at
GoComics GoComics is a website launched in 2005 by the digital entertainment provider Uclick. It was originally created as a distribution portal for comic strips on mobile phones, but in 2006, the site was redesigned and expanded to include online strips ...

''Fred Basset''
at
Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on 30 July 2016. {{UniversalPressSyndicate Basset, Fred British comic strips Works originally published in the Daily Mail 1963 comics debuts Basset, Fred Basset, Fred Comics characters introduced in 1963 Gag-a-day comics BBC children's television shows 1976 British television series debuts British children's animated television shows Basset, Fred 1970s British animated television series 1970s British children's television series