The other day, I got an email from Sara Teiger of the Atkinson Museum in Southport which now has a permanent exhibition devoted to him and his creator Frank Hampson who I believe was educated in the town.
Amongst the items on display are models of some of the main characters' heads, including a large colour bust of Dan Dare and a metre tall replica of my role model the Mekon.
It seems the models were used by the artists when they were drawing the strip, so they could get the characters right from all angles.
Other items on show include a spaceship and a Mars space station, plus original artwork, alongside 1950s and 60s Dan Dare merchandise.
But wait! What's this? As if that wasn't enough excitement for the keen nostalgist, there's also a display dedicated to Meccano, Dinky Toys and Hornby Trains creator Frank Hornby.
How can two men called Frank both come from the same area, both have a second name beginning with, "H," and both be so vital to the development of human civilisation? It fair boggles the mind.Or, as I inadvertently said when reading this post out loud to make sure it flowed properly, "It bear foggles the mind."
I don't know what bear foggling is but I demand the government stamp it out right now.
How many bears have to be foggled before someone finally does something about this terrible practice?
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6 comments:
Still on a purple on green villain trip I see, Steve. Thanks for the info - useful to know if I ever find myself in Southport.
-sean
I still don't get what the Mekon was doing in the video of Kim Wilde's Rockin' around the Xmas tree!
Rockin' maybe?
Is this who Robert Plant was referring to?
M.P.
It is indeed, MP. The Mekon is the alien arch-enemy of Dan Dare, a very British space adventurer of the future. He's from Venus and possessed of massive intelligence. Needless to say, that doesn't stop him always being defeated by Dare.
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