An Insane British-American Coincidence 

Years ago at a pub quiz night in Singapore, my UK colleague answered 'Gnasher!' to the question 'What is the name of Dennis the Menace's dog?' The quizmaster said "no, the answer is....Ruff"'. To say that she was indignant was an understatement. 'That's not the real Dennis the Menace', etc.

For many years Dennis the Menace was the literal poster child of Dairy Queen restraunts here in the US . As a child it certainly got my attention .

Yes, my name is Dennis and my neighbor was Mr. Wilson.

My neighbor Mr. Wilson was a WWII vet and and deacon in my church, and yes I was a menace

Looking at your hair, I now know why they call Chicago the windy city.

The whole reason I find Dennis the Menace (US version) to be a lovable character is that he is trying to be helpful. He just manages to cause problems in the process.

Don't worry, I'm in on the joke with the hair. 😁

"The Beano" -- in the US, "beano" is the registered trademark of enyzme-containing pills for "gas prevention and bloating relief". (Yes, _ahem,_ they do work.) Maybe that Scottish publisher was just dreaming of something that would, some day, keep his kilt from billowing with wind, post haggis.

Based on what little I've seen of the UK Dennis the Menace he was the real menace and the US one was just a piker in comparison.

OK, you had mentioned the two Dennises the other day and I was prepared to be wowed by the coincidence of names and story types. The idea that the two strips launched on the exact same day is just mind blowing. That is incredible.

STEP 1 WASH HAIR STEP 2 STAND BEHIND 747 JET THROTTLING UP TO DRY HEAD STEP 3 GO MAKE RU-vid VIDEO STEP 4 HOPE NO ONE NOTICES. YOU USED A JET TURBINE ENGINE TO BLOW DRY HAIR.. Seriously though... Love the video. Did nit know there was a UK version of the Commic

My husbands name is Dennis and I'm told that when he was a little boy he was indeed a menace. LOL!

As a young American in the mid-80’s I went to study in the UK. Before I left the States, I bought a selection of clothes, including a bold red and black striped sweater (jumper). When I arrived in the UK and wore that particular piece of clothing, people would point and laugh saying, “Dennis the Menace!” Little did I know... LOL

That is not how you are supposed to wear Brylcreem.

The H.M.S. Tonnant was was badly shot up at Talfalgar, but despite 50 dead and 125 wounded her crew went to great lengths to insure her colors remained flying. In 1814 on her deck Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner, during the borbardment of Ft. McHerny.. who besieged defenders refused to strike their colors during the battle.

Since you said not to comment on the hair, I won't say a word... 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Here's a major coincidence: The exact timing of this month's full moon is taking place on 12/12 at 12:12am (EST). This occurrence is rumored to influence the hair of British RU-vid celebrities. Anyways, I'm not a menace. My name is simply a reference to my clumsiness. THUD!

Oh, good lord. What is more off kilter here, his pronounation of Walter's name or his hair?

Speaking of comic strips, a great American word: "milquetoast"; which sounds quite British, actually originated in a US comic strip.

I remember the American Dennis the Menace cartoon being on (just called "Dennis") here in the UK in the late 80s and early 90s.

I remember the American one and when I got to Britain as a kid, I found a different Dennis the Menace, and didn't know how it was possible.

I grew up with the DiC American cartoon. Man, that intro was one of my all-time favorites.

Hey now.... the balls behind my eyelids are HUuuuuge !!! 😂😂😂🍺

You should never say don't comment on...well, anything. Because that just never ends well.

Is it windy in Chicago today? Lol

Hank Ketchum based his Dennis the Menace of his real-life son Dennis.

Is your wife on vacation? Dude your hair!

It takes all of my concentration to listen to what you say rather than look at your hair and your WIDE OPEN EYES that look to your left as if you see a secret!

Very Interesting. .I have learned alot. Great video, well done.

I'm Australian and barely have a say in this but I saw a few of episodes of The UK version as a kid-

Roger the Dodger here. I remember watching the original Dennis the Menace on television when it came out. (Boy, does that ever "date" me!) Poor Mr. Wilson, Dennis always was trying to help him!

I do enjoy your videos.

I knew they were created independently from one another at around the same time, but I had no clue they were both published on the same day. That's some synchronicity right there.

Great video Lost in the Pond I had no idea that was the case the Dennis the Menace. Thanks for the Information

My best friend from 5th grade on was a kid whose parents moved him here from England. He had a pile of Bean-O's ad other books ad publications any English kid might have had in 1974. But we were in Tucson, AZ. I almost died the first time I read an Enid Blyton description of a larder in a coastal cottage. You blighters really know how to live.

In Japan, TNMT was ALSO knwon as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles.

Good job with this video!

Brylcream: "A little dab will do ya!"

It’s like the telephone and radio. Different inventions on different continents at the same time. It’s so cool. Marconi got it first but wow! It was meant to be!

I really like your web site. My grandparents on my mother side were from England back in the early 1900's. They both worked on the Lusitania and finally they were sponsored to stay in the U.S. On the returning voyage the ship was sunk by a German sub. With them staying, I would not be here today. I enjoyed your web site narratives because it helps me understand, the difference between our two cultures. Thank you for RU-vid informatives. It's very enlightening.

Tbh, I'm more familar with Leon that little boy in the cowboy costume from The Andy Griffith Show. Whenever Andy or Barney encountered him he would simply stand there silently eating a sandwhich. When they'd try to talk to him or ask him questions he'd hold out his sandwhich to them.

Interesting! I always thought US Dennis the Menace was first. Very cool they both came the same year. Thanks for schooling me.

I have a brother named Dennis. He hated being called Dennis the Menace just like I hated being chased around the playground while children yelled, "Get Christy Love" like the show from the 70's.

This answered my questions about Ellie Diamond's "Dennis The Menace" look on Drag Race UK Series 2.

I was actually aware of this one. Given the time difference, the British Dennis the Menace (more a trainee hooligan) was made available to the public a few hours before the US one was similarly launched.

Dennis the Menace US version animation was on Channel 4 in the UK. So we did know about Dennis as he was called here.

This coincidence is another Vlogmas miracle! ❤️🎄

I loved the Beano and the Dandy as a child, Dennis the Menace was one of my favourite characters, and I had no idea that the American Dennis and British one were not related at all, I assumed (very presumptuous of me, sorry) that the American one had been adapted from our Dennis and 'prettied up', really was an amazing coincidence!... Also that Beryl the Peril from Topper (and later the Dandy) was a bit of a rabble rouser wasn't she.

My favorite British-American coincidence concerns the landing of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower in 1620, The coincidence is that the first Indians they met upon landing actually knew how to speak English. They had lived amongst the earlier English settlers in Virginia (landed 1607) and had learned English from them, and were just traveling through what later became Massachusetts. When the Pilgrims landed, these two Indian guys were the first natives they met. It was like one of those science fiction movies when the Earthmen land on a planet 50 million light years away and the first natives of that planet they meet know how to speak English. It actually happened in real life., (Also, another Indians just-passing-through story, but this having to do with the Dutch. When they landed on Manhattan Island, they wanted to buy it from the natives. They met a couple of Indians, and those Indians were from another tribe, not the local Lenapes. The Dutch offered to buy the Island and the offered the two passing-through Indians the 24 dollars, and the two guys said, "Heck, yeah" and took the money and disappeared. Then the Dutch later had to pay the money all over again to the Lenapes, who really owned the Island. So the first real estate deal in the history of New York was a fraud, which was highly prophetic.)

I've been called Dennis the menace my entire life. But I wanted to tell you another story. I've been watching midsomer murders. A guy on the show says the whole town got pissed. I'm thinking is it all torches and pitchforks? No, thanks to Lawrence I know it means a big celebration and everyone got drunk. Thanks.

I had a brother named Dennis, but he died in Vietnam. I have 2 brothers named Tom and Jerry. In case you don't know, it's an old and famous cartoon in the US.

I loved the b&w Dennis the Menace. It was part of my after school / pre-dinner lineup on Nick at Nite back in the 80s, along with The Donna Reed Show, Mr. Ed, and My Three Sons.

Did you and Tarah have an out of control egg beater incident ?

I expect the humor behind Dennis the Menace is pretty much universal. One of my coworkers is an Russian immigrant and introduced my kids to Masha and the Bear.

I loved getting a Mr. Misty from Diary Queen when I was a kid...Dennis the Menace figured prominently in the adds. (Slushy with soft serve vanilla ice cream poured/dumped into it.)

I thought you were going to tell us that Christmas falls on 25 December in both countries. 🤣p.s. Was there a strong wind blowing from your left as your were filming?

Back about 20 years ago, I worked with a guy named Dennis. We liked to tease each other as friends, he would call me Moesha (it was a TV show here back in the 90s starring pop singer Brandy) and I would call him Menace, it was great fun and we always both laughed when we would exchange our nicknames for each other.

Good video.

Did I hear you say Walter “Matt-how”? You mean “Math-ow” Laurence. Like “maths.” One of our kids’ all time favorite movies. (They’re all over 30 now.)

I believe you would make a excellent comic book character !😁

Your hair somehow reminded me of The Wind In The Willows.

Nope my name is James and I’m mild mannered.

Another amazing British and American coincidence is the birth of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln on the same day.

My first time learning of the UK version of Dennis the Menace was the teaser trailer for Doctor Who Series 11.

So what's Dennis the Menace(UK) marketed as here in the US? I don't think I've ever seen a Beano comic here.

Movie Dennis is Mason Wilson Gamble. He became a marine biologist. Saved from Hellywood death to life. Remember what's his name in that Home Alone stuff? K. I Googled. MeTV still runs Dennis. ACK.

Yes my name is Denys (the old French spelling of Denis, which is Dennis in English). I don't think I was a menace when I was young, cocky maybe.

Woah! The wooshy hair! Windy City x)

dat hair doe

That hair though....

BTK was a bit of a Dennis The Menace

Walter Matheau was not Doc Brown from Back to the Future

I love the Dennis the Menace tv show, watch it almost every day.

I know I am wildly immature, but as an American I only know Beano as a pill you take for excessive flatulence, which makes the video and comments funnier.

Strange..

Give me your address so I can send you a comb for Christmas. Either that, or stop poking your finger in a electrical outlet. It's dangerous over here in the USA.

Why is that so amazing? It's like when twins separated at birth both marry a susan and have two kids named the same as well.

What happened with your eye? Are you just recovering from a black eye, perhaps? Great thread by the way. (Ps Ketchum was friendly with a lot of the people at D.C. Thomson - wonder if that's how it came about?)

Love the hair

I am more of a Calvin and Hobbes man but Dennis the menace is alright

Ur hair is perfect!

I would love to see it one shot crossover

After both comics launched on the same day, date and year, same name, came premise, basically the same character, NOBODY noticed the “coincidence” and investigated? I was under the impression our two countries observe the same copy-write laws. So if I heard your programme correctly, both are still published under different writers and oh well, that was that. Hmmmm, perhaps you could help me with a book I’ve worked on for years. I just don’t know to whom to send it for review, since I’ve never published anything before. It’s about this American sleuth who tries to resolve the most impossible crimes. I call her Miss Maple. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Your fan and respectful admirer Jim R (not my pseudonym)

I heard this story about 10 years ago but it is a classic one so, as they say in Aussieland, Good on ya'!

Mind blown

Hey, Laurence! How about doing a video on words or phrases that came from or were popularized by comic strips. Someone already brought up "milquetoast," from the strip "Caspar Milquetoast." There's also "Gloomy Gus" from the strip "Happy Hooligan," "goon," "Jeep," and possibly "wimp" from "Thimble Theater Starring Popeye," "Sadie Hawkins dance" from "Li'l Abner," "security blanket" from "Peanuts," "newlywed" from "The Newlyweds and Their Baby," and "worry wart" from "Out Our Way."

I used to get the Beano until I found my Dad’s copies of the Viz. After that, the Beano and Dennis the Menace seemed quite tame in comparison to Biffa Bacon.

Fascinating. It seems too coincidental, but sometimes it happens.

Here in the USA we have a snack called Andy Capp’s hot fries based on the UK comic strip character but we don’t have the comic strip here.

so many Venitians named Dennis lol

You have Boris hair!!

I remember dennis the menace cartoon

I'm British but spent some years of my youth in Michigan. I used to get books of the US version. When we moved back to the UK I was really confused and didn't like the UK version at first. Now I can't stand the US version. What's that all about? Anyway thanks for this video. I always wondered about why they were different, but never could be bothered to Google it!

Both NC State University and the University of New Mexico's mascots are the Wolfpack. Neither school will say when the Wolfpack became their official mascot and both schools claim the same origin story of how they became the Wolfpack. They both claim that some sports writer wrote that their football team was running around like a pack of wolves, and supposedly the name caught on. In reality both schools got their mascot's name from the WWII German u-boat tactic so you can see why they won't admit it. I suspect that Dennis the Menace is similar in that both comic strips have a common inspiration. Also, both characters probably evolved and may have existed in some form in earlier strips from the artists who created them. Its also a little surprising that there was never a law suit which would have helped settle the mystery.

Oh my word.... that hair....

My mother called me Denise the Menice. Yes, I was a hyper kid--and still am!

1. Dennis the Menace. (Started in the U.S. in 1951) 2. Dennis! (UK's 1951 problem child in Beano comics) *I see we have "a coincidence like that of the 'Overlord' crossword puzzle maker.";)

Maybe I misunderstood, but did you say Walter Matthau was Doc Brown in Back to the future? Do believe that was Christopher Lloyd.

There are other such coincidences, not quite as freaky as this. For example, we had an animated character "Koko the Clown" starting in 1918, while Brits apparently hear this name and think of their own "Coco the Clown", a Russian-born performer who flourished in the 1930s and 40s.

There are still a lot of people who don't know that Lassie and National Velvet were originally set in England.