of Life between the wars or of Picture Post just after, would have been unable to imagine those household names ever vanishing, yet vanished they have.

So what was the secret of Punch's survival?

More than anything, it was its ability to find the wavelength of an age. Even in Victorian days Punch did not stand still. In its early years, the years of the Chartists and the unrest that swept through Europe in 1848, it was radical. The most famous example of this was Thomas Hood's "Song of the Shirt", which moved people's consciences over sweated labour. But by the 1860s it had become milder, less inclined to attack the Establishment or support the underdog, and this too was in tune with the rising middle class and the feeling that the British Empire had come to stay.

A succession of superb artists on Punch ensured that the manner in which it played safe was brilliant. The drawings of Leech, Keene, du Maurier, Tenniel and many only slightly lesser men may not have prompted any revolutions or moves to man the barricades, but they still represent the most authentic and memorable picture of Victorian England that we have left. And it is forgotten that Punch was one among many humorous magazines in the nineteenth century it was not even, in fact, the only one called Punch.

It was, however, the only one of the breed that continued to flourish for another hundred years, almost as if it was a national institution that could not be allowed to die. This status as a part of British history is a source both of great pride and huge annoyance to Punch, a millstone as well as a medal.

Each time Punch has made a significant advance in tune with the times - when Malcolm Muggeridge introduced a sharper, more acid note, when Bernard