'The Beano's' Lord Snooty (Part 3 of 4) by Dave Miller

A modern parody - ‘Dave Snooty and his Pals’ (2008)

Lord Snooty inspired a parody strip entitled ‘Dave Snooty and his Pals’, featuring the Conservative Party under the leadership of Prime Minister David Cameron, and published in the Private Eye magazine. This was the brainchild of satirist Ian Hislop and artist Nick Newman.

Dave Snooty III - 2008

The strip depicts David Cameron as ‘Dave Snooty’ and Conservative politician Boris Johnson (now Prime Minister) as his nemesis, ‘Boris the Menace’, complete with red and black stripy jumper. Dave Snooty would almost always end up defeated or humiliated.  

Unfortunately ‘Dave Snooty and his Pals’ was not true to the original Lord Snooty story. At no point did the title character inspire his comrades to emulate his gentlemanly virtues, or show that he had become their leader because they deferred to his innate moral worth (as in the original version of the Lord Snooty story). This would no doubt have improved the strip enormously.

‘Lord Snooty’ usage in common language 

Nowadays ‘Lord Snooty’ is a common insult for an overbearing or patronising snob, and often directed at Eton educated politicians. Popa-Wyatt and Wyatt suggest there are many words that slur the rich and powerful, and convey considerable contempt, such as ‘toff’, ‘Lord Snooty’, ‘nob’, ‘suit’, ‘the one percent’ and ‘Hooray Henry’. 

Though the name ‘Lord Snooty’ has remained firmly rooted in the public mind, the essence of the original comic story has been corrupted. In terms of the story, it doesn’t make sense to use his name as an insult. Lord Snooty was on the side of the ordinary (poor) folk, he was benevolent and generous, and never looked down on them. Bizarrely the common usage of his name (as a slur) is the total opposite of this. 

Probably the most likely reasons are: the original comics have been mis-remembered, people haven’t read the comics for so long that they have forgotten the original story, or perhaps they never read the comics but have heard the name and (lazily) assume that Lord Snooty is true to his name - ‘snooty’ - i.e. considering himself to be better than others, especially people of a lower social class.  

Parody versions of the comic have probably also contributed to the corruption of the story, and newspapers/ media certainly use Lord Snooty as an insult. Sometimes, confusingly, they seem to be referring to Lord Snooty III. 

So why was he even called ‘Lord Snooty’ in the first place, when he wasn’t intended to be snooty? He didn’t behave in a snooty manner, though, looking through the comics, you can see he was always presented as being superior to people of a lower social class, through his inherited wealth power and privilege - but it was seen as admirable that he chose to hang out with the ordinary people, and he was kind and generous to them. He wasn’t arrogant or pompous or full of airs and graces, and didn’t behave in a ‘snooty’ manner - in fact he rebelled against his privilege. In effect, the original Snooty strip poked fun at the bourgeoise establishment, as the character joined forces in solidarity with his working class friends, to rebel against the establishment that he himself was part of. 

According to the ‘History of the Beano’, in the early days of the Lord Snooty strip, the storylines were along the lines of the Mark Twain novel ‘The Prince and the Pauper’. This story explores themes of social inequality, where two boys - one very rich and the other very poor - are fascinated by the other's life, and to get a ‘feeling’ of the other's life, they exchange clothing and swap roles.

The Beano editor of the 1990s, Euan Kerr, admitted that Snooty was an outdated character in a dated mid-20th century world that 1990’s children could never relate to. He also admitted Lord Snooty was his least favourite character to write for and commented that “I never liked Lord Snooty at all and I suppose I was the cause of his demise in the end. He was completely outdated by the time I sat in the Editors chair, though, and I could see absolutely no way of updating him. Although there were some great “Lord Snooty” strips in the 1940s, he was becoming increasingly difficult to write for in the modem era and the readers just couldn’t relate to him anymore.” 

The world had moved on a lot since Snooty was first created.

Changing attitudes to class in Britain 

Historian Arthur Marwick described a radical transformation of British society resulting from the Great War, that he saw as a ‘deluge’ that swept away many old attitudes and brought in a more egalitarian society. He pointed to an energised self-consciousness among workers that quickly built up the Labour Party, the coming of partial women's suffrage, and an acceleration of social reform and state control of the economy. He noted a decline of deference toward the aristocracy and established authority in general, and the weakening among youth of traditional restraints on individual moral behaviour. Marwick felt that class distinctions softened, national cohesion increased, and British society became more equal. 

Snooty was part of the old world, where everyone knew their place and social class - deference to class superiority was the norm, as in the famous class-conscious skit from John Cleese and the Corbetts. Snooty was born into aristocratic power, yet he remained likeable, as he chose to use his power to help the ordinary folk, something which was eccentric and comical, admirable, radical even rebellious or anarchic. He chose to be one of the ordinary people, even though he was born into a superior class and therefore he knew, and everyone accepted, that he was superior. 

The basis of the Lord Snooty story - comedy around class difference - worked well when the comic was first launched, but UK society changed radically during the Twentieth Century, and attitudes to class changed. Snooty’s behavior would be interpreted differently nowadays (perhaps seen more as slumming it or patronizing). 

The post-war Labour government worked hard to eliminate class barriers with its introduction of high tax rates for the well off, the creation of the welfare state, expansion of the public sector, free education, free healthcare, and there was a belief among much of the population in the following decades that class was no longer the barrier to success it had been before the war.

Dave Miller is a designer and artist who makes mostly satirical works through combinations of comics, graphic novels, interactive and non-linear storytelling, especially in the context of computation, the Internet and emerging media. He has taught courses in both Design and Interactive Media at London South Bank University and Bournemouth University. He currently works at the Cartoon Museum in London, and is writing a political graphic novel. This is his first writing about comics.

The ‘Remembering UK Comics’ series is curated and edited by Dr William Proctor and Dr Julia Round, both of whom are Principal Academics at Bournemouth University, Dorset, UK.