last week while at llandudno there was a punch and Judy show and the kids were loving every minute of it , so i looked up punch and Judy to see what it was all about There is a reference to puppet plays in Bales king john ( 1550 ) but the character punch comes from Italy, punch being a short version of Punchinello a name which amused the English at the time of its introduction and gave rise to the old riddle Mr punch , Mr Joe , Mr Nell ,Mr Lo by Pepys in the 1660,s records have shown punch and his wife together from 1770 onwards , the scolding shrew sometimes being called Joan. She does not appeared to have acquired the name Judy until the end of the century. as far as i could see it was very un PC it had child abuse , wife beating , hanging , drinking, a crocodile stealing sausages, a blatant disregard for the law , no wonder the kids loved it
I watched one with the kids last weekend, very non PC The Doctor came on ( usually with a bag and old doctors hat ) this time in a white coat , Asian, called Dr Gupta and with a ridiculous accent Punch battered Judy, hit the baby because it cried and then threw it down the stairs. The kids thought it was great I was shocked
We had an Indian friend with us ,a girl in her 30s she had never seen punch and Judy ,she was absolutely enthralled
