Black Bob

One thing the internet does well is nostalgia. My last post included a reference to Black Bob, the Dandy Wonder Dog. It may mean nothing to you but when I was around 8 or 10 we had two or three of the Black Bob books in the house from somewhere and I loved to read them at night. I discover (from wikipedia, etc) that

Black Bob was the name of a fictitious border collie from Selkirk, Scotland. He originally appeared in a text story in The Dandy (No 280, 25/11/44). Following this he appeared as a picture strip in The Weekly News (1946), which continued until 1967. Drawn by Jack Prout, the popular sheepdog appeared regularly in The Dandy from 1944 debut until No 2122 (24/07/82). Eight or nine Black Bob books were published at infrequent intervals from 1950-1965 (1950, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1962 [?], 1965).

Jack Prout (1900-1978) joined the Scottish publishing firm of D C Thomson as a staff artist in 1937, retiring in 1968. (His strips were reprinted in The Dandy for another 14 years). Shortly before retirement, Prout acquired a black and white border collie. Staff at D C Thomson's presented the artist with a spoof "dog licence", allowing the animal to keep the artist as a pet. The document was "signed" with Black Bob's pawprint.

For more see here and here.