Category:Pip, Squeak and Wilfred

Pip, Squeak and Wilfred game, "Race to Mirror Grange", circa ~1933 [image info]

Pip (the dog) and Squeak (the penguin) took on the default roles of mother and father in the animals' makeshift family, with little Wilfred (the rabbit) adopting the role of their child. [image info]

1937: Pip, Wilfred, Peter, Almost, Nearly, and Loopy [image info]

Pip, Squeak and Wilfred were a trio of cartoon characters created by Bertram Lamb that were popular in Britain in the 1920s, first appearing in a cartoon strip in the Daily Mirror in 1919.

The characters

Pip (a dog), Squeak (a penguin) and Wilfred (a young rabbit) were three orphaned animals from different backgrounds who banded together to form a makeshift family unit. Appearing in around ~1919, the trio captured the British public's affection and let people see their feelings of loss and dislocation after the personal and social turmoil of WW1 acted out by three brave creatures who optimistically stuck together and helped each other to create a new life after surviving their own personal tragedies.

The success of the characters led to a range of merchandising, books, annuals and silent animated films.

Wilfredian League of Gugnuncs

Aims and Objects of the W.L.O.G.

FOUNDED on January 3, 1927, by the 'Daily Mirror' chiefly as a kind of "club" for the boy and girl friends of Pip, Squeak and Wilfred, the Wilfredian League of Gugnuncs has, in a little under six months, achieved world-wide popularity and fame. Since the League was inaugerated over one thousand children and grown-ups have "joined up" every day and there are now well over 170,000 members. Almost every country in the world, including remote parts of China and the Far East, can now boast happy little circles or "warrens" of merry Gugnuncs.
The W.L.O.G. is not merely a "club" for the amusement of children; it has done and will do in the future an immense amount of practical good. The Gugnunc Fund has already allocated the sum of £3,650 to various charities. Gugnunc cots have been or are being installed in the following hospitals:— East London Hospital for Children (Cot and Playground), Princess Louise Kensington Hospital for Children (Two Cots), King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, Birmingham (One Cot), Royal Infirmary, Cardiff (One Cot). It is confidently anticipated, provided that each Gugnunc can obtain one more Gugnunc, to distribute a further sum of at least £5,000 to various charities by the end of this year.
Kindness to animals and a Gugnuncly spirit on all occasions — these are the simple duties of all members of the W.L.O.G.
NOTE.—Special 'Pictures of the Albert Hall Sing-Song and a description of the afternoon by Uncle Dick will appear in next Monday's "Daily Mirror." This Sing-Song is promoted by the "Daily Mirror."

WW1 Service medals

After World War One (generally taken to be 1914-1918, but technically 1914-1919 for the UK), the victorious allies issued the Victory Medal. In the UK this was issued to recipients of the 1914-15 Star and/or the British War Medal, so a lot of ex-servicemen received all three.

The appearance of the three medals at around the same time that the trio of cartoon characters hit the nation's consciousness (circa ~1919) led to the medals being irreverently nicknamed "Pip, Squeak and Wilfred".