Photo gallery: Fifty years of Fred Basset
- Published
For half a century the antics of Fred Basset, "the hound that's almost human", created by Alex Graham at his Sussex home, have been charming newspaper readers.
Mr Graham, already an accomplished cartoonist, was commissioned by the Daily Mail to create a "dog-friendly, family-oriented" cartoon in 1963. His daughter, Arran, says Fred became the family's "security for life".
The family did not have their own basset hound at their home in Ticehurst, East Sussex, until the Mail bought them one, which they called Freda.
Arran says her father used to write down odd snippets of conversation he had heard or fascinating material he had seen in an ideas book. He would then piece together cartoons from the entries.
Since Mr Graham's death, Arran has organised the storylines and liaised with his successor as illustrator, Michael Martin. "We've kept it true to father's ideas - jolly, sweet, not rude, not crude, not violent," she says.
Among Fred Basset's admirers was PG Wodehouse, who single-handedly persuaded the Long Island Press in New York to continue running the cartoon when it announced it was to drop it.
Peanuts creator Schulz was also a fan and occasionally corresponded with Mr Graham to express his admiration for his fellow cartoonist's work.
The cartoonists occasionally met - inspiring a cartoon-style image of them by Daily Mail staff
Arran, who lives with her husband Alistair in Robertsbridge, East Sussex, says she is "incredibly proud" that Fred has reached 50 and says she will continue adding to the 18,000-plus cartoons "as long as we continue to enjoy it and as long as the public want us to do it".
An exhibition to mark Fred Basset's golden anniversary is being staged at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery from 13 July to 29 September.