Lord Snooty is a fictional character who stars in the British comic strip Lord Snooty and his Pals from the British comic anthology The Beano. The strip debuted in issue 1, illustrated by DC Thomson artist Dudley D. Watkins, who designed and wrote Snooty's stories until 1968, but the stories would continue featuring in Beano issues until 1991, with occasional revivals and character cameos. Synopsis Lord Snooty starred a wealthy Eton schoolboy named Marmaduke, the bored Earl of Bunkerton who often sneaked out of his home to bond with the working-class children on the other side of town. His friends knew he was a wealthy child and affectionately nicknamed him "Snooty", but he donned a disguise to hide from his family and the Bunkerton Castle staff. Other stories followed misadventures in Snooty's life, such as him outsmarting or helping the residents of the castle, causing or running into mayhem with his friends, visiting Professor Screwtop to help with his new invention, or rivalling the Gasworks Gang. Publication history Original run Lord Snooty and His Pals first appeared in issue 1 of The Beano, debuting with the comic strips Wee Peem, Morgyn the Mighty, Wild Boy of the Woods, Here Comes Ping the Elastic Man and cover star Big Eggo. It was one of the notable few in the first issue inspired by the "funny pages" from American newspapers, whereas the rest of the magazine contained adventure stories written in prose. Dudley D. Watkins illustrated, an in-house DC Thomson artist known for creating stories for Oor Wullie and The Dandys Desperate Dan. The strip ended in issue 367, returning December 1950 in issue 440. Upon return, many of Snooty's friends were replaced with characters from discontinued Beano strips. Watkins continued illustrating many stories throughout the 1950s and 1960s, but Leo Baxendale illustrated strips from issues 691 to 718. Robert Nixon became the new artist in 1968 from issue 1343, followed by Jimmy Glen from issue 1594, and Ken H. Harrison from issue 2379. Harrison's last story would appear in 1991 in issue 2565, making Lord Snooty the last series from the first issue to feature in The Beano. There were two hiatuses in the comic strip's run: the first from August 1949 to December 1950, and the second between March 1958 and November 1959. The latter hiatus did not remove Snooty's appearances entirely, helped by six-issued, Albert Holroyd-illustrated series A Funny