The Jocks and the Geordies

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The Jocks and the Geordies were fictional characters who had their own comic strip in The Dandy comic. It ran from 1975 until the early 1990s.

The strip was about two groups of five schoolboys living in the village of Crosspatch, crossing the border of Scotland and England. As a result, they were in constant battles with one another, with each in turn getting their comeuppance for pranks which were often quite violent. Often both sets of boys would be in trouble from their teachers (Mr McAllistair and Mr Bigglesthwaite) at the end, both of whom despaired of the rivalry and would frequently administer the cane (the belt in the case of the Jocks).

The Jocks (Scottish boys), who wore various tartan jumpers and wide tam o'shanter caps, were: Big Jock (the leader), Wee Eck, Hector, Angus and Sandy; while the Geordies (North East England boys) were all identically dressed in dark school uniforms. The names of the Geordies were not always consistent: the fifth Geordie was referred to as 'Sidney' in the 1979 Dandy Annual but this name was later given to the leader of the Geordies. The second and fourth Geordies have been referred to as Specky and Lofty respectively, but these names were not used regularly. In the late 1980s, the names of each character appeared under a 'mugshot' and they were Sidney, Lanky, Arnold, Cedric and Egbert.