Description: Mr. Punch so tickled the fancy of that prominent citizen Samuel Pepys that he is mentioned a number of times in his celebrated diary. The first of these was on May 9th, 1662, recording that he had been 'mighty pleased' by an Italian puppet show near St. Paul's Church in London's Covent Garden, and it is from this entry that Mr. Punch's 'birthday' is now traditionally calculated by today's Punch and Judy community. It is quite feasible, of course, that Pulcinella was in the country some time before that date but until any written evidence of an earlier sighting comes to light it is Pepys who will be popularly credited as 'the man who discovered Mr. Punch'. The performances he saw took place inside a small tent rather like the booth of a fairground side show and Pulcinella was a marionette dancing while the showman pulled his strings. Like the plot of a pantomime or well-known fairy tale, the bare story of the show tells you nothing about the performance. The appeal of the Punch and Judy Show lies in the skill of the performer: part story teller, part puppeteer, part comedian, wholly an entertainer; and during the 1800's a succession of rugged individuals made Mr Punch a familiar sight at street corners throughout the land. In their hands they weaved a riotous knockabout spectacle, taking in topical jokes, street satire, guest heroes and villains, musical interludes, and novelty speciality acts - all paid for by collecting pennies from their public. (from www.punchandjudy.org/Punch&Judy_History.htm)