Britain's weekly Punch, then 112 years old, was acting its age when ex-Newsman (Daily Telegraph) Malcolm Muggeridge became the first outsider to take over the editor's chair in 1953. Muggeridge swept out the stale sweets of fuddy-duddy whimsy, reverted to an older Punch tradition by installing tartly satiric views on topical issues (and late deadlines to keep right up with them), brought in name contributors and able critics, all but abandoned the moss-grown cover for bright and varied modern ones. He even succeeded frequently in making Punch what Englishmen never expected the old humor magazine to be, i.e., funny. Last week,...
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