View source for Cockney Wanker

{{short description|Comics character created by Graham Dury and Simon Thorpe}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox comics character <!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->
|image = 
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|character_name = Cockney Wanker
|publisher = [[Viz (comic)|Viz]]
|debut =
|creators =  [[Graham Dury]] and Simon Thorpe
|alter_ego =
|alliances =
|aliases =
|supports=
|powers=
}}

'''Cockney Wanker''' is a character created by Graham Dury and Simon Thorpe<ref name="to">{{cite news |url=http://www.timeout.com/london/comedy/10-funniest-londoners-2  |title=10 Funniest Londoners |work=[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]] |date=23 June 2005 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822031803/http://www.timeout.com/london/comedy/10-funniest-londoners-2 |archivedate=22 August 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Cook |first=William |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2004/nov/18/comedy |title=All in the worst possible taste |work=The Guardian |date=18 November 2004 |accessdate=15 March 2014}}</ref> in ''[[Viz (comics)|Viz]]'' based on a [[stereotype]]d male [[Cockney]]. Wanker speaks in [[rhyming slang]] (often slang invented by the writers) and spends his days drinking and selling stolen or unworkable goods to passers-by from an [[East End of London|East End]] market stall. Another of Wanker's specialities is trading used cars. Playing upon the stereotype of the indigenous population of [[London]] being fantasists, Wanker often buys a car, sells it back to the same person for the same amount of money, then declares the transaction to have been "A nice little earner!" He wears cheap [[gold]] jewellery or [[Argos (retailer)|Argos]] [[bling]] and 'Laahndan' gangster dark glasses, and is often seen smoking a [[cigar]].

He is a [[Domestic violence|wife-beater]]<ref>von Busack, Richard. "[http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/02.19.98/nilbymouth-9807.html Rage boils over in Gary Oldman's 'Nil by Mouth']". metroactive.com,  February, 1998. Retrieved 15 March 2014</ref> and lifelong [[racist]]<ref>Trilling, 25</ref> who complains about "[[Ethnic slur#S|Sooties]]", yet respects [[Frank Bruno]]. He is established as a [[monarchist|royalist]], especially supportive of [[the Queen Mother]], spouting [[Conventional wisdom|received wisdom]] such as "Ninety Free she is. Ninety Free. Wahn the bladdy war for us she did!"

Wanker's appearance is based on a combination of a stereotypical London taxi driver and [[Mike Reid (actor)|Mike Reid]]'s<ref name="to" /> character [[Frank Butcher]] from ''[[EastEnders]]''.<ref>[[Stuart Maconie|Maconie, Stuart]]. "Pies and Prejudice: In search of the North". Random House, 2008. p. 23. {{ISBN|0-0919-3030-8}}</ref> His characterisation also draws elements from [[David Jason]]'s "[[Del Trotter]]" in ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]''. Other characters in the strip closely resemble ''EastEnders'' characters, e.g. Shirl, his long suffering and battered wife ([[Kathy Beale]]) and Lou, Shirl's fearsome old-school East End mother ([[Lou Beale]]).

==See also==
*[[Wanker]]

==References==
{{reflist|1}}

==Bibliography==
*Donald, Chris. ''Rude Kids: The Unfeasible Story of Viz''.  HarperCollins, 2004. {{ISBN|0-0071-9096-4}} 
*Trilling, Daniel. ''Bloody Nasty People: The Rise of Britain's Far Right''. Verso Books, 2012. {{ISBN|1-8446-7959-4}}

{{Viz (comics)}}

[[Category:Viz characters]]
[[Category:Fictional people from London]]
[[Category:Fictional con artists]]
[[Category:Culture in London]]


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