Beryl the Peril appeared in the first issue of "The Topper" in 1953. She was created to be a female equivalent to "The Beano"'s Dennis the Menace. Davey Law, her artist and creator, drew inspiration from his daughter, who would often pull faces during her tantrums. The strips were similar in concept to the Dennis the Menace ones in that she would cause chaos through menacing her neighbours, parents and school teachers. In 1958, Beryl was chosen as one of the few of D.C. Thomson's characters to earn an annual all to herself, consisting solely from reprints in past years. When Law retired
Beryl Smalley Beryl Smalley Beryl Smalley, FBA (3 June 1905–6 April 1984) was a British historian and academic. She is best known for her work, "The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages", originally published around 1940, but revised many times, which laid the foundations of modern study of the Medieval popular Bible. She was a tutor in history (1943 to 1969) and Vice-Principal (1957 to 1969) of St Hilda's College, Oxford. One of her more notable pupils was the internationally respected historian on mid-Tudor England, Jennifer Loach, a Tutorial Fellow at Somerville College, Oxford. Beryl Smalley was born 3 June