More famous 'celebs' living in NZ!

[Nick]

A former merchant navy officer , who runs a garage at Porangahau in southern Hawke's Bay, says he is delighted to find he was the original "Dennis the Menace".

Robert Fair, now aged 62, and with six grandchildren, grew up in Britain, where his family was friendly with cartoonist David Law, who created his spikey-haired prankster character Dennis for the comic Beano in 1951.

Law never publicly named his inspiration for fear of offending the Fair family, who were friends.

Mr Law died in 1971, but his daughter Rosemary Moffat recently spilled the beans.

Mr Fair -- who left Britain 38 years ago -- told NZPA: "I was a bit gobsmacked when I first found out.

"I'm the original Dennis the Menace!".

He said the comic book character did sound like him when he was young and he could recall visiting the Law family at Dundee in the early 1950s, from nearby Lochee.

"It was when I was four or five years old -- I've always been a bit of joker and prankster," Mr Fair said.

"I remember reading The Beano and all these years I have never known that was me -- that was my character".

Mr Fair spent a couple of years working in Wellington, then fell in love with Porangahau and bought the garage there about 20 years ago.

Mrs Moffat, who herself inspired an equally naughty comic book character, Beryl the Peril, told The Sun newspaper four-year-old Robert would create chaos when his family visited her home in Dundee.

He would frighten friends by jumping out and throwing spiders and worms at them.

"Every time he left the house my father used to start laughing and say: `What a menace he is'."