Mr Punch's Big Birthday Party

Mr Punch, anarchic antihero of Punch and Judy puppet shows, celebrates his 350th birthday in 2012. Saturday’s bash, part of a national celebration organised by The Big Grin and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, commemorates the first sighting of Mr Punch in England by Samuel Pepys in 1662. A mass gathering of Punch and Judy professors from this country and as far afield as Japan, Australia and America will welcome a special guest – Punchinella from Naples – and there will be a giant birthday cake ceremony plus a celebatory string of 350 sausages and performances in a huge booth in front of the portico at St Paul's Church in Covent Garden Piazza. The shindig is followed on Sunday by the Covent Garden May Fayre & Puppet Festival which takes place every year at Covent Garden’s St Paul’s Church.