Dicky Dolphin's time in The Topper was long gone by the mid-seventies, but in 1976 the comic featured a fortnightly series of "Golden Oldies" and one of the strips selected was from Lucky Dicky Dolphin, the first series of Dicky's adventures. Thanks to Ray Moore's excellent Topper Tales - A Complete Index to The Topper Comic, I now know that Dicky was an orphan who was nicknamed "Lucky" by his chums because he was so unlucky. Eventually he manages to run away from the orphanage and is befriended by Skipper Dolphin and his daughter Sue who just happen to share his surname. Well that was lucky!
I can't say I approve of Dicky's turtle-trapping activities but the 1950s also saw Cousteau happily using dynamite to obtain fish specimens so I guess it could have been worse!
Art by George Ramsbottom (Click for a larger image).
