This tea towel doubles as a calendar for 1961 and is printed with the quotation: 'Grow old along with me, The best is yet to be', from the opening of Robert Browning's poem Rabbi Ben Ezra, first published in 1864. It is a satirical reference to the traditional marital friction between Punch and Judy, illlustrated here by Judy beating Punch with his stick, with which he regularly beats all the rest of the characters in the show.

Punch and Judy shows are a feature of British seaside entertainment whose history in Great Britain stretches back to the puppet show that Samuel Pepys noted seeing in Covent Garden on 9 May 1662 performed by the Italian puppeteer Signor Bologna. This included a marionette, or string puppet as Pulcinello or Punch, but by the 19th century Punch was more usually a glove puppet, performed in a portable booth by one performer who had a character on each hand.

Punch became a popular character in Britain by the 19th century, when images of Punch and Judy were used as decorative motifs on a range of household items. In 1841 the magazine Punch, or the London Charivari was established, named after the comic and anarchic character of Mr. Punch whose image appeared on its cover.