Punch and Judy English Birthplace

Oh dear, Punch and Judy!
The show scared me so much when we were on holiday at Walton on the Naze (I was only about 4 years old) that I can hardly bear to write the names!

On the 9^th May 1662 Samuel Pepys was coming back from visiting a nearby ale-​house when he stopped to watch a puppet show that was performing in Covent Garden.
It was the month that King Charles II (recently restored to the throne) was getting married and hordes of entertainers from all over Europe had thronged to the city hoping to make some money.
The Italian puppet play that Pepys saw was presented by puppetmaster Pietro Gimonde — or ‘Signor Bologna’ as he was known to his audience — and starred one of the great comic characters of all time. (English puppeteers for Punch were known as Professor).
The star puppet came originally from Naples, where he was known as Pulcinella, then toured across Europe to France — where he was called Polichinelle — and finally came to captivate English audiences who settled for calling him Punchinello. He is a manifestation of the Lord of Misrule and Trickster figures of deep-​rooted mythologies. Punch’s wife was originally Joan.
Pepys’ diary entry for 9^th May reporting that he had seen the show is taken by today’s performers as marking Punch’s ‘birthday’.
In the British Punch and Judy show Punch wears a jester’s motley and is a hunchback whose hooked nose almost meets his curved jutting chin. He carries a stick, as large as himself, which he freely uses upon all the other characters in the show. He speaks in a distinctive squawking voice, produced by a contrivance known as a swazzle or swatchel which the Professor holds in his mouth, transmitting his gleeful cackle That’s the way to do it. So important is Mr. Punch’s signature sound that it is a matter of some controversy within Punch and Judy circles as to whether a ‘non-​swazzled’ show can be considered a true Punch and Judy Show.