Nicholas F. Benton
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Nicholas F. Benton is the founder, owner and editor of the Falls Church News-Press (www.fcnp.com), a weekly newspaper that circulates inside the Washington, D.C., beltway in Northern Virginia. Known familiarly as Nick, Benton founded the News-Press in 1991 at its has developed a reputation as "the most progressive newspaper in Virginia," with a circulation of 30,500 that includes many in D.C., itself. In addition to local news, it has an array of columns and commentaries focused on national and global issues, and the paper uses the slogan, "Local News, Global Perspective." Since 1991, Mr. Benton has served two terms as president of the Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce (www.fallschurchchamber.org), and has twice been the recipient of the prestigious "Pillar of the Community" award by the Chamber. Benton, an avid supporter of education, the arts, free speech, and equality, created and funded the Diversity Affirmation Program for high school students through the Falls Church Education Foundation (www.fcedf.org). His paper has twice been named "Business of the Year" by the Falls Church City Council (www.fallschurchva.gov) and he was the marshal of Falls Church's annual Memorial Day Parade, the city's single biggest event of the year, in 2001. This information is documented in Who's Who in America.
Nicholas Benton is also well-known as the creator of the widely popular "Knick Knacks". Knick Knacks is a one-panel comic strip which features characters in predicaments often involving simple monosyllabic misunderstandings. One example would be when a man, knelt over in pain (presumably coming from his posterier), exclaims to a doctor: "But I thought you were an eye, REAR, nose and throat doctor!" The doctor was in actuality an eye, ear, nose and throat doctor, and the man mistook 'ear' for 'rear.'
Other Knick Knacks focus on animals and the noises they make, for instance the cow and 'moo' or the duck and 'quack.' The onotomatapoeic animal sound is often paired with a real-life homonym, played up to great comic effect. For instance, a horse may be thought to be agreeing with something because it said 'neigh', or perhaps a doctor would be asking a duck why the duck called him a quack. Benton's truly unique mind manages to keep these up week after week, although some argue the quality has declined in recent years, following the creative peak of 2005-2006.