“Ooh, I say, Miss, would you like to take a look at my ENORMOUS collection!?”

Prepare to be bombarded by giantesses with balloon-sized bosoms, battalions of bare bums and henpecked hubbies of diminutive proportions as one of the country’s most bizarre institutions, the world-famous saucy seaside postcard, is relaunched to mark its 100th anniversary.

Love them or hate them, for a century these cheeky cards by Bamforth & Co have been a sun-faded staple in our seaside shops and promenades, cockily sitting cheek-to-cheek (ooh, er, missus) with the windbreak (oops, there I go again), the kiss-me-quick hats and sticks of brightly-coloured rock, though their popularity has, like the tides they watch over, ebbed and flowed, from their 1960s heyday, in particular 1963, when 18 million were shifted in a year, mainly due to the legendary one in which a salivating policeman questions a pretty, giant-breasted lass.

Policeman: “Anything you say, Miss, will be taken down.”

Miss: “Knickers!”

Classic, but clearly not enough to maintain the firm, which a few years back went, well, bust.

So, thanks to their limited availability, they’re naturally collectable, though you can still unearth the odd, dog-eared batch for sale.

For example, in the newsagent’s on Westover Road, Bournemouth, where I came across an entire rack of big-boobed beauties, the woman behind the counter told me they easily outsell the typical pretty view cards – so much so, that when the cards stopped being made, they bought up a big batch to keep up with customer demand.

Well, I never.

And now, just as it seemed their days were numbered, businessman, Ian Wallace, 63, who bought Bamforth & Co nine years ago and now owns the rights to more than 50,000 of the postcard images, has announced that we could soon see their distinctive, cartoon imagery on everything from mouse mats to boxer shorts.

Wallace said: “They always look good and they always make people smile.

“Maybe they’re not to everyone’s taste but if you can’t laugh at Bamforth postcards what can you laugh at?

“They are classic images which have really stood the test of time.”

In 1870 James Bamforth began his business in Holmfirth, near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire – a village now most famous for being the setting of the long running BBC comedy Last Of the Summer Wine.

Bamforth was a portrait photographer who later specialised in lantern slides. But it was the saucy postcards, launched in 1910, which sealed his firm’s reputation.

Mr Wallace, who is originally from Huddersfield, said: “This company was making films before Hollywood and then they went onto produce these postcards, which are an institution.

“They sold millions and millions and millions of them. They were sold all around the world.

“I think this move will give them a new lease of life.”

Bamforth & Co was bought by the Scarborough printing firm Dennis in the 1980s and Mr Wallace bought the rights in 2001, after this company collapsed.

Mr Wallace said: “All we’re hearing about at the moment is cuts, cuts, cuts. It’s good to have something we can all laugh about.

“People like a good laugh, particularly at times like this and I think we should laugh more. We know that aspects of the Bamforth range of daft, comic ideas will appeal to certain people in all countries.”

I can see this thing growing and growing...