At the centre of the Spui, a small square surrounded by some excellent beer bars and bookshops, is a stylised brass statue of a boy with a naughty smile that hints that he’s up to no good. The Little Darling, Dear or Sweetheart is the Dutch version of Dennis the Menace, Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes), Max and Moritz and countless other fictional depictions of mischievous boys popular in all cultures. Erected on the Square in 1960 with funds provided by a tobacco company, the statue became a rallying point for the Provos, a counter-culture movement that protested against pretty much all of the successes and failures of the 1950s.
