The pages - Page 3

Page 3 of the first 2 issues of Cheeky Weekly contained the Sunday feature.  This was because page 2 of those issues featured an introduction to the comic by Cheeky, plus instructions for assembly and usage of the free gifts.  However, from the third issue the introduction was dropped, allowing Sunday to migrate to page 2.  Following this move, the most frequent occupant of page 3 was the Skateboard Squad feature, which appeared there 44 times between 05 November 1977 and 23 September 1978.  After this date the Squad began their journey towards the rear of the comic, starting with a move to page 11 on 30 September 1978 and ending up on page 24 for their final appearance as the Skateboard Squad on 12 May 1979, before metamorphosing into the Speed Squad a couple of weeks later.

After the Squad vacated page 3, from 30 September 1978 the first page of 6 Million Dollar Gran's adventure became the most frequent subject, appearing on page 3 in a total of 38 issues.  But even the mighty Gran had to relinquish her grip on the page at times, as Calculator Kid then moved in for 3 weeks from 07 July 1979.  However, something of a tussle for control of the page ensued as Gran came back for 3 weeks from 28 July 1979 to 11 August 1979, then was deposed again by Calculator Kid.  After 10 more weeks of calculator-based fun on page 3, the ever-resilient Gran made one final bid for supremacy, wresting control of the page from Charlie and his calculator for one last time on 27 October 1979.  Calculator Kid was then firmly ensconced for 13 weeks until his final appearance on page 3, in the penultimate issue of Cheeky Weekly, dated 26 January 1980, before being shunted to page 16 the following week.

Why, Dad, Why? Made a sneaky, one-off appearance on page 3 of the final issue of Cheeky Weekly, suddenly getting to a prime spot in the comic after 51 weeks drifting between page 14 and the back cover.

A few other odds and ends occupied page 3 during the comic's history, and these can be seen in the table below.  A surprising one-off appearance on page 3 was published in late 1978.  The industrial relations problems that would eventually prevent publication of Cheeky Weekly for 3 weeks in December 1978 first became evident to readers in the 02 December 1978 issue, which had a reduced count of 28 pages instead of the usual 32.  Page 3 in that issue featured only the caption, 'The Publishers are sorry that some regular features of this issue have had to be omitted', effectively making this a 27-page comic!
Count of Elements (or distinct combinations thereof) appearing on Page 3

Elements	Total
Skateboard Squad	44
6 Million Dollar Gran 1/3	31
Calculator Kid	26
6 Million Dollar Gran 1/2	7
Sunday	3
Christmas Morning 2/2	1
Feature Omitted	1
Monday	1
Skateboard Squad 2/2	1
Sunday 2/2	1
Why, Dad, Why?	1