Cheeky Weekly cover date 25 March 1978

Having enjoyed a few weeks where the main cover illustration was specially-drawn, on this week's front page we get the cut-and-pasted 'standard Cheeky face' which by now is familiar to Cheeky Weekly readers, having been used in the comic several times before, for example in the 'welcome' pages in the first 2 issues.  It's also familiar to readers of this blog as it's used at the top of the page.

Sharing the main section of the cover with Cheeky is Auntie Daisy, the school meals lady, but she doesn't appear inside this week.

Cheeky's Mum makes her cover debut in the What a Cheek strip (she has, of course, appeared inside the comic a number of times by now).  The strip also features a generic doctor character although Doctor Braincell, Krazy Town's merry medic, had made his first appearance in the 11 March 1978 comic, and appears on Friday in this issue.

The Sunday page sees Lily Pop tell Cheeky it's her week off, and on Sunday evening Cheeky meets Iddle-I-Po, stalwart of Cheeky's strip in Krazy comic.  This is the Chinese character's only appearance in Cheeky Weekly, and it seems he has turned up in an attempt to bolster the circulation figures for Krazy, as he's wearing a badge saying 'Save a comic, buy Krazy'.  Cheeky's chirpy Chinese chum looks somewhat different to the version that appears in Krazy.

This week's 6 Million Dollar Gran story is the first to be drawn by Nigel Edwards, and tells of Gran's arrest after being duped into helping a robber.  All ends well as Gran apprehends the real criminal.

Mustapha Million's bodyguards cause problems when they won't let him play rough games, but Mustapha solves the problem by hiring more bodyguards to guard him from his bodyguards.



In this week's instalment of the film serial, Space Family Robinson discover what lay beneath King Blubber's apparently rubbery hide.

The holiday special season gets under way (in March? isn't that a bit early? I presume IPC have a whole stack of holiday or summer specials planned this year, so have to get an early start) with an ad on page 31 for the Monster Fun Holiday Special.

This is a great issue for all fans of luscious Lily Pop as, despite it being her week off, she appears every day.  It's just a pity that Frank McDiarmid, obviously busy with other work, didn't get to draw her in his own, inimitable style.  Nobody draws Lily with such oomph as Frank.

In fact, there is only one pure Frank McDiarmid element in this issue, and that's the 3-panel conclusion to Wednesday.  Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 weighs in with 6 elements, Barrie Appleby provides 4, and Frank McDiarmid pencils furnish 2 elements.

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 25-Mar-1978, Issue 23 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'Auntie Daisy' - Art Frank McDiarmid\What a Cheek - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
2	Sunday - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 (final art on feature)
3	Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
4	Sunday evening - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 (final art on feature)
5	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Nigel Edwards (first art on feature)
6	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Nigel Edwards (first art on feature)
7	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Nigel Edwards (first art on feature)
8	Monday - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 (final art on feature)
9	James Bold 'Tower of Terror' 2 of 6 - Art Mike White
10	James Bold 'Tower of Terror' 2 of 6 - Art Mike White
11	Suddenly - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 (final art on feature)
12	Tuesday - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 (final art on feature)
13	Old Comic reprint from Tiger 'Dodger Caine' 2 of 3
14	What's New, Kids
15	Wednesday - Art Barrie Appleby
16	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds
17	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds\Wednesday (conclusion) - Art Frank McDiarmid
18	Joke-Box Jury
19	Thursday - Art Barrie Appleby
20	Home Movie 'The Thing from Another Planet' - Art Jack Clayton
21	Friday - Art Barrie Appleby
22	Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett
23	Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett
24	Ad: IPC 'Look and Learn' 3 of 16 Ad: 'Mickey Mouse' 2 of 18
25	Saturday - Art Barrie Appleby
26	Tweety and Sylvester 'Showdown at Granny's'
27	Tweety and Sylvester 'Showdown at Granny's'
28	Interval - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
29	Space Family Robinson 'The Tunnel' - Art John Richardson (final art on feature)
30	Space Family Robinson 'The Tunnel' - Art John Richardson (final art on feature)
31	Ad: IPC 'Monster Fun Holiday Special' 1 of 2 \Saturday - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1
32	Pin-up pal 'Buster the Busker' - Art Frank McDiarmid

Cheeky's Week Artists Cover Date 25-Mar-1978

Artist	Elements
Unknown Cheeky Artist 1	6
Barrie Appleby	4
Frank McDiarmid pencils	2
Frank McDiarmid	1

Profile - Postie

Postie had the honour of being the first of Cheeky's pals to feature in the What a Cheek cover strip, on the front of the debut issue of Cheeky weekly.  The perky post person was a regular in Krazy's 'Ello It's Cheeky pages, so he was possibly allocated the front cover slot in Cheeky's first issue to reassure prospective purchasers who had previously read Krazy that the 'Ello It's Cheeky-style humour they had enjoyed would continue into the new comic.  Postie returned to the cover of Cheeky Weekly one further time, in a single-panel joke crammed into the corner of page 1 of the 18 August 1979 issue.

In total, the merry mailman appeared in 27 issues of Cheeky Weekly, not quite making it to the end of the comic's run, his final appearance being in the 19 January 1980 issue which was just 2 weeks short of the last issue before the merge into Whoopee!

Postie's function on the majority of occasions he appeared in Krazy had been to ask Cheeky to write a limerick about a different subject (often a town or county or, in later issues, a reader's name) each time.  In Cheeky Weekly his role altered somewhat and he became a source of mail-related jokes and puns.

In the Christmas 1977 issue we got a rare glimpse of an off-duty Postie, yet as a guest at Cheeky's new year party in the 06 January 1979 issue, the daft delivery man was in full uniform.  However, he was in civvies again for the new year party in the 05 January 1980 comic.

off duty

Postie featured every day during Cheeky's Week (well, every day except Sunday, which was presumably his day off) in the 18 March 1978 issue.

In the 15 September 1979 issue we learned that Postie is Do-Good Dora's uncle.

Postie wasn't averse to delivering the same joke twice.

Is that really Frank's address on the shoe?

Despite the honour of being the first character to swap a gag with our toothy hero in Cheeky Weekly, postie didn't appear on a Pin-Up Pal poster, nor did the larking letter-deliverer get to feature in a Burpo Special (although he was the subject of the Krazy equivalent, Cheeky's Pal, in the 20 August 1977 issue of that comic).

The longest Krazy Town went without a postal delivery was the 17 weeks that elapsed between Postie's appearance in the 15 July 1978 issue and his return in the comic dated 11 November 1978.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Postie	27	22-Oct-1977	19-Jan-1980

Count of elements by artist

Character	Artist	Total Elements
Postie	Frank McDiarmid	23
Postie	Frank McDiarmid pencils	6
Postie	Mike Lacey	5
Postie	Jim Watson	1

The features -James Bold 'Tower of Terror'

Cheeky began reading the third James Bold tale, Tower of Terror, in Cheeky Weekly issue 22, dated 18 March 1978. The previous Bold adventure, The Ghost Highwayman, had ended in the 04 March 1978 issue, but the following week the Bold strip was bumped from the comic by a page of competition results and a competition to win Basil Brush records. This was the only break in the series of Bold escapades which ran from Cheeky Weekly's debut issue until 05 August 1978 (although Bold did continue to appear thereafter in the Cheeky annuals).

Having had a week to recover from his encounter with The Ghost Highwayman, a refreshed Bold and assistant Angel O'Mercy embark on his next perilous investigation, into the terrifying events at Headland House…

 

Angel sees the creature climb into the tower through an open window, but by the time Bold looks up the thing is gone.  Doubting what she had seen, Angel follows Bold into Headland House, where they find a table laid for two and a mysterious note of welcome.  Just as our hero starts to partake of the food, Angel notices that the eyes in all the portraits adorning the wall have turned to focus on her, and something is scratching at the window.

The couple are then distracted by the arrival of a car, and move outside to find the occupants are film director Marcus Crane and his actress wife, Edwina.  Suddenly, a black shape leaps from the tower above and crashes into Angel, who is relieved to discover her assailant is nothing more sinister than Edwina's cat, Sheba.

Explaining that he laid out the food to welcome his wife to their new holiday home before leaving to collect her from the local station, Crane invites Bold and Angel to join them for supper.  During the meal, Angel is struck by the sinister air of their hosts.  Crane, doing nothing to assuage her fears, insists that she and Bold stay the night at Headland House, averring "There is no danger in this house.  No danger at all!"

Meanwhile, something tentacled sits watching Headland House with its single eye.

After supper, our supernatural investigators are shown to their rooms, Angel in the east wing, and Bold in the west.  Crane gives Bold a copy of his latest film script, entitled Bats of Bellonia.  The ghost-hunter, unable to sleep, flips through the script and finds that a scene involving mysterious organ music melds into real life, as he hears the sound of an organ coming from outside his room.  Following the echoing chords, Bold enters the music room to see a cowled figure seated at the keyboard.  As the figure turns, Bold is shocked to see there is no face inside the hood.

Our hero rips a sword from the wall and lunges at the mysterious musician, determined to learn whether it really is a ghost.  The figure jabs a special button on the keyboard, and gas seeps from the organ pipes, overcoming Bold, who regains consciousness some hours later, now alone.

Finding the door locked, Bold exits through the window and climbs out onto the ledge.  As he edges along the narrow parapet, with waves crashing on the rocks far below, Bold is shocked to see Angel a few feet away on the same ledge.  As he approaches her, Angel explains that she had climbed out of her window when gas started entering her room through a ventilator grille.

Bold attempts to climb inside another room, but finds it full of bats.  The leathern-winged denizens of the night stream to freedom through the open window, toppling the two ghost-hunters from their precarious position and into the sea.

As Angel plunges into the roiling waves she sees the tentacled creature that she first spied climbing Headland Tower, rising to the surface.  She hauls herself onto a rock, but is plucked from her perch and held aloft by the cyclopean horror.  Bold mounts the rock and, snatching up a piece of driftwood, lays into the monster, which shatters and catches fire.  Our heroes have no time to reflect on this surprising event, as a horde of the tentacled terrors emerge from the waves, forcing Bold and Angel to strike out for the beach below Headland House.  Our heroes make for a door only to find that it's locked, but much to their relief they realise the eight-legged fiends are heading away and up the side of the tower.

The steel-nerved ghost-hunter kicks down the door and he and Angel enter to find Crane and Edwina rehearsing a scene from Bats of Bellonia.  Crane explains that in this part of the film, two intruders enter a room and find a trap has been laid for them.  The script mirrors Bold's predicament as Crane's savage dogs attack our heroes, who are forced into a lift that descends to the basement.

Bold and Angel emerge into a room strewn with wooden chests.  Angel opens one, and finds a coiled snake inside, about to strike.  Crane's image appears on a TV monitor and explains that the snake is the guardian of his private vault, and Angel will not live long enough to discover his secrets.

Now read on…

Well once again we find that supposedly supernatural events are entirely man-made.  Will Bold ever encounter a real ghost, rather than some nutcase with an unnecessarily elaborate nefarious scheme?

I expect that this Bold story, like Bold's first adventure (and, I'm guessing, the second), was based on a Maxwell Hawke strip that originally appeared in Buster.  Looking through the list on the Buster comic website, I would guess that Tower of Terror was a rehash of Maxwell Hawke and The Haunted Headland, which ran in Buster from 04 May to 29 June 1963, a total of 9 weeks assuming there were no breaks.  Tower of Terror ran for 6 weeks, with the concluding instalment in Cheeky Weekly dated 22 April 1978.

Like the previous Bold thriller, the framing device for Tower of Terror saw Cheeky sneak a weekly free read of the James Bold novel in the newsagents.

I assume that the art on the run of Tower of Terror was again by Mike White, who drew The Ghost Highwayman, but I'm no expert on adventure artists so if anyone knows different, please get in touch.

You can view my work-in-progress summary of all the Bold adventures here.

Cheeky Annual 1985

Bruce concludes his excellent series of posts on the Cheeky Annuals with a look at the 1985 annual, which was the last to appear.  See here and here.

While you're over at Bruce's place, if you haven't already done so, take a minute to vote in the great Burpo vs Sweeny poll.  At the moment, Sweeny is inexplicably ahead in the vote, so we need to make sure Burpo, the rightful holder of the title 'IPC's number one toddler terror' wins by a clear margin.  To vote, click the Polls Archive link in the right hand column of Bruce's blog.

Cheeky Weekly cover date 18 March 1978

The Pin-Up Pal poster of Baby Burpo gets above-the-title billing this week, and below that is a reference to the Old Comic feature, as Cheeky eagerly peers into his dad's chest of comics.  This depiction of Cheeky and Snail would appear to have been specially drawn for the cover by Frank McDiarmid, unlike many of the earlier 'inside-this-week' cover pictures which featured artwork taken from panels from the comic's interior.  Below this illustration is the What A Cheek strip, featuring hilarity at a height at the expense of an anonymous steeplejack.

6 Million Dollar Gran recovers a stolen racehorse and carries it past the winning post in a 2-page tale, and just as we begin to wonder if one of Cheeky's Pals will be featured throughout the week in this issue, on Monday Cheeky meets mirthful mailman Postie who is puzzling over a letter with an indecipherable address. The perplexed postal worker is determined to solve the mystery by the end of the week.

Later on Monday, Cheeky settles down to read the first chapter of the new James Bold novel, Tower of Terror.  Unlike last week, Cheeky manages to complete his reading of the chapter before the irate newsagent pounces.

On Tuesday Cheeky ascends to the attic and raids the chest we saw on the cover to read a page from Chips, 1945, containing vintage Casey Court and Alfie the Air Tramp strips.

Malodorous miscreant Pongo Snodgrass, from Krazy comic, makes a brief appearance in this issue's Creepy Sleepy Tale, and in a memorable instalment of their adventures, the Robinson family learn that King Blubber is not what he appears.  However, they won't discover what he actually IS until next week's episode of Space Family Robinson.

There are 6 pure Frank McDiarmid Cheeky's Week elements this issue, with Frank McDiarmid pencils taking over on Wednesday and providing a total of 7 elements.  However, in addition to his work on Cheeky's Week, there is also pure Frank McDiarmid art on the main cover illustration and the Pin-Up Pal poster.

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 18-Mar-1978, Issue 22 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'Old Comic' - Art Frank McDiarmid\What a Cheek - Art Frank McDiarmid
2	Sunday - Art Frank McDiarmid
3	Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
4	Sunday evening - Art Frank McDiarmid
5	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
6	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
7	What's New, Kids
8	Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid
9	James Bold 'Tower of Terror' 1 of 6 - Art Mike White
10	James Bold 'Tower of Terror' 1 of 6 - Art Mike White
11	Suddenly - Art Frank McDiarmid
12	Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
13	Old Comic reprint from Chips 'Casey Court' 1 of 3 reprint from Chips 'Alfie the Air Tramp'
14	Ad: Weetabix (first appearance)
15	Wednesday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
16	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds
17	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds\Wednesday (conclusion) - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
18	Joke-Box Jury
19	Thursday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
20	Home Movie '2001 A Space Oddity' - Art Jack Clayton
21	Friday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
22	Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett
23	Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett
24	Ad: IPC 'Look and Learn' 2 of 16 Ad: 'Buster' 5 of 5
25	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
26	Road Runner 'The Lucky Charms'
27	Road Runner 'The Lucky Charms'
28	Interval - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
29	Space Family Robinson 'King Blubber's Secret' - Art John Richardson
30	Space Family Robinson 'King Blubber's Secret' - Art John Richardson
31	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils\Ad: IPC 'Mickey Mouse' 1 of 18
32	Pin-up pal 'Baby Burpo' - Art Frank McDiarmid

Profile - Gunga Jim

Supposedly amusing national stereotypes were common in the media during the 60s and 70s.  It seems shocking to us now that 'humour' of this type even extended to children's comics, but we must acknowledge that a number of Cheeky's pals were presented in ways that would be considered inappropriate today.  One such was Gunga Jim, who appeared in 62 issues of Cheeky Weekly.

This blog's mission is to take a detailed look at Cheeky Weekly, so it's necessary to examine all aspects of the comic, even those which are less palatable to current tastes.  I therefore present this post as a document of less enlightened times.

Jim's first appearance

Jim, whose name was of course an allusion to the unfortunate water-bearer subject of Kipling's poem Gunga Din, first appeared in the issue dated 21 January 1978.  He was featured sporadically thereafter, his puns on the word curry or Indian city names often delivered in a 'comic' speech-pattern.  Jim's catchphrase, uttered when he made what he considered to be a particularly successful joke, was "Oh curry-curry, hot stuff!"


Unlike some characters who were elevated to 'guest star' status in an issue of the comic by being featured throughout Cheeky's Week, Jim never appeared in more than 2 elements in any issue.  He achieved a place on the cover on 6 occasions, once as Cheeky's stooge in 17 March 1979's Cheeky's Week, and 5 times thereafter, when the Cheeky's Week feature had been replaced by a single front page joke.

In the early days of Cheeky Weekly, several of Cheeky's regular pals would be seen among the toothy funster's classmates whenever the action moved into the classroom.  As the comic neared the end of its run, Jim was quite often the only recognisable character among a bunch of anonymous schoolkids.

Jim never appeared in the 'Ello It's Cheeky feature in Krazy, and his final foray into Cheeky Weekly was in the issue dated 05 January 1980.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Gunga Jim	63	21-Jan-1978	05-Jan-1980

Gunga Jim - Number of appearances by Element

Element	Number of Appearances
Saturday	18
Friday	12
Interval	8
Monday	7
Cover Feature	6
Tuesday	6
Thursday	5
Sunday	3
Wednesday	3
Cheeky's Week	1
Easter Saturday	1
Saturday - April Fool's Day	1
Sunday evening	1

Gunga Jim - Number of appearances by Page

Page	Number of Appearances
25	16
1	7
30	7
12	6
28	6
31	6
2	3
7	3
8	3
29	3
6	2
15	2
19	2
26	2
4	1
20	1
22	1
32	1

Count of elements by artist

Character	Artist	Total Elements
Gunga Jim	Frank McDiarmid	33
Gunga Jim	Frank McDiarmid pencils	17
Gunga Jim	Mike Lacey	12
Gunga Jim	Barrie Appleby	5
Gunga Jim	Jim Watson	2
Gunga Jim	Dick Millington	2
Gunga Jim	Unknown Cheeky Artist 1	1

Cheeky Annual 1983

Bruce continues his sterling work documenting the Cheeky Annuals here.

Cheeky Weekly cover date 11 March 1978

Boom-Boom!  Furry funster meets toothy funster this week as Basil Brush dominates the cover in a rather poorly-reproduced black and white photo.  The printing process on IPC comics of the time was not good at handling photographs, so maybe a colour drawing of wily Basil would have been more effective.  However, as the funny fox at one time had his own strip in rival publisher Polystyle's TV Comic and was featured in a series of annuals in the late 70s, maybe there was a rights issue that meant only a photo could be used.  Or more likely a photo was cheaper.  Anyway, a competition to win copies of Basil's LP, Boom-Boom! It's Basil Brush, is announced.  The What A Cheek strip sees Cheeky indulging in classroom fun, and Teacher's hair has gone white with the strain of it all.  Snail is seen climbing the edge of a panel.

On the Sunday page, Jogging Jeremy tells Cheeky that he's going to set a record for the number of circuits of Krazy Town, and the toothy funster monitors the feeble fitness fanatic's progress throughout the following seven days.

Skateboard Squad are involved in a rather lacklustre tale of delivery problems, and the careless boarders run Cheeky over at the end of the story.


On Monday our grinning pal enters the newsagents and discovers a new James Bold novel (he'd read the final chapter of the previous Bold adventure last week).  The toothy funster's anticipated free read is foiled when he's discovered by the newsagent and ejected from the shop.  The absence of James Bold in this week's comic is due to the fact that a whole page is allocated to listing the 500 'Friend of Cheeky' T-shirt winners, from the competition in the 26 November 1977 issue, and the Basil Brush competition takes up half of page 11.

 In the final panel of the Tuesday page we learn that Cheeky and his dad are both readers of Whoopee!, before our dentally-challenged hero heads up to the attic to peruse a page from Swift, 1954.

There is no 'pure' Frank McDiarmid art in the Cheeky's Week features this issue, although Frank does the honours on the Pin-Up Pal poster.  Barrie Appleby makes his first contributions to Cheeky's Week, furnishing us with art on 6 elements, while Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 contributes his trademark bird and hot air balloon in another 6 elements, and Frank McDiarmid pencils contributes the conclusion to Wednesday.

Madcap medic Doctor Braincell makes his debut in this issue.  Daffy Duck flies off for good.

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 11-Mar-1978, Issue 21 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'Basil Brush competition'\What a Cheek - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 (final art on feature)
2	Sunday - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1
3	Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
4	Sunday evening - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1
5	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
6	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
7	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
8	Joke-Box Jury
9	Monday - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1
10	Suddenly - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1
11	Basil Brush competition (single appearance)\Ad: IPC 'Look and Learn' 1 of 16
12	Tuesday - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1
13	Old Comic reprint from Swift 'Roddy the Road Scout' reprint from Swift 'The Topple Twins' reprint from Swift 'Daisy'
14	Ad: KP (first appearance) 'Outer Spacers Star Wars promotion' 1 of 2
15	Wednesday - Art Barrie Appleby (first art on feature)
16	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds
17	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds\Wednesday (conclusion) - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils
18	500 T-Shirt Winners (single appearance)
19	Thursday - Art Barrie Appleby (first art on feature)
20	Home Movie 'The Mystery of Loch Ness' - Art Jack Clayton
21	Friday - Art Barrie Appleby (first art on feature)
22	Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett
23	Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett
24	Ad: IPC 'Buster' 4 of 5 Ad: 'Misty' 5 of 5
25	Saturday - Art Barrie Appleby (first art on feature)
26	Daffy Duck (final appearance) 'Snack Time'
27	Daffy Duck (final appearance) 'Snack Time'
28	Interval - Art Barrie Appleby (first art on feature)
29	Space Family Robinson 'Fright Flight' - Art John Richardson
30	Space Family Robinson 'Fright Flight' - Art John Richardson
31	What's New, Kids\Saturday - Art Barrie Appleby (first art on feature)
32	Pin-up pal 'The Vicar' - Art Frank McDiarmid

Cheeky's Week Artists Cover Date 11-Mar-1978

Artist	Elements
Barrie Appleby	6
Unknown Cheeky Artist 1	6
Frank McDiarmid pencils	1

Profile - Jogging Jeremy

Limping along in the wake of the late 70s fitness fad came Jogging Jeremy, exhausting himself in 111 issues of Cheeky Weekly, and often being overtaken by Snail.  Jeremy had not previously appeared in Krazy when he made his Cheeky Weekly debut in the 22 October 1977 issue, although he did subsequently appear twice in Cheeky's companion comic;  In Krazy dated 17 December 1977 he was the featured character in the Cheeky's Pal feature (which interestingly Burpo introduces as a Burpo Special, pre-dating that feature's appearance in Cheeky Weekly by a year), and the substandard sportsman appeared again in Krazy's final issue dated 15 April 1978.

First Cheeky Weekly appearance

'Cheeky's Pal' page from Krazy

Jeremy was seen straining himself to pass Snail on the Pin-Up Pal Poster in Cheeky Weekly dated 25 February 1978.  Two weeks later, the feeble fitness fanatic was featured throughout Cheeky's Week, when he set out to break the world record for circuits of Krazy Town in the 11 March 1978 issue.

Jeremy was the subject of The Burpo Special in Cheeky Weekly dated 28 April 1979.

On Saturday in the 20 October 1979 issue, Cheeky visited Jeremy's keep fit class which, given the feeble state of its owner's health, was surprisingly well-patronised by the toothy funster's pals.

The issue dated 05 January 1980 included Cheeky's Cut-Out Catalogue of Jogging Jeremy Jokes, and in the 19 January 1980 issue there was a half-page feature entitled Jogging Jeremy's 'Weak'ly Exercise Routine.  Jeremy appeared in the Skateboard Squad strip in the 24 June 1978 issue and guested in the same feature in the comic dated 07 October 1978.

Jeremy made it onto the cover of 7 issues, 5 times in a Cheeky's Week strip, once on 05 January 1980's Leap Year cover, and once as the object of Cheeky and Manhole Man's joke.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Jogging Jeremy	111	22-Oct-1977	02-Feb-1980

Missing From Issues

28-Jan-1978

01-Apr-1978

29-Jul-1978

23-Jun-1979

21-Jul-1979

15-Sep-1979

Jogging Jeremy - Number of appearances by Element

Element

Number of Appearances

Saturday
25
Sunday
19
Monday
16
Thursday
16
Tuesday
14
Wednesday
14
Sunday evening
10
Friday
9
Cheeky's Week
5
Cover Feature
4
Christmas Morning
1
Suddenly
1
The Burpo Special
1
Wednesday (conclusion)
1

Jogging Jeremy - Number of appearances by Page

Page	Number of Appearances

2
18
31
11
1
9
4
9
12
9
30
8
15
7
6
6
19
6
21
6
8
5
9
5
25
5
22
4
5
3
7
3
10
3
11
3
20
3
23
3
3
2
26
2
13
1
17
1
18
1
24
1
27
1
32
1

Count of elements by artist

Character

Artist

Total Elements

Jogging Jeremy
Frank McDiarmid
63
Jogging Jeremy
Frank McDiarmid pencils
25
Jogging Jeremy
Mike Lacey
19
Jogging Jeremy
Barrie Appleby
13
Jogging Jeremy
Unknown Cheeky Artist 1
7
Jogging Jeremy
Dick Millington
5
Jogging Jeremy
Jim Watson
2
Jogging Jeremy
Bob Hill
1
Jogging Jeremy
Not known
1

A letter from Cheeky

Many thanks to blog reader The 5th Man, who has been in touch about a letter he received from the Cheeky Weekly office.

5th (as he's known to his friends) was evidently very successful at getting items published in the comics of yesteryear, having his cartoons printed in Jackpot and Whizzer and Chips.

Thus it was in late 1979, and with great excitement, 5th sent a joke off to Whoopee!, and even greater excitement ensued when the joke was printed in the 03 November 1979 issue of that comic

However, after several weeks the prize money hadn't arrived, so 5th wrote to the Whoopee! office, probably around the time that Cheeky Weekly merged into Whoopee! judging by the comments in their reply, which can be seen below.

 

The letter mentions the large amount of mail received since the merge with Cheeky Weekly.  No doubt they were swamped with letters from erstwhile Cheeky Weekly readers complaining about the loss of their comic, and from loyal Whoopee! fans saying 'What's all this Cheeky rubbish filling our comic now?'

Anyway, Whoopee! apologised and sent 5th a generous £2.00 plus Whoopee cushion.

Still smarting at the inefficiency of those fools at Whoopee! (they couldn't even spell 'reply' properly), 5th felt it necessary to take his complaint to the top person at IPC, so dashed off a letter to Cheeky, explaining what had happened, no doubt stressing that the deprivation of his Whoopee cushion had caused great anguish.  A sympathetic soul in the office grabbed some redundant Cheeky Weekly stationery and typed a conciliatory missive in the guise of the toothy funster himself.  Unfortunately, and not a little ironically, the composer of the letter got 5th's name wrong, calling him Kenneth not once but twice.

Despite being scarred by the whole experience, 5th is hoping to find a copy of Whoopee! dated 03 November 1979.  If anyone out there has a copy for sale, or can scan it, please get in touch with me at the email address at the top of the page.

The pages - page 5

As we know from previous 'pages' posts, the first 2 issues of Cheeky Weekly included an introduction from Cheeky on page 2, resulting in a slightly different distribution of features among the pages of those issues than was later to be the case.  This resulted in page 5 carrying the Sunday evening feature in issues 1 and 2, but as from issue 3, James Bold's continuing investigations into the spooky goings on at Grimstone Grange, in the tale known as Fangs of Fear, moved to page 5.  To be precise he conducted on page 5 as much of his investigation as he could achieve in the first half of his 2-page-per-week serial, up to and including episode 10 of this 11-part series in the comic dated 24 December 1977.  There was then a break in the usual page layout for the Christmas 1977 issue, when page 5 was occupied by the festive guzzlings of Cheeky's Christmas dinner, resulting in the final episode of Fangs of Fear appearing on pages 10 and 11.

One might have expected James Bold to return to pages 5 and 6 after the Christmas disruption, but with the new year came a slight reorganisation in the comic, and antediluvian android, 6 Million Dollar Gran, became firmly established as the resident of page 5.  However, there were a number of interruptions to Gran's tenure as custodian of this page, the first coming on 13 May 1978 when ads for IPC stablemates Tiger and Whizzer and Chips appeared in Gran's spot.  After this, Gran was back in control of page 5 until another 2 IPC publications, Whoopee! and Look and Learn, were plugged on 21 October 1978.

Gran regained her hold on page 5 again until the 02 December 1978 issue when the Monday feature deposed her, and again the following week when the advertising feature, What's New, Kids kept Gran from resuming her usual place.

The robotic pensioner was then back in charge of page 5 for 2 weeks, before being ousted again on 20 January 1979 by 2 IPC ads, this time for Tiger and Shoot respectively.  After another 4 weeks of Gran fun on page 5, 24 February 1979's issue saw the puzzle feature, Tease Break, take over from Gran, and the following week the 'funny photos' feature, Silly Snaps, kept Gran from the 5th page.

However, Gran's run on page 5 was not over, as she returned for the following 6 weeks until 21 April 1979 when a half-page Joke-Box Jury and ad for the Buster and Monster Fun Spring Special interrupted her in this location again.  The following week, another ad, this time for WH Smith, kept Gran from page 5, but she was back for another 2 weeks before Tease Break returned to page 5 on 19 May 1979.

Not to be deterred, Gran resumed her position on page 5 for a further 7 weeks, the interruption in 14 July 1979's issue coming in the form of What's New, Kids again.  Another 6 week run of robotic pensioner fun followed on page 5, until the comic dated 01 September 1979 when renamed reprint from Whizzer and Chips, The Gang, had the second page of their adventure in that location.

Gran was then back for a further 5 weeks until the second page of Stage School's strip made a bid for control of the 5th page.  However, the young thespian upstarts proved no match for feisty Gran who returned to page 5 for a further 4 weeks up to and including the 10 November 1979 comic.  This was the last time Gran was to occupy page 5, as she was subsequently relegated towards the rear of the comic, but the synthetic senior citizen had done her robotic stuff on page 5 in a creditable 80 issues, 31 of which hosted the third page of her story, 37 the first page and 12 the second page.

The Monday feature then moved into page 5 for 7 weeks, until the issue dated 05 January 1980, when Elephant on the Run moved in for one week only.  Monday was back on page 5 for 2 weeks until 26 January 1980, when two IPC ads took up page 5, one for Mickey Mouse comic, and the other for Shoot.  Monday returned to page 5 in the final issue of Cheeky Weekly, dated 02 February 1980.

Count of Elements (or distinct combinations thereof) appearing on Page 5

Elements	Total
6 Million Dollar Gran 3/3	31
6 Million Dollar Gran 1/3	30
6 Million Dollar Gran 2/3	11
Monday	11
James Bold 1/2	8
6 Million Dollar Gran 1/2	7
Advertisement: IPC\Advertisement: IPC	4
Sunday evening	3
Tease Break	2
What's New, Kids	2
6 Million Dollar Gran 2/2	1
Advertisement: IPC\Joke-Box Jury	1
Advertisement: WH Smith	1
Christmas Dinner	1
Elephant On The Run	1
Silly Snaps	1
Stage School 2/2	1
The Gang 2/2	1

Cheeky Weekly cover date 04 March 1978

Issue 20 of Cheeky Weekly features hulking cinema usherette Ursula on the front cover, apparently bent on revenge for Cheeky's merciless jibes about her appearance.  This artwork appears to have been specially produced for the cover, rather than taken from a panel within the comic as we have become used to.  The What A Cheek strip, running vertically down the page this week, features a fortune-teller-type joke.  Krazy Town's resident psychic, Crystal Belle, won't make her first appearance until July, so instead Cheeky's partner for this gag is one Madame Zaza.

On Sunday, Cheeky encounters toddler terror Baby Burpo who is worryingly polite.  What's going on?

Monday sees Cheeky sneak into the newsagents under the cover of Milkie, to read the thrilling final instalment of James Bold's current adventure, The Ghost Highwayman.

Burpo is again uncharacteristically helpful to Cheeky on Tuesday.  Now our toothy hero is REALLY getting worried.





Freaky, the alien member of Krazy comic's Krazy Gang (the gang of course numbers Cheeky among its human members), pops up on the What's New, Kids page to plug the current issue of Krazy, which is a space special.

On Wednesday, it becomes clear why Burpo has been well-behaved all week.

Burpo's pre-birthday truce comes to a violent end after this week's Creepy Sleepy Tale, as the terrible toddler uses his teddy bear to batter Cheeky about the head.

Devious, grudge-bearing Burpo takes his revenge during the rest of the week. He helps the Baker's Boy to win his bet with Cheeky on Thursday, and on Friday tells Nosy Nora where to find The Mystery Comic, so that the toothy funster has to wait until she's finished reading it.  The fiendish tot arranges for Cheeky to stand in for the commissionaire on Saturday, resulting in our grinning pal being trampled underfoot when the cinema doors are opened.

The belligerent babe is also the engineer of Cheeky's humiliation by Ursula, as heralded on this week's cover, during a rather shocking cinema interval.  Cheeky can dish it out, but can he take it?

 Cheeky finally capitulates and gives Burpo a belated gift in the final 3 panels of this week's issue.

There is no Pin-Up Pal poster this week, as the back cover carries an ad for Hovis bread, giving details of a promotion that invites consumers of said loaf to send in four wrappers and receive in return four free tickets to a Saturday morning cinema show at ABC cinemas.  Despite being on the back page, this ad is not in colour.

Reprint from Buster, Cocky Doodle cocks his final doodle this week.

Frank McDiarmid provides art on 8 Cheeky's Week elements this week, with Unknown Cheeky Artist 1  delivering the remaining 5.

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 04-Mar-1978, Issue 20 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'Ursula' - Art Frank McDiarmid\What a Cheek - Art Frank McDiarmid
2	Sunday - Art Frank McDiarmid
3	Skateboard Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen
4	Sunday evening - Art Frank McDiarmid
5	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
6	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
7	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
8	Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid
9	James Bold 'The Ghost Highwayman' 9 of 9 - Art Mike White
10	James Bold 'The Ghost Highwayman' 9 of 9 - Art Mike White
11	Suddenly - Art Frank McDiarmid
12	Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
13	Old Comic reprint from Knockout 'Our Ernie'
14	What's New, Kids
15	Wednesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
16	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds
17	Creepy Sleepy Tale - Art Keith Reynolds\Wednesday (conclusion) - Art Frank McDiarmid
18	Joke-Box Jury
19	Thursday - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1
20	Bam Splat and Blooie reprint from Buster\Cocky Doodle (final appearance) reprint from Buster
21	Friday - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1
22	Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett
23	Mustapha Million - Art Reg Parlett
24	Ad: IPC 'Buster' 3 of 5 Ad: 'Misty' 4 of 5
25	Saturday - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1
26	Tweety and Sylvester 'Too Many Grannies'
27	Tweety and Sylvester 'Too Many Grannies'
28	Interval - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 (final art on feature)
29	Space Family Robinson 'Stampede' - Art John Richardson
30	Space Family Robinson 'Stampede' - Art John Richardson
31	Saturday - Art Unknown Cheeky Artist 1
32	Ad: Hovis (single appearance)

Cheeky's Week Artists Cover Date 04-Mar-1978

Artist	Elements
Frank McDiarmid	8
Unknown Cheeky Artist 1	5

Profile - Don the Dustman

Don the Dustman made a single appearance in Cheeky Weekly's run.  On Christmas morning in the 31 December 1977 issue he gave Cheeky the feed line for a gag while helping himself to one of the toothy funster's chocs.  Possibly the script writer felt that already-established refuse disposal character Short-Sighted Dustman, who by this time had appeared in 3 issues, was not really appropriate for this joke since there was no nearsighted aspect to it.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Don the Dustman	1	31-Dec-1977	31-Dec-1977

Count of elements by artist

Character	Artist	Total Elements
Don the Dustman	Frank McDiarmid	1