The Cut-Out Features - All About Skateboarding

Last November I posted the first in a series concentrating on Cheeky Weekly's cut-out features (of which there were many). In that post I said More Joke Strips, appearing in the 12 November 1977 issue, was the first feature that readers were invited to remove from the comic. Nobody spotted my deliberate (ahem) mistake. The first cut-out feature actually commenced the week before, when the comic dated 05 November 1977 carried the first of 4 instalments of the All About Skateboarding booklet.

Ad from Whizzer and Chips 05 November 1977 -
The booklet gets equal billing with news of the free badge

Cheeky Weekly 05 November 1977
The back and front covers of the booklet

The sport/leisuretime activity of skateboarding was of course one of the many crazes of varying hazard levels that captured youngsters' imaginations in the 1970s (see also Clackers, Yoyos, Rubik's Cube). Many British kids were no doubt enticed into trying their skill on a board after watching TV clips of juvenile Californians pursuing the hobby under perpetually sunny skies. Propelling a board through cold, windy British streets with rain lashing into one's face was an entirely different experience.

The Cheeky Weekly editor, no doubt hoping to latch onto the skateboarding bug while in its ascendancy, evidently felt a 4-part booklet giving boarders (and those hopefuls who had included a board on their 1977 Christmas list) a few tips, tricks and safety hints would prove popular enough to retain the comic's existing readers and also gain some new ones.

Drawn by Peter Maddocks, the All About Skateboarding booklet was published in four 2-page instalments (with each page designed to be folded into 2 booklet pages) in Cheeky Weekly issues dated 05 November to 26 November 1977. The toothy funster appeared on the booklet's cover along with Cheeky Weekly's resident expert boarders Skipper and Skatie, from the Skateboard Squad. Snail was also present, recklessly mounted on a speeding board without any safety equipment, and seemingly inches from a shell-shattering collision with his grinning pal.

Skipper, Skatie and Cheeky also appeared in the booklet's centre spread along with the canine member of the Skateboard Squad, Wipe-Out. Snail was again in evidence, but wisely on foot although he seems to be involved in yet another near-miss with his toothy chum. Cheeky's Jersey is missing its trademark 'C' (as it was on the booklet's cover).

Page 2 emphasised the safety aspects of the sport,
which was very commendable as by page 15
things were getting somewhat risky

Those on a tight budget weren't forgotten - the booklet included instructions on building a board from plywood and urethane wheels.

Also lost to posterity - providing the booklet pages were removed carefully, no other elements of the comic would be lost.

Another skateboard-related cut-out feature, the Skateboard Snap game, commenced in the 04 February 1978 issue of Cheeky Weekly, which was the special Skateboard issue.