The Whoopee Years - Cheeky Weekly Characters in the Popularity Polls - part 11

Another Top Ten voting coupon (the 13th to be published since Whoopee absorbed the survivors from Cheeky Weekly in February 1980) was printed in Whoopee and Wow! dated 07 January 1984, the second voting coupon to appear since Wow! was merged into Whoopee in July 1983.

The next poll results appeared in Whoopee and Wow! dated 31 March 1984.

As has become the tradition in this series of posts, we'll first establish which features had been brought to an end between the previous set of poll results in the 19 November 1983 edition, and those dated 31 March 1984...

START_DATE	END_DATE	CE_ELEMENT
02-JUL-83	03-DEC-83	KBR
10-DEC-83	17-DEC-83	Spot the Changes
10-MAR-84	31-MAR-84	Sweeny Toddler's Naughty Booklet

And which features had commenced between the two dates...

START_DATE	END_DATE	CE_ELEMENT
31-DEC-83	29-DEC-84	We wish all of our readers a very merry Christmas
14-JAN-84	30-MAR-85	Animalad

So in terms of strips, the rather insipid Animalad had replaced the citizens' band radio larks of KBR which had been imported from Wow! just a few months earlier. Otherwise, Whoopee and Wow! had enjoyed a remarkably stable period, the editor probably deciding to let the amalgamated line-up bed in for a while.

What were the ongoing strips in the period?...

START_DATE	END_DATE	CE_ELEMENT
09-FEB-80	12-JAN-85	Cover Feature
09-FEB-80	30-MAR-85	Bookworm
09-FEB-80	30-MAR-85	Bumpkin Billionaires
09-FEB-80	30-MAR-85	Calculator Kid
09-FEB-80	30-MAR-85	Frankie Stein
09-FEB-80	30-MAR-85	Lolly Pop
09-FEB-80	30-MAR-85	Mustapha Million
09-FEB-80	30-MAR-85	Paddywack
09-FEB-80	30-MAR-85	Stage School
09-FEB-80	30-MAR-85	Sweeny Toddler
09-FEB-80	30-MAR-85	Toy Boy
16-FEB-80	30-MAR-85	Chip
01-MAR-80	19-JAN-85	Top Ten voting coupon
10-MAY-80	09-MAR-85	Top Ten Results
01-NOV-80	27-OCT-84	Guy Fawkes Mask
23-OCT-82	30-MAR-85	Snack-Man
27-NOV-82	23-MAR-85	Calculator Corner
12-FEB-83	26-JAN-85	Freaky Frankie
02-JUL-83	28-JUL-84	Letterbox
02-JUL-83	04-AUG-84	Spare-Part Kit
02-JUL-83	23-MAR-85	Team Mates
02-JUL-83	30-MAR-85	Bleep
02-JUL-83	30-MAR-85	Boy Boss
02-JUL-83	30-MAR-85	Cheeky (Quick Strip)
02-JUL-83	30-MAR-85	Comic Turns
02-JUL-83	30-MAR-85	Creepy Comix
02-JUL-83	30-MAR-85	Family Trees
02-JUL-83	30-MAR-85	Gran's Gang
02-JUL-83	30-MAR-85	Here Is The News
02-JUL-83	30-MAR-85	Kid Comic
02-JUL-83	30-MAR-85	Ossie
02-JUL-83	30-MAR-85	Shipwreck School
02-JUL-83	30-MAR-85	TV Quiz Kids

All the ex-Cheeky Weekly characters had now settled into formats that would persist until Whoopee's cancellation in March 1985.

Here are the poll results as printed in Whoopee and Wow! dated 31 March 1984...

Only one representative of the toothy funster's former comic makes into into the top ten - Stage School, who secured first place in the April '83 vote, are up one place to number 4 this time. Maybe a significant proportion of those readers with a predilection for school larks have transferred their allegiance from the showbiz shenanigans of Stage School to the more exotic tropical travails of Wow! survivors Shipwreck School. Nevertheless the aspiring performers of Stage School are now the only Cheeky Weekly characters to have secured a place in all 13 polls conducted since the toothy funster's comic merged into Whoopee.

Poll Date	Feature	Position
10/05/80	Stage School	8
15/11/80	Stage School	6
20/06/81	Stage School	10
20/02/82	Stage School	7
07/08/82	Stage School	8
21/08/82	Stage School	10
02/10/82	Stage School	5
06/11/82	Stage School	3
04/12/82	Stage School	8
22/01/83	Stage School	4
02/04/83	Stage School	1
19/11/83	Stage School	5
31/03/84	Stage School	4

Calculator Kid and Mustapha Million, the next most frequent Top Ten entrants from among the Cheeky contingent, both fail to enter the top ten for the second consecutive time.

Poll Date	Feature	Position
10/05/80	Calculator Kid	4
15/11/80	Calculator Kid	2
20/06/81	Calculator Kid	5
20/02/82	Calculator Kid	4
07/08/82	Calculator Kid	6
21/08/82	Calculator Kid	5
02/10/82	Calculator Kid	6
06/11/82	Calculator Kid	8
04/12/82	Calculator Kid	6
22/01/83	Calculator Kid	3
02/04/83	Calculator Kid	5
19/11/83	Calculator Kid	Not placed
31/03/84	Calculator Kid	Not placed

Poll Date	Feature	Position
10/05/80	Mustapha Million	1
15/11/80	Mustapha Million	1
20/06/81	Mustapha Million	1
20/02/82	Mustapha Million	3
07/08/82	Mustapha Million	4
21/08/82	Mustapha Million	4
02/10/82	Mustapha Million	4
06/11/82	Mustapha Million	7
04/12/82	Mustapha Million	4
22/01/83	Mustapha Million	7
02/04/83	Mustapha Million	9
19/11/83	Mustapha Million	Not placed
31/03/84	Mustapha Million	Not placed

Since being subsumed into Whoopee, Gran has made a single poll appearance in each of her guises. On those 3 occasions she has been disappointingly low in the regard of readers. The senior citizen (no longer synthetic as of her Gran's Gang reboot) is absent again this time.

Poll Date	Feature	Position
10/05/80	$6,000,000 Gran	7
15/11/80	$6,000,000 Gran	Not placed
20/06/81	Robot Granny	Not placed
20/02/82	Robot Granny	Not placed
07/08/82	Robot Granny	Not placed
20/02/82	Robot Granny	Not placed
02/10/82	Robot Granny	Not placed
06/11/82	Robot Granny	10
04/12/82	Robot Granny	Not placed
22/01/83	Robot Granny	Not placed
02/04/83	Robot Granny	Not placed
19/11/83	Gran’s Gang	7
31/03/84	Gran’s Gang	Not placed

Cheeky and Paddywack have failed to enter any of the poll results, and Gran's popularity has never been great, but clearly Stage School, Calculator Kid and to a lesser extent Mustapha Million, whose popularity was waning before the latest merge, have suffered as a result of the induction of Wow! characters into the comic. Will our ex-Cheeky Weekly chums fare better in future polls? The answers can be found here.

Back to part 10