The One-Offs - PC Fuzzfoot

Almost entirely obscured by a miasma of detritus stirred up by Sid the Street-Sweeper's broom, PC Fuzzfoot made a single, non-speaking (but coughing) appearance in Cheeky Weekly dated 21 January 1978.

Art: Frank McDiarmid

For some reason, Fuzzfoot was never seen again (maybe he felt that the Krazy Town beat was bad for his asthma and opted for a desk-based role instead), and Constable Chuckle made his debut 10 weeks later, going on to appear in 83 issues.

The One-Offs - Fish-Face

Over the weeks there were many anonymous stooges who shared a joke with Cheeky and were never seen again. Certain of these ephemeral members of the Cheeky cast, however, were introduced and named in such a way that one expected them to become regular characters. This series of posts examines those 'one-off' appearances.

As Cheeky emerged from another trip in the time-travelling phone box in Cheeky Weekly dated 26 August 1978, he encountered Mr Haddock's 'new assistant' Fish-Face ...

Art: Mike Lacey

Fish-Face never returned to the pages of Cheeky Weekly, although another, un-named (and thus not qualifying for a one-off post of his own) fishmonger's assistant made a single appearance in the comic dated 04 November 1978.

Mike Lacey again

The One-Offs - Little Stitch

Over the weeks there were many anonymous stooges who shared a joke with Cheeky and were never seen again. Certain of these ephemeral members of the Cheeky cast, however, were introduced in such a way that one expected them to become regular characters. This series of posts examines those 'one-off' appearances.

Ah Sew's younger brother Little Stitch made his one and only Cheeky Weekly appearance in the issue dated 01 December 1979. This one-off character's name was punningly based on that of the diminutive but large-booted music hall performer Little Tich (1867-1928). The joke assigned to Little Stitch could quite easily have been delivered by his older sibling, but the Cheeky's Week scriptwiter evidently felt that it was worth creating a new character just to wring out an extra gag from his name (though whether kids of the late 70's would have been aware of the music hall allusion is open to question).

Cheeky Weekly 01 December 1979
Art: Mike Lacey

The One-Offs - Cheeky's Granny, Grandad, Aunt and Uncle (and sundry relatives)

Over the weeks there were many anonymous stooges who shared a joke with Cheeky and were never seen again. Certain of these ephemeral members of the Cheeky cast, however, were introduced in such a way that one expected them to become regular characters. This series of posts examines those 'one-off' appearances.

Cheeky's mum and dad were regularly featured from the debut issue, but until the first Christmas edition (dated 31 December 1977), readers hadn't witnessed any other member of the Cheeky clan.

Art: Frank McDiarmid
I like the legs heralding the approaching horde
in panel 3

It's no wonder our grinning hero has such a magnificent mouthful of dinner-manglers when both sides of his family are so chromosomally-disposed to having titanic chompers.

In Flash Harry's photo above we can see what looks like Cheeky's Granny and Grandad, plus sundry unspecified relatives and a canine with remarkably familiar teeth. None of these characters appeared again.

However, it appears Cheeky had an uncle and aunt who didn't make it into the above family portrait, but did appear in the 11 February 1978 issue.

Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils

Having served their purpose as part of Cheeky's plot to view his favourite TV programme, Auntie and (presumaby) Uncle's services were no longer required and they never returned.


Uncle Hamish, who did become a regular participant in Cheeky's Week, made his debut in the following issue.

See also Great Uncle Daniel.

The One-Offs – Colonel Balderdash

Is it really two and a half years since my last One-Offs post? Time to rectify the situation with a glance at Cheeky Weekly dated 30 June 1979. The two-page Saturday feature in that issue showed Teacher leading Cheeky and pals on a country ramble. Naturally, it wasn't very long before the toothy funster encountered Krazy Town's rustic jokesmith, Farmer Giles. However, as the ramble progressed onto its second page, our grinning pal had a humorous brush with a country squire who, despite being allocated a name, never appeared in the comic again.

Cheeky Weekly 30 June 1979
Art: Dick Millington

The One-Offs - Great Uncle Daniel

Cheeky's attempt to flush out a copy of the Mystery Comic in Cheeky Weekly dated 26 November 1977 involved his usual brush with wee Nosy Nora. Initially, it seemed the toothy funster would have to read another comic in lieu of his favourite title. However, Cheeky's movements in pursuit of the mysterious paper began a chain of events that led him to the location in which his Great Uncle Daniel toiled. There was no riddle about Walter Wurx's arrival - for him that was bog-standard behaviour.

Cheeky's extravagantly moustachioed relative, whose face fungus prevents us from seeing whether his teeth share the same porcelain quality of those of his great nephew, was only too happy to relieve himself of a copy of that most mysterious magazine.

Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils

This lavish scene was Great Uncle Daniel's only appearance in the toothy funster's comic. Maybe the Cheeky Weekly editor thought he was a little potty.

Not to be confused with: school gardener Dan Dan the Lavender Man.

I hope you were engaged by this post, and didn't have a vacant expression while reading it.

The One-Offs – Slurping Sophie

Slurping Sophie (sister of deafening diner Crunching Chris) was seen once during Cheeky Weekly's run, appearing during 18 February 1978's Interval. Her failure to return was probably due to the limited scope for liquid laughs (at least at the point of ingestion – Walter Wurx had of course monopolised micturatory mirth).

Art: Unknown Cheeky Artist 1

The one-offs - Commissionaire's Grandson

The toothy funster had a single encounter with Commissionaire's Grandson, in Cheeky Weekly dated 19 August 1978. This was the issue in which Cheeky was given a glimpse of his life as a senior citizen in the year 2038, courtesy of Crystal Belle's mystic powers. Evidently our grinning pal is a lifelong movie enthusiast as his older self is still attending film shows on Saturday morning.

As we know, Commissionaire's appearances were linked to the Saturday morning picture show that readers of Cheeky Weekly witnessed in the first 59 issues of the comic. The final picture show to be featured in Cheeky Weekly was in the 02 December 1978 issue. The fact that Ursula the erstwhile usherette tells Cheeky in the following issue that she has a new job as a security guard suggests that the cinema had closed (a fate that increasingly befell picture-palaces during the 70s, as cinema attendance plunged while TV ownership boomed). However, Comissionaire's Grandson's comments indicate only that his grandfather retired - whether the grandson is working at the same cinema is open to conjecture.

The One-Offs - Dismal Daisy

Gloomy Glad's cousin, Dismal Daisy, made a single Cheeky Weekly appearance, during the cinema interval in the 28 October 1978 issue.

The One-Offs - Presto the Magic Rabbit

Most named characters who appeared in only one issue of Cheeky Weekly (and thereby qualify for inclusion in this series of One-Offs posts) were limited to a single page, and quite often a single panel. Presto the Magic Rabbit is unique in being a one-off who featured throughout Cheeky's Week, and even got his own feature in the comic.

Presto, a giant rabbit (or possibly someone in a giant rabbit suit), was hired by Cheeky's pals to put on a special magic show during the cinema interval in the first birthday issue of Cheeky Weekly, dated 21 October 1978. The show appeared as a feature entitled Hey Presto! Magic Show, and Presto was depicted performing a series of carrot-driven conjuring tricks.

Presto had in fact arrived in Krazy Town a week early, and there followed several inadvertent encounters with the toothy funster in the days preceding the magic show. In a scenario reminiscent of 1950 film, Harvey, Cheeky's pals pretended not to see the big bunny. This caused our hero to doubt his sanity but to his relief, the truth was revealed on Saturday.

After the magic show, Presto set a word-search challenge for Cheeky Weekly readers, on the back cover's Cheeky's Pal Puzzle. This colour appearance of the conjuring cottontail revealed that he was brown of hue, whereas he had appeared to be white when depicted on the internal pages.

After setting the puzzle, Presto apparently left Krazy Town (possibly in a puff of smoke and with a wave of a magic carrot), as he never appeared in the comic again.

There is a possibility that Presto was in fact the Cinema Commissionaire in a rabbit suit - see here.

The One-Offs - Auntie Daisy's Ancestor

Auntie Daisy's unnamed antecedent made a one-off appearance, implicating herself in the fateful events at Pudding Lane, in the issue dated 23 September 1978.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Auntie Daisy's Ancestor	1	23-Sep-1978	23-Sep-1978

The One-Offs - Jimmy

Jimmy appeared only in the 18 February 1978 issue.  He was given a rather distinctive look, wearing a strange flat cap and glasses, so he has the appearance of a character who would return.  Sadly for Jim, however, no further work came his way after his first encounter with Walter's limited bladder capacity.  Maybe someone in the Cheeky Weekly office envisaged a rich vein of water-divining -based humour, but the writer couldn't think of any more jokes on this topic, leaving Walter as the sole source of liquid laughs.

The One-Offs - Bump-Bump Bernie's Dad

Bump-Bump Bernie's dad made a single appearance in Cheeky Weekly's run, in the 26 November 1977 issue.  Well, when I say appearance, he was encased in bandages.  The unfortunate father was also splinted and hobbling on a crutch as a result of a budgie-and-Bernie-related incident.

The One-Offs - Station Porter

Cheeky had plenty of adult pals who were regularly seen performing their jobs around Krazy Town; Postie, Doctor Braincell, Constable Chuckle, Milkie etc.

The station porter on the cover of the 19 November 1977 issue probably thought he was lined up to join these Cheeky Weekly stalwarts, particularly as jokes at the expense of British Rail were regularly featured in the media at the time.  Although Cheeky usually encountered his fun-pals on the street, and shoehorning in a railway joke in while Cheeky did his weekly round of Krazy Town could have been problematic, there seems no reason why a railway theme couldn't have occasionally been used again in the What A Cheek cover strips.

Sadly for Station Porter, no further trackside fun was featured in the comic.

The One-Offs - Milkie's Assistant

From Cheeky Weekly dated 10 December 1977 comes this appearance of Milkie's rather tubby assistant. The assistant was there just to set up Cheeky's joke, after which he was never seen again.

The One-Offs - Hymn and Her

Here are a pair of young scallywags who probably thought they were onto a good thing when they appeared in the first issue of Cheeky Weekly. Little did Hymn and Her realise that they were to be used for this joke only and would never appear again.

The One-Offs - Mad Scientist

Starts today!!

Over the weeks there were many anonymous stooges who shared a joke with Cheeky and were never seen again. Certain of these stooges, however, were introduced in such a way that one expected them to become regular characters.

We have already seen one such; Don the Dustman, who appeared in a single issue only. The fact that, unlike most single-appearance stooges in the comic, he was given a name, led one to expect that he would join the gang of Cheeky Weekly regulars, but this was not to be.

These characters will be the subject of this new series of posts.

This time we focus on Mad Scientist, who in fact was a recurring character in the 'Ello it's Cheeky strip in Krazy, where he had featured in 9 issues by the time of his Cheeky Weekly appearance during the interval in the 14 January 1978 issue. Even his mum, dad and little brother had appeared in Cheeky Weekly's companion title. Yet for some reason he was never featured in Cheeky Weekly again.

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