Coming to public awareness during the satire boom of the
early 1960s as one of the founders of Private Eye, cartoonist, writer
and comedian Willie Rushton was later exposed to larger audiences
as a contributor to TV’s That Was The Week That Was and as a
panelist on BBC Radio’s anarchic comedy panel game I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue.
Even greater media exposure ensued as Willie took his seat among the gagsters on ITV’s comedy game show, Celebrity Squares. The noughts-and-crosses based quiz originally ran from 1975
to 1979, and was probably where the majority of Cheeky Weekly readers
first became acquainted with the bearded funnyman, resulting in his name
being adopted and adapted (twice) in relation to two of the toothy
funster’s many pals.
Cheeky Weekly dated 10 December 1977 saw the first Rushton reference,
with a punchline relating to Sid the Street-Sweeper…
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| Art: Frank McDiarmid pencils |
Then in the 11 March 1978 edition Cheeky's late-for-class ruse involved two anonymous painters,
either of whom could have been the character later appearing under the nom de paintbrush of Willie Brushiton...
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| Art: Unknown Cheeky Artist 1 |
Krazy Town then appeared to be devoid of painters until the issue
dated 14 October when Willie got his first name-check.
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| Art: Frank McDiarmid |
Willie was the creator of one of the seven blunders of the world, as
identified by the toothy funster in Cheeky Weekly dated 11 November1978.
The first time we saw Willie in anything other than his
paint-splattered overalls was the 23 June 1979 issue.
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| Frank again |
The only edition to feature more than one appearance by the daft decorator was the comic dated 29 December 1979, wherein Willie fetched up on the Monday and Thursday pages.
Willie’s final appearance (again out of his work gear, although
somewhat less smart than his debut in civvies due to the fact that his top coat was missing) was at Cheeky’s new
year party in the comic dated 05 January 1980...
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| More Frank |
Cheeky's painter pal was never featured in Krazy, but clocked appearances in 26 editions of Cheeky Weekly (27 if we assume Willie was one of the painters in the 11 March 1978 comic).
Count of elements by artist
| Character | Total Issues | First Appearance | Final Appearance |
| Willie Brushiton | 26 | 23-Sep-1978 | 05-Jan-1980 |
Count of elements by artist
| Character | Artist | Total Elements |
| Willie Brushiton | Frank McDiarmid | 16 |
| Willie Brushiton | Mike Lacey | 6 |
| Willie Brushiton | Frank McDiarmid pencils | 3 |
| Willie Brushiton | Jimmy Hansen | 1 |
| Willie Brushiton | Dick Millington | 1 |
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