You're safe with Cheeky

I've just caught up with this post over at the Boys Adventure Comics blog. It presents an article from the July 1987 issue of the Society of Strip Illustration newsletter in which the editor of Oink!, Mark Rodgers, discusses the pig-centric publication. He also mentions that Bob Paynter, IPC Group Editor, was apparently of the opinion in 1987 that Krazy and Cheeky Weekly (from an earlier era of course) 'failed because they played too safe'.

Profile – Taff the Laff

Cheeky introduced Welsh wag Taff the Laff in the 14 July 1979 edition of his comic. Where Taff had been for the preceding 87 issues was never explained. Maybe he had only recently moved from the valleys to Krazy Town.

Taff's debut
Art: Mike Lacey

Cheeky's promise of rhyming raillery was contradicted on Taff's second appearance...

Cheeky Weekly 28 July 1979
Art: Dick Millington

...but by the time of his third outing the comical couplets had been restored...

Cheeky Weekly 04 August 1979
Art: Frank McDiarmid

In the comic dated 18 August 1979 the leek-loving lad shared a name-based quip with our toothy pal on Monday and again on Wednesday. Taff also appeared twice in the 08 December 1979 edition, but his second outing that week was in a non-speaking, background role.

Cheeky Weekly dated 10 November 1979 saw a reversal in the usual order of things as the toothy funster told Taff a joke rather than the other way round. This was one of those occasions when the panel containing the set-up was at the end of a row, and the punchline appeared in the first panel of the following row, a situation which does not make it easy to present a decent scan of the gag. I'll just tell you that Cheeky's payoff was "A Taffodil", and you can probably figure out the joke yourself.

Taff appeared on the cover of the comic dated 12 January 1980, sharing a rugby joke with our grinning hero, and the Welsh wit also appeared on the Monday page in the same issue. The laffing lad's final Cheeky Weekly appearance was in the last edition of the comic, bringing to 26 the total number of issues in which Taff appeared. He never featured in the Cheeky pages in Krazy.

Character	Total Issues	First Appearance	Final Appearance
Taff the Laff	26	14-Jul-1979	02-Feb-1980

Count of elements by artist

Character	Artist	Total Elements
Taff the Laff	Frank McDiarmid	17
Taff the Laff	Mike Lacey	5
Taff the Laff	Jimmy Hansen	2
Taff the Laff	Dick Millington	2
Taff the Laff	Frank McDiarmid pencils	2
Taff the Laff	Barrie Appleby	1

The Rejects - Shorty

A number of the supporting cast who populated Cheeky's Week in his own comic originated in the Cheeky pages in Krazy. However not all the characters who appeared in the toothy funster's Krazy strip made the transition into Cheeky Weekly.

A year before Uncle Hamish made his debut in Cheeky Weekly, our toothy pal (at this time still sporting a 'K' on his jumper - he didn't begin wearing the sweater bearing his initial until Krazy dated 20 August 1977 in his own strip, although it was a week later before the toothy funster's 'C' jumper appeared on the Krazy Gang pages) had an encounter with another comical Caledonian...

Krazy 22 January 1977
Art: Frank McDiarmid

Cheeky's diminutive pal from north of the border made no further appearances in Krazy, nor did he transfer into Cheeky Weekly. As mentioned above, the role of frugal Scot in the pages of the toothy funster's own comic was fulfilled by Uncle Hamish.

The Pages - page 32

Page 32 was of course the back cover of IPC’s humour titles in the late 70s (except in cases such as Cheeky Weekly’s two 28-page truncated issues). Let’s see what this prime, colour-bearing site had to offer readers over the course of the comic’s existence.

In the inaugural edition of the toothy funster’s title, the concluding segment of the Saturday picture show sequence was to be found in the subject location, together with a message from our grinning pal advising readers that the following issue would include a free ‘joke-filled’ Fun Wallet. The visual of Cheeky which accompanied this announcement was somewhat disturbing, as whoever assembled the image allocated a left hand to his right arm (the same unsettling image was used on the What's New, Kids features dated 12 November and 24 December 1977 and 07 January 1978).

Art: Frank McDiarmid, who I'm sure wasn't
responsible for the hand/arm gaffe

A week later, with bonfire night approaching, firework manufacturers Standard placed a full-page, colour ad on page 32. The ad took the form of a snakes-and-ladders-style board game featuring a selection of their incandescent products together with cautionary content such as ‘You are under 16 and try to buy your own fireworks. It is not allowed! Go back to [square] No. 4’.

Hopefully all Friends of Cheeky were sensible enough to follow the sage advice in Standard’s advert and thus fit and ready to read issue number 3 which on its back cover included the first part of the skateboard booklet, as did page 32 in the following three editions.

Immediately following the conclusion of the skateboard booklet was another cut-out-and-keep feature, this time a 1978 diary. Once again this ran for 4 editions, which seems to have been the default duration for all such promotional schemes.

In the comic dated 31 December 1977 the back page documented the Cheeky family’s preparations for their new year party, and ended on a cliff-hanger regarding the identity of the first person to cross their threshold as the chimes of midnight struck. Cheeky’s mum told him that he would have to kiss the first attendee if female. The toothy funster feared that he might be required to plant a smacker on Libby, Ursula or Louise, while his dad hoped that luscious Lily Pop would head the queue of revellers. Readers had to wait seven days to learn Cheeky’s fate, which was revealed on page 2, but in that issue the back cover was host to the first instalment of yet more cut-out content, this time the Cheeky Spotter Book of Fun. The Spotter book ran on the back page for, you won’t be surprised to learn, the following three editions.

A cut-out feature again occupied the page under review in the 04 February 1978 special skateboard edition. This time it was that week’s third section of the Skateboard Snap game. Contrary to my earlier assertion that these snip-and-save features ran for 4 weeks each time, all the elements of Skateboard Snap were contained within that single issue, so it troubled readers no more after this particular edition.

A week later Cheeky’s slimy sidekick Snail took control of the back cover to demand of readers (rather rudely, in my opinion) ‘Oi! What’s my name?’. The inimitable invertebrate went on to explain that he was fed up with not having a proper name and senders of the best suggestions for a mollusc monicker would receive £2.

Cheeky Weekly readers who had become a little tired of their Six Million Dollar Man/Follyfoot/Noddy bedroom wallpaper were delighted when, in the 18 February 1978 edition, the Pin-Up Pal series resumed with a back-page poster of cracking crossing lady Lily Pop. The colour printing on the back page made it the ideal location for the series (although the three previous posters were printed in the centre pages thus enjoying the additional benefit of double-sized posters). Readers would have the opportunity to complete the redecoration of their bedrooms as the series continued (with odd gaps and a longer period of absence as we will see later) until the 31 March 1979 issue. The second run of PUP ran, with some absences as shown below (mostly due to paid advertisements usurping the coveted back cover location), until 23 September 1978 and included the 16 September 1978 occasion when the comic contained 2 posters in one edition…

Date	Details
18-Feb-78	Pin-up pal 'Lily Pop' - Art Frank McDiarmid
25-Feb-78	Pin-up pal 'Jogging Jeremy' - Art Frank McDiarmid
04-Mar-78	Ad: Hovis (single appearance)
11-Mar-78	Pin-up pal 'The Vicar' - Art Frank McDiarmid
18-Mar-78	Pin-up pal 'Baby Burpo' - Art Frank McDiarmid
25-Mar-78	Pin-up pal 'Buster the Busker' - Art Frank McDiarmid
01-Apr-78	Pin-up pal 'Auntie Daisy' - Art Frank McDiarmid
08-Apr-78	Pin-up pal 'Sid the Street Sweeper' - Art Frank McDiarmid
15-Apr-78	Pin-up pal 'Louise' - Art Frank McDiarmid
22-Apr-78	Pin-up pal 'Constable Chuckle' - Art Frank McDiarmid
29-Apr-78	Pin-up pal 'Ursula' - Art Frank McDiarmid
06-May-78	Ad: Trebor 'Corgi Batman promotion' 2 of 3
13-May-78	Pin-up pal 'Six-Gun Sam' - Art Frank McDiarmid
20-May-78	Pin-up pal 'Granny Gumdrop' - Art Frank McDiarmid
27-May-78	Pin-up pal 'Posh Claude' - Art Frank McDiarmid
03-Jun-78	Ad: Rotaplane (first appearance)
10-Jun-78	Pin-up pal 'Do-Good Dora' - Art Frank McDiarmid
17-Jun-78	Pin-up pal 'Yikky-Boo' - Art Frank McDiarmid
24-Jun-78	Ad: Kellogg's
01-Jul-78	Saturday 2/2 - Art Frank McDiarmid\Ad: IPC 'Mini Comics promotion' 2 of 3
08-Jul-78	Saturday 2/2 - Art Frank McDiarmid pencils\Ad: IPC 'Whizzer and Chips Holiday Special' 3 of 3
15-Jul-78	Ad: Wall's (final appearance) 'lollies'
22-Jul-78	Ad: Bubbly (first appearance)
29-Jul-78	Pin-up pal 'Bump-Bump Bernie' - Art Frank McDiarmid
05-Aug-78	Pin-up pal 'Libby' - Art Frank McDiarmid
12-Aug-78	Pin-up pal 'Teacher' - Art Frank McDiarmid
19-Aug-78	Pin-up pal 'Herman' - Art Frank McDiarmid
26-Aug-78	Pin-up pal 'Petula' - Art Frank McDiarmid
02-Sep-78	Crack-A-Joke Game (first appearance) 3/3
09-Sep-78	Crack-A-Joke Game 3/3
16-Sep-78	Pin-up pal 2/2 'Disco Kid' - Art Frank McDiarmid
23-Sep-78	Pin-up pal 'Snoozin' Susan' - Art Frank McDiarmid

A week after the second run of PUP came to an end, a new series of back cover features, which I have christened Cheeky’s Pal Puzzle, commenced. This feature occupied page 32 for 9 weeks and quite possibly generated unfavourable feedback from readers who had not succeeded in covering their bedroom walls when Pin-Up Pal ceased earlier in the year, because a new run of PUP began in the 06 January 1979 edition. This final PUP run was to last for 13 weeks, bringing the total number of times that Pin-Up Pal featured on page 32 to 35 and making it the most regular occupier of the site under review.

 

The Burpo Special was then relocated from the inside pages to the back cover, and occupied the same for 8 weeks until it was displaced by an advert for Trebor Chews featuring a colouring competition based on a Superman comic strip. The Burpo Special then resumed its page 32 run for a further 4 weeks which brought this feature to a conclusion and made it, with 12 appearances on page 32, the third most regular visitor to the subject location.

The back cover of the comic dated 07 July 1979 featured an advert for the less-than-enticing (in my view, never having been a fan of the sticky, black, tooth-discolouring and slightly bitter confectionary) liquorice novelties purveyed by Mr Bellamy.

Snail of the Century, which had the distinction of being the final original strip to commence in Cheeky Weekly, then began on the back page of the issue dated 14 July 1979. This initial run was broken after 3 issues when page 32 was host to an ad placed by British Rail who wanted readers to know about their Great Rail Club, which entitled train travellers between the ages of 5 and 15 to rail discount vouchers to the value of £5. ‘You can travel with your parents, or on your own with their permission’.

Snail and his back garden buddies then resumed occupation of the subject location for a further 6 issues, after which Why, Dad, Why? made a surprise bid to take control of the back cover, but was repelled just 7 days later when Snail of the Century began another 6 week residency. This time the snaily japes were interrupted by Mr Bellamy who was still trying to offload his liquorice bootlaces, pipes (yes, kids were encouraged to ape adult smokers but this was a time when the idea of kids aged 5 travelling alone on trains was apparently deemed acceptable) and sundry other unappealing ‘sweets’.

What was to be a 5 week run of SotC then commenced in the comic dated 17 November 1979, following which the hectic hilarity of Elephant on the Run made its single visit to the back page.

Snail-based humour then returned to the back page, and this run continued in that location until the penultimate edition of the toothy funster’s comic, dated 26 January 1980. This brought to 25 the number of times Snail of the Century had occupied page 32, making it the second most regular feature to appear there. A week later the back cover of the final edition of Cheeky Weekly announced that the first combined issue of Whoopee and Cheeky would include a competition to win Corgi Friscodisco record players. The back page ad also carried a coupon which was required in order to enter the competition together with another coupon for placing a regular order for Whoopee and Cheeky at the local newsagent. The TV ad for Friscodisco featured Tony Blackburn reading a comic, but not an IPC title - instead the disc jockey was seen with a copy of The Beano.

Count of Elements (or distinct combinations thereof) appearing on Page 32

Elements	Total
Pin-up pal	34
Snail of the Century	25
The Burpo Special	12
Saturday 2/2\Cheeky's Pal Puzzle	9
Diary 2/2	4
Skateboard booklet 2/2	4
The Cheeky Spotter Book of Fun 2/2	4
Saturday 2/2\Advertisement: IPC	3
Advertisement: Mr Bellamy's	2
Advertisement: Trebor	2
Crack-A-Joke Game 3/3	2
Page 32 not present	2
Advertisement: Bubbly	1
Advertisement: Hovis	1
Advertisement: IPC	1
Advertisement: Kellogg's	1
Advertisement: Rotaplane	1
Advertisement: Standard Fireworks	1
Advertisement: The Great Rail Club	1
Advertisement: Wall's	1
Elephant On The Run	1
New Year's Eve	1
Oi! What is My Name?	1
Pin-up pal 2/2	1
Skateboard Snap 3/3	1
Why, Dad, Why?	1

Profile - Willie Brushiton

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…

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...

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.

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.

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...

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).

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

Whizzer and Chips - The Cheeky Raids part 31

New readers start here... After Cheeky Weekly folded and was incorporated into Whoopee as of February 1980 six strips that had originated in the toothy funster's title survived the merge and continued to appear in the amalgamated comic. Whoopee itself foundered in March 1985 and was merged into Whizzer and Chips. Three of the surviving Cheeky Weekly strips successfully negotiated this second merge and went on to appear in the newly combined publication, rather inelegantly titled 'Whizzer and Chips now including Whoopee'. The survivors were Mustapha Million, Calculator Kid and (appearing only twice) Stage School. Cheeky continued to appear, but as a member of The Krazy Gang, who had moved into W&C when Krazy, the comic in which the Gang originated, expired in April 1978. However, the Krazy Gang's Whizzer and Chips run ended in the issue dated 08 February 1986. Calculator Kid survived a little longer, his run of reprints coming to an end in the 26 July 1986 edition and leaving Mustapha Million as the sole Cheeky Weekly survivor.

5 weeks after perpetrating a raid on Odd-Ball, Mustapha was once again subject to the unwanted intrusion of a sneaky Whizz-kid. Can you spot the interloper? Scroll down to see the culprit revealed...

Whizzer and Chips 17 January 1987
Art: Barry Glennard

Yes, it's the Whizz-kid head honcho himself, Sid, on a solo raid without his serpentine sidekick, Slippy. Sid's smug 'I made a mug of Mustapha Million' is becoming somewhat hackneyed now, having been used by various raiders on three previous occasions that our moneyed mate has suffered raids, namely 06 December 1986, 18 October 1986 and 28 June 1986.

More raiding fun soon!

Whizzer and Chips Cover Date	Raider	Raided
06 April 1985	Mustapha Million	Super Steve
04 May 1985	Bloggs (Store Wars)	Mustapha Million
11 May 1985	Joker	The Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
18 May 1985	Calculator Kid & Calc	Odd-Ball
01 June 1985	Animalad Mustapha Million	The Krazy Gang (Cheeky) Boy Boss
08 June 1985	Odd-Ball	Calculator Kid
06 July 1985	Toy Boy	Calculator Kid
13 July 1985	Pa Bumpkin	The Krazy Gang (Cheeky)
27 July 1985	Joker	Mustapha Million
24 August 1985	Cheeky	Sid's Snake
14 September 1985	Odd-Ball Calculator Kid	Calculator Kid Store Wars
05 October 1985	Mustapha Million	Animalad
19 October 1985	Odd-Ball	Mustapha Million
23 November 1985	Sweeny Toddler Sweeny Toddler Sweeny Toddler	Calculator Kid The Krazy Gang (Cheeky) Mustapha Million
18 January 1986	Mustapha Million	Super Steve
25 January 1986	Odd-Ball Cheeky	Mustapha Million Odd-Ball
08 February 1986 The Krazy Gang ends this issue	Animalad	Mustapha Million
15 February 1986	Lazy Bones	Calculator Kid
15 March 1986	Odd-Ball	Calculator Kid
29 March 1986	Calculator Kid	Master P Brain
05 April 1986	Bumpkin Billionaires	Mustapha Million
12 April 1986	Animalad	Calculator Kid
31 May 1986	Lazy Bones	Calculator Kid
07 June 1986	Mustapha Million	Joker
28 June 1986	Sweet Tooth	Mustapha Million
26 July 1986 Calculator Kid ends this issue	No Cheeky-related raid this issue	No Cheeky-related raid this issue
16 August 1986	Mustapha Million	Joker
23 August 1986	Sweet Tooth	Mustapha Million
18 October 1986	Winnie the Royal Nag	Mustapha Million
06 December 1986	Toy Boy	Mustapha Million
13 December 1986	Mustapha Million	Odd-Ball
17 January 1987	Sid	Mustapha Million

Cheeky Weekly cover date 15 December 1979

Art: Frank McDiarmid

There’s a distinct air of deja vu about the cover of Cheeky Weekly issue number 110 – see the 13 October 1979 issue – as Cheeky shares an early morning gag with madcap medic Doctor Braincell. It seems the Doctor has changed his choice of Sunday paper since his last cover outing, although his order for two pints of Krazy Town Dairy’s finest gold top remains unaltered.

Over the page as Cheeky’s paper round continues, our toothy pal meets the purveyor of said creamy cornflake-accompaniment, Milkie, for a gag referencing Krazy Town’s genial GP.

Frank again

Charlie was short of cash at the beginning of last week’s Calculator Kid, and this week despite hankering for fish and chips, our impecunious pal finds he’s only got enough funds for a portion of chips. To make things worse, Calc advises his young owner to hold off consuming his 'chippy aroma'-generating fried spuds while wandering around Krazy Town. Eventually the newspaper-wrapped snack goes cold and has to be disposed of but Calc's microchip machinations bring the tale to a happy, slap-up feed conclusion.

Art: Terry Bave

Friend of Cheeky and sci-fi fan Wayne Bruce, who had a letter published on the Chit-Chat page in the 13 January 1979 issue (and I'll repeat my joke that he’s probably a friend of Kent Clark) is among the lucky gag-writers for this week’s Paddywack page.

Art: Jack Clayton

On Monday Cheeky has another encounter with the silly stethoscope-wrangler.

More Frank

A nice Stage School set this week, with the added bonus of the rare sight of junior escapologist Houdanny liberating himself from his sack.

Art: Robert Nixon

With Christmas fast approaching, page 8 hosts an in-house ad for Fleetway annuals, including this year's Cheeky offering.

Pages 13 and 14 are the location of filler feature Cheeky’s Cut-Out Comedy Catalogue, this week consisting of Mechanic jokes, and the toothy funster shares a gag (not among those featured in the catalogue) with the comedic car-repairer on Wednesday.

Yet more Frank
We might have known that Gloomy Glad
would be a fan of Sad Café

Mustapha Million, enjoying a colour adventure this week, is concerned about his pal’s weight (calling him Beefy isn't going to help much, but anyway)…

Art: Joe McCaffrey

Further weight-reducing ruses follow until the dietary tables are turned at the conclusion of this 2-page tale…

I can’t help feeling that our middle-eastern mate should have directed his exercise regime at the considerably heavier Tub, Mustapha’s erstwhile Mystery Comic colleague, who appeared a few pages earlier.

Art: Nigel Edwards

 

The normally vigilant Speed Squad fail to recognise Rex Press in this week’s story which can be seen here.

On the Chit-Chat page Cheeky concludes his series of articles about the creators of our favourite comic with a brief run down of the writers. Willie is presumably Willie Cook (whose real name is, according to Frank McDiarmid’s interview in Crikey! issue 12, Gordon Cook). I can’t put surnames to any of the others mentioned.

Cheeky’s Saturday afternoon is spent at the Krazy Town FC football match, where he meets the jolly journalist whom Speed Squad failed to recognise.

Frank once more

Once again Snail of the Century rounds off the comic, which for the second consecutive week has included an all-Frank McDiarmid Cheeky’s Week (the first time we've enjoyed 2 consecutive all-Frank issues since 04 and 11 August 1979).

Cheeky Weekly	Cover Date: 15-Dec-1979, Issue 110 of 117
Page	Details
1	Cover Feature 'Dr Braincell' 3 of 3 - Art Frank McDiarmid
2	Sunday - Art Frank McDiarmid
3	Calculator Kid - Art Terry Bave
4	Paddywack - Art Jack Clayton
5	Monday - Art Frank McDiarmid
6	Stage School - Art Robert Nixon
7	Stage School - Art Robert Nixon
8	Ad: IPC 'Fleetway Annuals'
9	Tub - Art Nigel Edwards
10	Tuesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
11	Soggy the Sea Monster reprint from Shiver and Shake - Art Robert Nixon
12	Disaster Des - Art Mike Lacey
13	Cheeky's Cut-Out Comedy Catalogue 'Mechanic Jokes'
14	Cheeky's Cut-Out Comedy Catalogue 'Mechanic Jokes'
15	Wednesday - Art Frank McDiarmid
16	Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
17	Mustapha Million - Art Joe McCaffrey
18	The Gang reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art Robert MacGillivray
19	The Gang reprint from Whizzer and Chips - Art Robert MacGillivray
20	Thursday - Art Frank McDiarmid
21	Why, Dad, Why? - Art John K. Geering
22	Joke-Box Jury
23	Elephant On The Run - Art Robert Nixon
24	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
25	6 Million Dollar Gran - Art Ian Knox
26	Friday - Art Frank McDiarmid
27	Ad: IPC 'Whoopee' 9 of 9 Ad: 'Junior Jet Club Competition next week'
28	Speed Squad - Art Jimmy Hansen\Cheeky Chuckles (single appearance) - Art Mike Lacey (single art on feature)
29	Chit-Chat
30	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
31	Saturday - Art Frank McDiarmid
32	Snail of the Century - Art Frank McDiarmid