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Welcome to the Cheeky Weekly blog!
Cheeky Weekly ™ REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, COPYRIGHT ©  REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED was a British children's comic with cover dates spanning 22 October 1977 to 02 February 1980.

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*** CHEEKY WEEKLY, KRAZY, WHOOPEE!, WHOOPEE, WOW!, WHIZZER AND CHIPS and BUSTER ARE ™ REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, COPYRIGHT ©  REBELLION PUBLISHING LTD, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ***
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Wednesday, 19 August 2020

The Whoopee Years - Cheeky Weekly Characters in the Popularity Polls - part 9

Whoopee's July 1983 absorption of Wow! was looming closer as the second set of poll results of that year were published in the 02 April edition. Since the previous results were announced in Whoopee dated 22 January 1983, one Top Ten voting coupon had been published, in the comic dated 29 January.

Those of you who have been following my series examining the poll results will know the question that's coming next - what features had ended between the results of 22 January and 02 April? I always begin by identifying any such features as it could well be that they were culled due to the lack of support from readers.

Here's what ended...

START_DATE END_DATE CE_ELEMENT
05-MAR-83 19-MAR-83 Snack-Man's Munch Maze Game


Having satisfied ourselves of that, we must proceed to the corresponding issue of the strips that had commenced in the same period...

START_DATE END_DATE CE_ELEMENT
12-FEB-83 26-JAN-85 Freaky Frankie

Freaky Frankie was a (possibly reprint - Update: Thanks to Stephen Archer for confirming that Freaky Frankie originally appeared in Monster Fun) strip featuring Whoopee's horrific humour superstar, Frankie Stein. Consisting of three panels per strip, and featuring no dialogue (aside from the mechanical utterances of a speak-your-weight machine on one occasion), the strip was used as filler in 6 issues between February and June 1983, pending the arrival of features from Wow! Something of a harbinger of doom, Freaky Frankie reappeared one more time in January 1985 as Whoopee entered its final few months.

Other than Frankie's silent outings, no new features had begun since 04 December 1982, and none had ended since November 1982. This is of course because the comic was coasting towards the restructuring of its content that would result from the impending adoption of the survivors from Wow! in July '83, and a concomitant cancellation of Whoopee strips that was necessary to accommodate the newcomers.

So the ongoing Whoopee features (i.e. those with start dates <= 22 January 1983 and end dates >= 02 April 1983 - that's why the Guy Fawkes masks are included) at the time of the 02 April 1983 results were...

START_DATE END_DATE CE_ELEMENT
09-FEB-80 25-JUN-83 Smiler
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
09-MAY-81 25-JUN-83 Robot Granny
12-SEP-81 25-JUN-83 Tom Horror's World
31-OCT-81 05-NOV-83 Guy Fawkes Supermask
02-JAN-82 25-JUN-83 Teacher's Pets
27-MAR-82 25-JUN-83 Little Ed
01-MAY-82 25-JUN-83 Beaky
01-MAY-82 25-JUN-83 Kids of Class Five
01-MAY-82 25-JUN-83 Smile-In
01-MAY-82 25-JUN-83 Whoopee Winners
22-MAY-82 25-JUN-83 Cheeky (second run)
23-OCT-82 30-MAR-85 Snack-Man
27-NOV-82 23-MAR-85 Calculator Corner
04-DEC-82 04-JUN-83 Rambling Rhymes
04-DEC-82 25-JUN-83 Quizmaster

These are the poll results as printed in the 02 April 1983 comic...

Paddywack art: Jack Clayton

Stage School finally attain the number 1 spot. They've secured placings in all 11 polls to date, but have on a couple of occasions fallen perilously to number 10.

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

Calculator Kid's Whoopee career has seen him for the most part hovering around the middle of the top ten, a situation which remains unchanged this 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

Mustapha Million is the third of our ex-Cheeky Weekly chums who has gained a place in each of the top ten polls since Whoopee absorbed the survivors from the toothy funster's comic, although his popularity has been dwindling fairly steadily since early '82.

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


Robot Granny has failed to appear in the top ten since just scraping into the November '82 results. Cheeky and Paddywack have never appeared in any of the poll results.

My examination of the fortunes of the ex-Cheeky Weekly funny folk in the Whoopee Top Ten polls continues in part 10.

Back to part 8

Wednesday, 12 August 2020

The Whoopee Years - Cheeky Weekly Characters in the Popularity Polls - part 8

1983 would see a major refashioning of Whoopee!’s contents as the comic underwent a merge with failed stablemate (and fellow exclamation-mark-adorned) Wow! in July. However readers would have been unaware of the impending influx of Wowers (Wowites?) when they examined the latest set of poll results in Whoopee! dated 22 January 1983, just 7 weeks after the previous top ten had been announced.

Since that earlier set of results, no Top Ten voting coupon had been published, but due to the lead-time required for publication, the responses to coupons printed several weeks earlier were no doubt included, together with the small voting coupons regularly printed on the comic's letters pages, which readers were asked to complete and send in along with their amusing missives. The Whoopee! editor was undoubtedly scouring the results as he spent sleepless nights deciding which strips would be dropped to make room for the Wowees.

No features had started or ended since the previous results were published in the 04 December 1982 edition, so let's just remind ourselves what were the ongoing features in the comic at the time, so that we have an idea of the 'rivals' with which our ex-Cheeky Weekly chums were contending as they strove to maintain (or achieve in the case of Cheeky and Paddywack) a place among the most popular features...

START_DATE END_DATE CE_ELEMENT
09-FEB-80 25-JUN-83 Smiler
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
09-MAY-81 25-JUN-83 Robot Granny
12-SEP-81 25-JUN-83 Tom Horror's World
31-OCT-81 05-NOV-83 Guy Fawkes Supermask
02-JAN-82 25-JUN-83 Teacher's Pets
27-MAR-82 25-JUN-83 Little Ed
01-MAY-82 25-JUN-83 Beaky
01-MAY-82 25-JUN-83 Kids of Class Five
01-MAY-82 25-JUN-83 Smile-In
01-MAY-82 25-JUN-83 Whoopee Winners
22-MAY-82 25-JUN-83 Cheeky (second run)
23-OCT-82 30-MAR-85 Snack-Man
27-NOV-82 23-MAR-85 Calculator Corner
04-DEC-82 04-JUN-83 Rambling Rhymes
04-DEC-82 25-JUN-83 Quizmaster

These are the poll results as published in the 22 January 1983 issue...

Quizmaster art: Roy Mitchell

Calculator Kid, having reached a nadir in the November '82 poll, is slowly climbing again, reaching 3rd position, the second best placing he has achieved so far.

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

The kids of Stage School will be pleased with their performance, up from number 8 to 4th place.

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

Mustapha Million seems to be falling from favour, dropping from number 4 to 7th place, taking him back to his lowest ever position in November 1982.

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

Robot Granny is again absent, having last appeared in the November 82 poll in 10th place. Cheeky and Paddywack have failed to register in any polls whatsoever.

My examination of the fortunes of the ex-Cheeky Weekly funny folk in the Whoopee Top Ten polls continues in part 9.