
How do you solve a problem like the Mallett?!!
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Didn't Wacaday once visit Wales? What happened there? Didn't you go to
Machynlleth? Was I just dreaming?
John Wilding, Hull
Timmy says - You're right! We had a fabulous time at Llanfair PG - where the station name was longer than the platform - I fell off!
Portmerion, Snowdon, Betwsycoed for a strange Welsh legend, I had to run around being King Edward and owen Wacadower in Carnarvon castle, we visited the smallest house in Britain in Conway
and I got really grubby being a train driver on the Festiniog Railway! Most of these adventures were in Welsh Wacaday week in October 1988. Well remembered John!
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What
was written on the "wacky plaster" that was stuk on the loser of
Mallet's Mallet? I know they had to wiggle it at the audience - but i
can't remember was was written on it! Thanks. Nat
Timmy says...Aah the wacky
plasters - this is one of the questions I get asked loads, but it's a
really easier one to answer! They were Wacky Plasters so they said
'WAC' of course!

Sometimes Timmy wrote an essay on the plasters!
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Did you ever play James Bond on Wacaday? I think you
should be the next 007!
Timmy says...Of course! Timmy
Bond - the man with the golden Mallet! LISTEN TO TIMMY'S STORY OF HIS LICENCE TO BLAAH! HERE! It was during the WacAsia tour
when we were in Thailand that we visited the location for the Man with
the Golden Gun. The team set out on one of the long narrow boats to the
bay of islands. We thought that one of these islands looked like an
upside down jelly, so I dreamed up a baddie called jellyfinger. This
lead to the classic Wacaday line "Come on out Jellyfinger! Me and the
mallet have got you surrounded!" We had to show the hotel chef how to
make jelly from a packet and stick it in the fridge! It was funny
filming the fight with the mallet and jellyfinger on the island - the
jellies had been in a cool box and were melting into a mush! The crew
adored chucking everything they could find at Timmy! Mike Myers liked
the idea so much you might find elements of it in the Austin Powers
series.
Quick - after my trousers as fast as you can go!!

I like my martini and orange juice shaken and strawed!!

The gorgeous babe Timmy has to save!!

Drat! - Jelly finger escapes again!!
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Thanks to my young colleague Kristie (25) who started
talking about Wac-a-waves during our dull Friday morning in Marketing
we started to reminisce. What's your Australian catch phrase (when you were
on your tours I believe and staying in a town with an odd name)? Mark Sharman
Timmy says... Dear Mark, I think
the catchphrase you are referring to is "linga longa in Yarrwonga!"
This was part of a complicated tongue twister taught to me by my aussie
mate Steve Bingham who had a few choice phrases such as "Rippa Mate!"
"Beyond the black stump!" "Up whoop whoop!" And I was amazed to find
there is such a place as Yarrawonga near Darwin. I went there and
lingered longer at the wildlife park! Yours beyond the black stump, up
whoop whoop, Timmy
I seem to remember (amongst other things) you buying
a magic carpet while on your travels. Do you still have it and did it
work????? Helen
Timmy says... Well remembered
Helen! The magic carpet came from morocco, and I used it to travel all
around Marakesh - the square of death, the pink walled city, the Atlas
Mountians etc. It's a lovely carpet, and at one stage on our adventures
it ran out of magic! Well you'll be pleased to know, I still have it;
and it still works!
When did Michaela Strachan join the wide awake
club? robbie
Timmy says... Michaela was on the
very first Wide Awake Club in 1984 as part of the dance troupe Wacky
Feet! She went on to become part of the presenting team in 1985; and
her favourite part of the show was the fun Heroes and heroines villans
and villainesses! Oh and the great time we had when she did "Its my
party and I'll cry if I want to!" Here's a pic of me and Michaela on
Wacaday in 1987...

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I might be going mad, but didn't Mike Myers sometimes
appear on Wacaday? Other people I've asked sort of remember this too?
Is it true?! Jim
Timmy says...
Dear Jim,
Mike Myers appeared on the Wide
Awake Club doing a sketch called the Sound Asleep Club with his mate
Neil Mullarkey. You can hear Neil's recollection of the Sound Asleep Club at the WAC reunion. There's a picture of the two of them in the 1987 WAC annual - and
here is the picture to prove it...Mike
Myers is the one on the right, Neil's on the left!

Recently I met Mike at the premiere of Shrek- the third!

"But wait…what’s all the commotion? Why the incessant screaming from the hordes of pen-wielding girls? It can only mean one thing – yes, ladies and gentlemen, Timmy Mallett has arrived!"
Mike's comment - "couldn't you have wear something a bit more colourful, Timmy?!"
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What was the name of your donkey/horse that used to appear on
the show. We know that a catchphrase used for him/her was "eeyore,
eeyore, he always reads your letters" but apart from that we're stuck,
and it's bugging a whole loads of twenty-somethings in Southampton!!!!
yours
sincerely, Joe Gillson
Timmy says... Oh Joe,
great memory! You're talking about Blackie the donkey of course!
Blackie the donkey was the donkey we used to race along a track by
answering the usual wacky questions. You had a choice of donkey - Red,
Blue, green etc and they were all called Blackie!
"Why is he called Blackie?"
"Eeyore, eeyore, eeyore calls me that!"
Incidently,
Blackie was a real donkey in Spain that the tabloids adopted, except he
became a whole lot more famous on Wacaday!

Blackie was a hit later on our Wacaday adventures in the Holy Land - here he is staring into the manger at the little baby Jesus!!
I was a massive fan of Wacaday for the last few years
it was running and when I look back it is one of the happiest memories
of my childhood. I seem to remember you doing a section in one of the
series called "Back to the USSR" but this isn't shown on any of the
sites, so what happened? Well anyway, thanks for keeping me thoroughly
entertained throughout the 80's and early 90's - no shows these days
could ever match Wacaday or TVAM! Sarah x
Timmy
says... Dear Sarah, Wac to the USSR was the thing you are thinking of
and it was the name of Magic's cartoon when we were in Russia, russin'
around the Red Square (remember you couldn't watch the show unless you
had your red square sitting beside you on the sofa?) And the Gremlin in
the Kremlin who beat the invading Tartars with Tartar control
toothpaste?!
I just loved your remake of Itsi Bitsi
teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini. What was it like in a recording
studio? Did it take ages to make? Was it difficult going from TV to
Music? I still have the tape of it at home, and stick it on when ever I
need an uplift. You are an amazing guy - keep doing what you're good
at. Laura
Timmy says... Dear Laura,
I'm so glad you like Itsy Bitsy. So do I. The studio we recorded in is
called Skratch records in Chertsey, the home of Nigel Wright who's a
big pop producer and has had nearly as many number 1 hits as heads I've
bashed!
We actually recorded the song during 1 day in May 1990. Because I'm not
a trained singer(?!!) he got me to sing it bit by bit, and work on each
bit as we go. The best part was doing the Oh yeahs! Here's the photo to
prove it!
On the morning after it went to Number 1, I was getting ready to go and
do Wacaday when the doorbell went and it was Chris Evans in his
dressing gown who had driven round to my house with a bottle of
Champagne!
You can get the Huggin an a Kissin album featuring Itsy Bitsy and 7
little girls etc from Utterly Brilliant Timmy Stuff which you can find
on the Wac-A-Shop page... It make a
great present for your wacamates!
Throughout the impressive run of Wacaday, Magic
frequently sat on the top of the camera, and trail his tail down in
front of the lenses. Was this part of the proceedings for Wacaday
(like, Magic was trained to do it way before rehearsals), or was Magic
on the camera by his own instincts? Neil.
Timmy says... Magic is a very special
cockatiel, and much as I'd like to take credit for training him to fly
to the top of the camera I can't! I think he just liked the red light
and would sit up there with his grey tail hanging down. The cameramen
were certainly a bit nervous and I'd see their heads poking round
asking where's he going to land next!!? Sometimes, they'd try and wave
him off and it always made us laugh. Here we are trying to do a show
and Magic's got his own ideas about where he wants to sit!
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In one episode, you went off somewhere and went to
kiss the Blarney (sp?) Stone, and nearly fell off some ledge that you
had to lean over to get to it! It had a small square gap between the
pathway and the actual stone itself. Apparently the stone has
magic/healing powers - did you benefit? :)
Thanks, Neil.
Timmy says...You've got a good memory
Neil. The Blarney Stone is of course the famous stone at the top of
Blarney castle near Cork. The kissing procedure is very precise and
dead scary. You have to lie on your back, and lean backwards to kiss
this thing upside down, on the outside parapet. All you can see is the
ground way below. It's supposed to bring you luck, but of course you
aren't supposed to tell anyone what the good luck is that it brought
you!
In the studio we had our very own Blaaaar ney stone that was a lot
easier to kiss, Magic of course bit it!
Here's a photo of Anthony Wood the cameraman going for his bit of
wacaluck!

I seem to remember an episode of wacaday where you
went to the temple thingy from indiana jones and the last crusade(the
one thats carved into a rock face), since then i`ve always wondered
what was actually inside it? Thanks for the great memories! James
Gregory
Timmy says... Dear James, What
you remember is one of my favourite stories from Wacaday. It was
Tim-diana Jones and the fourth wise man!
The story went like this - Tim-Diana Jones was on the last-but-one
crusade in search of the little known but equally clever fourth wise
man. He found a clue in the dead sea cheese roll and leaped aboard the
fastest mode of transport in the desert - a horse. He galloped off down
the secret souk to the lost city of Petra (the rose red city half as
old as time) and came out in front of the most gi-normous temple (just
as in the movie). At that point he faced his deadly rival from the
Nasty party who he finally defeated with the mallet and discovered the
fourth wise man (who looked remarkably like me) hiding in the temple.
Leaning forward he asked what was his gift to the baby Jesus after the
gold, frankincense and bleugh????
It was a lollipop and a souvenir T shirt, and Timdiana bonked him on
the head for being so daft.
Petra is
in Jordan, a wonderful magical place and the temple is a real ancient
temple squillions of years old that was only rediscovered in the last
century. The temple is carved into the rockface, and various silly
adventuruers have taken pot shots at it in the hope that there is
buried treasure in the carvings. On the day we filmed in December 1989
it was bitterly cold, and the horse was uncontrollable; at one stage it
galloped off up a cliff face with me hanging on for dear life! Ludo
Graham was the director and played Fritz Hamburger from the really
Nasty party (incidently his secret weapon was a telescoping umbrella!)
