About the Clump of Chuckles
My name is Mike Riggott. Back in the summer of 1966 I was a Trainee Weights and Measures Inspector in Derby - I worked closely with another Trainee called Colin Brown. We both had a strange sense of humour and during study breaks, we would get our pencils out and commit our odd ideas to paper in the form of cartoons. Slowly but surely, we accumulated quite a collection of cartoons, and I bound them into a book, called "Chuckles". At the end of 1966, "Chuckles 2" emerged from the combined weird thoughts of me, who was known as (Mick) "Harold" (Riggott) and (Colin Brown) "Seejay". That wasn't the end of the odd ideas that filtered through our minds, and in June 1967 "Chuckles 3" was born - much to the joy of all the staff at Derby Weights and Measures Office, who finally decided that Colin and I had a problem!
In 1968 I left Derby to work as a Weights and Measures Inspector in Uganda - problem was, I had a share in 3 books of "Chuckles" and couldn't leave them behind. The solution was to combine the cartoons - I would take mine, plus copies of Colin's I liked, and Colin took his - with his favourites copied by me. I ended up with my own "CLUMP OF CHUCKLES" which has travelled extensively with me. It is still intact, albeit slightly worn around the edges. I don't know what happed to Colin's "Clump" - I lost touch with him, and sadly, he died around 1985.
My son and daughter used to look at my cartoons as they grew up, and fortunately have turned into pretty normal adults! My son, Jim, suggested setting them up on a web site, which he has done and I am delighted with the results. I hope you can have a chuckle too, wherever you are.
Mike Riggott
Lichfield, England
