‘It was the MK2 I dreamed of’: readers recall their Raleigh Chopper rides | Cycling | The Guardian


Alfie Packham and Guardian readers

I won a Chopper in a colouring-in competition that was on the back page of the Dick Whittington on Ice programme in the winter of 1975-76. The famous clown Charlie Cairoli presented me with the bike during the interval of a subsequent showing of the pantomime at Wembley Empire Pool. He noticed my surname was Italian and said: “I’m a-glad-a you won,” which became a family catchphrase. I was king of the neighbourhood that year, and I’ve never properly thanked my sister for doing the actual colouring-in. Thanks, Anne. 
Pete Accini, 55, Brisbane, Australia

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