Then I discovered impulse magnetos.
Or, you could fix all your problems (and produce quicker, more reliable starts) by fitting Slicks.
The trickle is important - if no trickle the drain pipe could be blocked (old oil) and the manifold full of fuel.
Actually, this happened to me quite recently, and the oil wasn't particularly "old" - previous start 4 weeks before.
Oh, and there's starting a Gipsy on a VERY cold morning.
What an absolute gem, thank you SSD!! I appreciate that my version of a "VERY cold morning" is nowhere near as extreme as to what you're used to, but I had exactly this issue on a -1C morning!! I gave up and went home...