Once upon a time, not so long ago

More birthday greetings today, to another "national treasure"...

...Bagpuss! The "saggy old cloth cat" who came to life 40 years ago and has captured the hearts of generations of children since his first awakening back in 1974.

The creation of that genius of children's TV, the much-missed Oliver Postgate, its quaint stop-go animation provided the world with yet another nostalgic classic - one that unfortunately is in serious danger of being ruined forever by a CGI remake for today's impatient and less discerning audiences.

Here for your delectation is the very first episode - the Ship in the Bottle:

"Once upon a time,
Not so long ago,
There was a little girl and her name was Emily.
And she had a shop.
There it is.
It was a rather unusual shop because it didn't sell anything.
You see, everything in that shop was a thing that somebody had once lost,
And Emily had found,
And brought home to Bagpuss.

Emily's cat Bagpuss.
The most important,
The most beautiful,
The most magical,
Saggy old cloth cat in the whole wide world."

Sigh...

More Bagpuss, courtesy of Charlotte Runcie in The Telegraph.