Sad news. Another "national treasure" has departed for Fabulon...a man whose eight-decade career made him not just a household name, but also a "kindly old uncle" to generations of children, myself included.
Bernard Cribbins (for it is he) was "Station Master Albert Perks" in The Railway Children, the voice of The Wombles, a regular storyteller on Jackanory and never off the playlist of BBC Radio's Junior Choice show with his novelty songs. He had roles on two Carry On movies, starred alongside the likes of Peter Sellers, Margaret Rutherford, Ron Moody and Lionel Jeffries in a succession of British comedy films such as Two-Way Stretch and Crooks in Cloisters, and had a long television career, appearing in quintessential shows such as Fawlty Towers, Worzel Gummidge, The Good Old Days, Tales of the Unexpected and Doctor Who [twice - 41 years apart].
He'll be missed.
Speaking of those "novelty songs" - here's the one for which he'll be most remembered:
An absolute classic!
RIP, Bernard Joseph Cribbins OBE (29 December 1928 – 28 July 2022)
Familiar face, fascinating career.
ReplyDeleteChances are, given his long career, you will have seen Mr Cribbins in something... Jx
DeleteI was so sad to read about the death of Mr Cribbins as he was such a fixture of my childhood - I loved The Wombles, and I loved him on Jackanory. Some people should go on forever.
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He was "always there", wasn't he? Such a loss. As Matthew Sweet put it, in his lovely tribute in The Telegraph: "Bernard Cribbins is dead, and generations are computing the loss. How does it feel? It’s like hearing that the park where you played as a child has fallen into the sea. It’s like being told that chocolate digestives have been discontinued. It’s like someone closing the storybook and placing it on a high shelf, out of reach." Jx
DeleteIndeed. One of (the many!) good British done-it-alls.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, his autobiography was titled Bernard Who? 75 Years Of Doing Just About Anything. Very apt. Jx
DeleteA sad loss indeed.
ReplyDeleteIrreplaceable. Jx
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