Of zoos, spider-divas, Southbank, salamanders, Cloris, dead beef, He-Man and 4 Non Blondes

A new Banksy artwork appeared overnight this week in the middle of St. James' in Mayfair, depicting a flag-bearing man, blinded by its material, about to fall off the edge of the plinth. [click any pic to embiggen]

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• "Z" is for..? news: It was the 200th anniversary of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) - from where the word "zoo" originated - yesterday! Childhood memories [admittedly of its "sister" institution Bristol Zoo] abound...
• Does whatever a spider can? news: In the wake of the big-screen adaptation starring J-Lo that was a cinematic flop, a revival of the Kander and Ebb [with book by Terence McNally] musical Kiss of the Spider Woman is on a limited tour (Leicester, Bristol and Southampton), starring Anna-Jane Casey. Not London, dammit! Here, Miss Casey gives us a glimpse of her stage costumes:

Kiss of the Spider Woman revival - Anna-Jane Casey costume tour

• Makes you proud to be British news: It's the 75th anniversary of The Festival of Britain on 3rd May - and the Southbank Centre is launching a whole season of events to celebrate, involving some of the UK's greatest artistic talents such as Danny Boyle, Gareth Pugh, Anish Kapoor, Max Richter, Jacqueline Wilson and Quentin Blake, and international artists including Angelique Kidjo, Yuja Wang, and a West-Indian Steel Band Weekender!
• "You say Axolotl, I say what the fuck?" news: A critically endangered amphibian [that lives only in Lake Xochimilco near Mexico City in the wild], an axolotl salamander about the size of a domestic cat(!) was discovered by a young girl - living in a brook at Merthyr Mawr near Bridgend, South Wales! I wonder what the Welsh translation of "bloody enormous exotic amphibian" might sound like?

• Frau Blücher news: It's the centenary today of the birth of the faboo Cloris Leachman. All hail!
• Nostalgic dining news: And, so farewell Beefeater, the spiritual home of the steak & chips dinner, and Brewers Fayre, famous for its "Sunday Carvery". Owners Whitbread have announced the closure of their restaurant chains (with the loss of 3800 jobs) and plan instead to focus on their main Premier Inn hotels business.

• And finally: RIP Roger Sweet, creator of "He-Man" for Mattel [before the animated series]. That gives me the perfect excuse to revisit THIS:

He-Man - What's Up?

And I say, hey yeah yeah, hey yeah yeah
I said hey, what's going on?

Indeed. It's a mindfuck...

And the weather? Utterly glorious!

Of jewel poo,Nell's porn,Mickey in a ditch,Animaniacs,Euro-chaos,Ernie's bath-time and Totty of the Day

The very lovely Lando Norris, our new Formula 1 racing champion, aged just 26. I'd give him a hand with his joystick!

It'a another snippets post, dear reader:

• Bejewelled poo news: A miniature Faberge egg that was swallowed by a would-be-thief has been recovered by police, as nature took its course. I hope that it's been well cleaned!
• Restoration 3D porn news: An “erotically charged” illustrated pop-up anatomy book, printed in London in 1675 and once owned by King Charles II's mistress Nell Gwynne [who, famously, was illiterate] is up for sale at Christies in London today. How times change...
• Makes a change from crisp packets and tyres, I suppose: Among the thousands of items dumped along Britain's motorways and dual carriageways, Highways England has recovered sofas, storage containers, a boat - and a Mickey Mouse fairground ride! I wonder if Disney wants it back?

• RIP, Warner Brothers?: Whether it's Netflix or Paramount that ends up taking it over, the historic Warner Brothers will never be quite the same again. What will the Animaniacs do now?
• Boom-Bang-A-Bang news: Following the governing body of Eurovision's vote to allow Israel to participate in next year's song contest, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain pulled out. Today is the deadline for decisions to participate, so it'll be interesting to see what happens. It'll be an even stranger event next year, methinks...
• And, finally - D is for Duckie news: RIP, L.T. Lam, the creator of the "little yellow bath duck". We know a song about that, don't we, children?

Sesame Street - Ernie - Rubber Duckie

And the weather? Not bad, for a change...

Biddy, Benn and Buzzard

Favourite amongst all my birthday presents - a "Hot Bitch" LED fan!

Not one, but two more significant bits of my childhood are gone...

The estimable Biddy Baxter - the "Miranda Priestly" of BBC children's telly, by all accounts - who was the genius behind the longest-running children's TV show in the world, Blue Peter has departed, Hamble, Humpty, Jemima, Little Ted and Big Ted in tow, for Fabulon. Miss Baxter took over the ailing show way back in 1965 and revived its fortunes by introducing such cultural icons as the Blue Peter Badge and the Xmas charity collection (of things that kids could easily source, such as foil milk-bottle-tops, postage stamps, scrap metal/cans and so on), men as well as women doing cookery demonstrations, "how to make" crafts, gifts and toys (inevitably using the famous "sticky-backed plastic") and, famously, the show's pets.

Most of the presenters were allegedly terrified of her, and one of the most beloved of them John Noakes publicly stated that he couldn't stand her. Auntie Beeb, in her wisdom, "let her go" after twenty-three years at the helm - but her legacy lives on, as the show is still running today... [Read my post on the show's 60th anniversary.]

And, on the weekend, we lost the charming character actor Ray Brooks who, out of his long and impressive career that spanned from the gritty and shocking TV drama Cathy Come Home, through bit-parts in just about every serial on our screens in the 60s and 70s (The Avengers, Randall & Hopkirk Deceased, Z-Cars, Coronation Street and so on), a starring role in the comedy-drama Big Deal in the 80s and a late-career part in Eastenders, is most famous for one iconic role...

...he was the voice of beloved children's TV icon Mr Benn!

Mr Benn: The Gladiator

RIP, both. And my childhood.

---

Meanwhile...

...here's a little something for this Tacky Music Monday from a man who (thankfully) is very much still with us - and celebrates his 75th birthday tomorrow - Mr August Darnell, the genius behind Machine, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, and this lot:

Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band - Cherchez La Femme

Oh, I love that song!

Have a good week, dear reader.

Can you help me? Occupy my brain?

A Public Service Announcement: You were warned! [thanks to Madam Arcati for stumbling across this one]

It's another snippets post today, dear reader:

• Bag madness news: Jane Birkin's original "Birkin Bag" recently sold in auction at Sotheby’s Paris for the gob-smacking sum of 8.6 million euros (£7.4m; $10.1m)! How ridiculous. It looks like a tatty old school satchel!
• God news: Stephen Sondheim's vast archive is now available to view at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. I wish. Maybe one day, one of our own venerable institutions - the British Library, perhaps - might be able to bring it for an exhibition over here in London...
• Because we can, can, can news: Bonnes nouvelles! The landmark sails at the legendary Moulin Rouge are turning again, a year after they unceremoniously collapsed.

• Down memory lane news: It's 75 years since Andy Pandy first came to play on our TV screens. Repeated for decades after its launch in 1950, it was indeed on telly when I was a tiny tot - and continued well into the 1970s, when they started making new episodes. [It's been remade since with CGI, for fuck only knows what reason.] And the inspiration for the beloved puppet's design came from a most unexpected source - a familiar face on our screens to this day.
• Woke-gone-mad kids' clubs news: Girl Guides can now earn badges for activities such as "fandoms", being a "booktivist" and sharing their "guiding sparkle", apparently. WTF?! Whatever happened to traditional badges like Cook, Cyclist, Dairymaid, Domestic Service, Embroidery, Entertainer, Horsewoman, Interpreter, Knitter, Laundress, Minstrel, Naturalist, Needlewoman, Poultry Farmer or Scribe?
• Royal traditions news: It's "Swan-Upping" season on the River Thames!

• And finally: RIP, the craziest-of-crazy frontmen of heavy rock, Mr Ozzy Osbourne!

Let's ROCK!!!

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

And the weather? Grey.

He's the greatest, he's fantastic! Wherever there is danger he'll be there

Another snippets post, dear reader...

• Sad news: The writer and co-creator of one of the UK's (and our) most beloved cartoons Danger Mouse, Brian Trueman has died aged 92. Here's the theme tune, by way of a trip down memory lane...

• Spanish dating news: A new TikTok-inspired craze has swept Spain - single people head to Mercadona supermarket between 7pm and 8pm, put an upside-down pineapple in their trolley and cruise the aisles looking for pick-ups. Been there, done that. Without the pineapple.
• Science news: Mobile phones do not contribute to brain cancer, according to a new scientific study for the World Health Organisation. Maybe twats will stop holding their damned phoned at right-angles to their face and use them properly now?

• Acting royalty news: Sir Ian "Serena" McKellen has quashed suggestions of retirement, and wants to play "Gandalf" again - "I'm not letting anyone else put on the pointy hat and beard if I can help it."
• And finally: A full-size Xmas tree was spotted on a street in Bromley. In August!

And the weather? Up and down like a whore's drawers.

Can't do a little 'cause he can't do enough

Way back in 2009, I said:

H.R. Pufnstuf was an absolute obsession of mine when I was a child. From the same production house that brought us The Banana Splits, this was a strange (typically 60s, slightly druggy) fantasy about a boy (played by the late Jack Wilde, of Oliver fame), shipwrecked on a weird island with a talking flute named Freddy, a magic boat, the giant puppet dragon of the title, his friends Cling & Clang and Dr. Blinky, and a wicked witch named Witchiepoo (played by Billie Hayes) who rode on a Vroom Broom... Bizarre stuff, indeed.

For a wave of nostalgia, here's its theme tune:

H.R. Pufnstuf intro

...and that of the aforementioned Banana Splits:

The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (1968)

Faboo!

The reason for this trip down memory lane? The sad news that the mastermind behind both shows (with his brother Sid*) Marty Krofft has departed for Fabulon, aged 89.

RIP, Marty Krofft (birth surname Yolas, 9th April 1937 – 25th November 2023)

[* NB Sid is still with us, aged 96]

I want ALL of them!

Drat, and double drat!

It's not only Midwinter's Day/Winter Solstice today, but the bunting's out for birthday celebrants Jane Fonda (85!), Kiefer Sutherland, Samuel L. Jackson, Benjamin Disraeli, Frank Zappa, Anthony Powell, Chris Evert, Emmanuel Macron, Albert Lee and Florence Griffith Joyner, and it's the centenary today of the birth of ventriloquist, US children's TV show host and actor Paul Winchell.

Who? I hear you ask...

Well, the bulk of Mr Winchell's acting work was as a voiceover artist, and his was the voice of none other than...

...the "double-dealing do-badder" himself, Dick Dastardly!

Wacky Races intro

Wacky Races: Hole in the Road

Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines intro

Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines Episode 1 Fur Out Furlough

Ah, memories...

The voice

Britain's in shock after the murder of sitting MP David Amess. America's in mourning for former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

We at Dolores Delargo Towers are very sad at another departure for Fabulon. For, lost among the banner headlines, came the sad news today that yet another piece of my childhood has died - Miss Denise Bryer. Who? I hear you ask...

Miss Bryer was not only married for 35 years to the late TV stalwart and "national treasure" Nicholas Parsons (they divorced in 1989 but remained friends), but she carved herself a niche behind the scenes as a voice actor for numerous (mainly children's) telly programmes and films. She was Twizzle, Noddy, "The Junk Lady" in Labyrinth and "Billina" in Return to Oz - but it's for two significant roles in shows that are dear to our nostalgic hearts that we raise a toast to her memory...

She was "Kiki the Frog" in Hector's House:

Hector's House - Good Morning Frog

...and "Zelda" in Terrahawks!

Terrahawks - Space Samurai

The Saturday Show - Terrahawks Special

RIP, Denise Bryer (5th January 1928 – 16th October 2021)

False memory syndrome

Childhood was an idyllic, carefree time where everything was wonderful. Or was it? Here are five lies your brain tells you about it:

The sun always shone all summer long

Bollocks. Your brain can’t be arsed remembering the endless days of incessant rain, and why should it? No one wants to dwell on being bored shitless stuck in the house before they’d  invented the internet and all you had to entertain you was Connect 4.

Subbuteo was brilliant

Even in the primitive world before Playstations, Subbuteo was unrealistic rubbish. Have you ever seen a real life footballer shoot from 30 yards out and somehow end up flying into the back of the net before the ball did? Let’s face it: Subbuteo was shit.

We’d graze our knees playing and it wouldn’t bother us one bit

The truth is you bawled your eyes out every time you came off your bike and skinned your knee, just like any other child. Not least because you knew it meant your mum would scrub it with TCP that stung worse than the original injury, after first giving you a clip round the ear for being so clumsy.

Christmas was such a magical time

Christmas as a kid was about hoping and praying you’d get the new BMX you wanted so desperately, and then experiencing crushing disappointment when your parents had fobbed you off with a Care Bear. And they made you eat lunch while the Top of the Pops Christmas special was on, the vindictive bastards.

School days were the best days

If you were at school during the 70s, 80s or 90s bullying was basically part of the curriculum and if you told a member of staff about it they’d give you detention for being a tell tale. In those days the teachers could fling chalk, blackboard rubbers or even chairs at you and nobody would bat an eyelid. It was Grange Hill on steroids.

The Daily Mash

Of course.

Seaman Staines

The BBC is to launch a £10m probe into claims of sexually suggestive language in its 1970s cartoons.

The inquiry will focus on previously false allegations that popular children’s programme Captain Pugwash included references to masturbation, under-age sex and seminal fluid.

A spokesman said: “We’ve decided that a ‘Pugwash’ means being urinated on simultaneously by four Radio One DJs.”

The Pugwash inquiry forms part of larger £400m BBC investigation into every single thing that was said, done or thought about in Britain between 1970 and 1985.

Meanwhile, a separate £30m probe will attempt to find out how its radio headquarters in central London came to be named ‘Bush House’.

The spokesman added: “We would prefer if you didn’t call it a ‘probe’. We think that’s inappropriate.”

The corporation stressed the Pugwash probe will not involve actually watching Captain Pugwash, but will instead examine the culture that led to rumours about the names of some of the characters in it.

The investigation will also look at other 1970s animation after claims that ‘Mary, Mungo and Midge’ was secretly used as a verb.

The Daily Mash

Of course.

---

On a separate, but not entirely unrelated subject - today marks the centenary of one of Britain's most beloved animators of the short-cartoons-to-end-children's-telly-before-the-news, Mr Bob Godfrey [see my tribute to him on his death in 2013].

So here, for your delectation are three of his finest creations. No accusations of "masturbation, under-age sex and seminal fluid" here, methinks.

Roobarb and Custard

Noah and Nelly

Henry's Cat

Ah, memories...

Number one super guy

Ah, nostalgia - it's not what it used to be.

There are two milestone birthdays that relate to my childhood memories today.

Born 120 years ago, the peculiarly named Ub Iwerks [he was of German immigrant stock] was the animator who, with Walt Disney, co-created Mickey Mouse!

I always hated that fucking mouse, so let's move on...

Far more significantly, today marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of one Joseph Barbera, another animator - but one whose creations I still look upon with deep fondness...

click to embiggen

As co-founder of the mighty Hanna-Barbera organisation, he (alongside William Hanna, with whom he had already created Tom & Jerry for MGM) gave birth to myriad classic kids' shows that preoccupied our rainy-day telly-watching, including Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Yogi Bear, The Jetsons, Touché Turtle, Secret Squirrel, Snagglepuss, Captain Caveman, The Banana Splits (and its featured cartoons Arabian Knights, The Three Musketeers and Micro Ventures), The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, It's the Wolf, Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, Harlem Globetrotters, Josie and the Pussycats, and these!

Top Cat

Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines

Wacky Races

The Flintstones

Hong Kong Phooey

Happy memories...

WTF Sunday

There are no words to describe this one...

He-Man - What's Up?

And I say, hey yeah yeah, hey yeah yeah
I said hey, what's going on?

Indeed.

Here's one I made earlier...

The world's longest-running children's television show Blue Peter celebrated its 60th birthday yesterday!

Pre-dating America's Sesame Street by eleven years, its whirlwind mixture of educational topics, "make-at-home" arts and crafts, pets, gardening, special guests, charity fundraising appeals, features, time capsules, and general "derring-do" adventures has been a staple diet for generations of children in the UK (including my own) - some of whom are probably grandparents today (gulp), and is (quite rightly) revered as one of the BBC's best innovations.

All but five (Simon Groom and Mark Curry gave apologies due to ill-health, Christopher Wenner, Tina Heath and Gethin Jones were not mentioned) of its surviving presenters, together with the show's founding producer Biddy Baxter, gathered for the party - and what a line-up!



So who's who among the Blue Peter presenters at the 60th anniversary party?

1. Barney Harwood, 2011-2017
2. Zoe Salmon, 2004-2008
3. Konnie Huq, 1997-2008
4. Stuart Miles, 1994-1999
5. Lesley Judd, 1972-1979
6. Tim Vincent, 1993-1997
7. Sarah Greene, 1980-1983
8. Romana D’Annunzio, 1996-1998
9. Janet Ellis, 1982-1987
10. Richard Bacon, 1997-1998
11. Valerie Singleton, 1962-1972
12. Peter Purves, 1967-1978
13. Leila Williams, 1958-1962
14. Simon Thomas, 1999-2005
15. Radzi Chinyanganya, 2013-present
16. Lindsey Russell, 2013-present
17. Peter Duncan, 1980-1984 and 1985-1986
18. John Leslie, 1989-1994
19. Anthea Turner, 1992-1994
20. Liz Barker, 2000-2006
21. Diane-Louise Jordan, 1990-1996
22. Joel Defries, 2008-2010
23. Yvette Fielding, 1987-1992
24. Ayo Akinwolere, 2006-2011
25. Katy Hill, 1995-2000
26. Anita West, 1962
27. Helen Skelton, 2008-2013

RIP (of course) John Noakes (the show's longest-serving presenter, from 1965-1977), Christopher Trace (1958-1967), Michael Sundin (1984-1985) and Caron Keating (1986-1990).

For the uninitiated, or just as a nostalgic indulgence for fans such as I, here, for your delectation - a whole hour of the best bits from the classic era of the show, the 60s and 70s:

The best of Blue Peter

All hail, Blue Peter! Here's to the next sixty years.

Read my tribute to the show on it's 50th (yes - this blog has been going a while...)

"Have you seen Bungle's twanger?"

Sigh.

Another little piece of my childhood has toddled off to the great brightly-coloured television studio in the sky, with the sad news of the death of Geoffrey Hayes, the host/chief combatant of ITV's Rainbow - a show that, quite remarkably, he fronted for twenty years (1972 to 1992).

There's a rather touching tribute to the man over at Den of Geek blog.

However, the sad demise of such an "icon" only gives me a greater excuse to post this, possibly Mr Hayes' - and the show's - finest hour!



I cried with laughter when I first saw it! [Read a transcription.]

RIP, Charles Geoffrey Hayes (13th March 1942 – 1st October 2018)

Give them a twist a flick of the wrist

Merely because the wonderful Paul O'Grady (under sufferance, I might add) played them on his Radio 2 show this evening, so I am reminded of the "wonder" that was Pinky and Perky - the squeaky singing pig-puppets that I remember so well from my childhood. So I just had to share...

First up, the song Mr O'Grady gritted his teeth through - their version of a traditional sing-along Music Hall standard:

Pinky & Perky - I've Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts

...followed by something that I am not entirely convinced is the genuine article, but made me chuckle:

Pinky & Perky - I Want My Drugs

Facts:

• The puppets were the creation of Czechoslovakian immigrants Jan and Vlasta Dalibor [Vlasta only died last year at the grand old age of 95], who apparently chose pigs because they are a lucky symbol in the Czech Republic.
• Their vocals were sung by session singers such as Michael John and Mike Sammes [omnipresent backing vocalist in the 60s and 70s, whose harmonies appeared behind an eclectic range of artists including Olivia Newton-John, Ken Dodd, Engelbert Humperdinck, Tom Jones and even the Beatles; and whose Singers voiced the theme tune to Stingray and numerous advertising jingles], then speeded-up.
• Appearing as guests on top-rated kids' classics such as Crackerjack, and in a succession of their own shows (both on the BBC and ITV), they were a massive staple of children's telly over three decades - and even appeared on a US television show alongside The Beatles and Morecambe and Wise.
• Their double-side 1971 single Bridget the Midget/Rosetta was the very first record I ever owned [I have an excuse; I was only eight]!
• For some bizarre reason only known to the sort of unimaginative types that commission such things, Pinky and Perky were "reimagined" in 2008 as a CGI "cartoon" series. [Why?!]

Here's a house, here's a door. Windows: 1 2 3 4, ready to knock? Turn the lock – It's Play School

They're dropping like flies...

The star of Play School and Play Away [the show that launched the career of Jeremy Irons, Tony "Baldrick" Robinson and many others], the voice of Trumpton, Camberwick Green and Chigley - and yet another fondly remembered part of my childhood - Brian Cant is dead.





Proud possessor of one of the most soothing and friendly of voices in broadcasting, he, much like his contemporary and also recently departed John Noakes, was the beloved "friend" of generations of children from the 1960s to the 1980s.

So come along, children - sing along!

Play Away with Brian Cant

RIP Brian Cant (12th July 1933 – 19th June 2017)

An indestructible Captain, a very friendly lion, the ring-a-ding-a-ling-a-ling king, Zebedee and TC

The death of children's telly stalwart John Noakes has put me in rather a nostalgic mood.

All day I have been humming various themes from long-lost programmes of yore.

Including these [and I wonder whether anyone else out there remembers any of them?]...

Arthur and the Square Knights Of The Round Table(1968)

Magic Roundabout closing credits (1965)

Batman intro (1966)

Parsley sings The Friendly Lion (1968)

Top Cat TC (1961)

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons (1967)

The Banana Splits Adventure Hour (1968)

Hector's House (1965)

Happy memories.

Reunited with Shep at last

Oh dear. Very sad news.

Another little bit of my childhood has slipped away - with the announcement of the death of that most iconic of children's television presenters, the lovely John Noakes.

The longest-serving presenter of the enduring classic Blue Peter - favourite TV programme of many generations of children since it began way back in 1958 - he was the friendly face that was always there for me, from toddler to teenager [he started on the show in 1965 and left in 1978]. In the world of kids' programmes - where presenters either feel the need to be zany'n'wacky, or else a bit schoolteacher-ish - he was the sort of daredevil, jolly bloke that behaved like an overgrown schoolboy; always climbing things, messing with things that go "pop", or handling creatures that were a bit scary or just out-of-control [like his pet dog/up-stager "Shep"]. The sort of person you wanted to be when you grew up.

Everybody adored him.

Two years ago, when he went missing from his home in Majorca (and was found only slightly hurt, having fallen into a ditch), it was revealed he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Such was the love for the man in the British collective consciousness that his plight made the TV news headlines,and the front pages of many newspapers.

However, it is for his on-screen antics that we love him the most, including climbing Nelson's Column, jumping out of aeroplanes, baring his bruised bum after he came skidding off a bob-sled, and, of course... THAT elephant! Here are a few highlights that have been hastily put together by some kindly YouTuber:

Best TV moments of John Noakes, RIP

RIP, John Noakes (born John A. Bottomley, 6th March 1934 – 28th May 2017)

The death of Windy Miller

Another little piece of my childhood has gone - with the news that Gordon Murray, creator and puppeteer of some of the BBC's most popular children's series ever, has died at the age of 95. [Who even knew he was still with us?]

When we were just little kids, Mr Murray's fabled "stop-go animation" series Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley were a staple diet for my sister and I.

We would get excited trying to guess which character would appear out of the "musical box, all wound up and ready to play"...

Camberwick Green

...and would always be disappointed if it wasn't Windy Miller!

I remember singing along with the silliest of songs (every character had their own), including Windy himself - forever dodging those blasted sails on his windmill...

Camberwick Green - Windy Miller

...PC McGarry (number 452)...

...and, of course, the Army Truck!

Anyone of our generation can still, to this day, chant along with the firemen's roll-call - "Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub!"

And my sister and I's speciality was to run to the kitchen to retrieve saucepan lids in order to play along with the brass band:

Trumpton - Bandstand

Facts:

• Prior to the "Trumptonshire" series, Mr Murray operated the "Spotty Dog" puppet in The Woodentops and was the producer of Captain Pugwash.
• Camberwick Green was the first children's show to be aired in colour on the BBC in 1966.
• Although there were only 13 episodes of Camberwick Green, 13 of Trumpton, and 13 of Chigley, one or other was shown regularly on the BBC until 1985, and then on Channel 4 from 1994 to 2000.
• In a fit of pique, in the mid-1980s Mr Murray made a bonfire in his back garden and burned all the original puppets, and the sets, saying he “didn’t want them to get into the wrong hands”.
• The original masters of the three series were believed to have been lost, but when boxes of some original film were discovered in Gordon Murray's attic, the trilogy was restored and remastered by the BBC in 2011.

RIP, Gordon Murray (3rd May 1921 – 30th June 2016)

You made us very happy when we were tiny.