Tuesday 9 December 2008

Oliver Postgate 1925 - 2008

I'm not normally much of a one for R.I.P.-style posts, but I've just heard the news that Oliver Postgate, creator of Bagpuss, The Clangers, Noggin The Nog and Ivor The Engine - i.e. only some of the greatest children's TV shows of all time - died yesterday, aged 83. Bugger. What an amazing legacy though.

My favourite of the lot has to be Ivor The Engine. Here's the classic episode Snowdrifts, narrated and co-voiced, as ever, by the man himself. Amazing to think that Postgate and his partner Peter Firmin knocked these out in a makeshift studio in a disused cowshed in Kent for next to nothing!

5 comments:

mineforlife said...

My daughter loves Bagpuss. What a great legacy that man left. I'll have to track down the autobiography!

Anonymous said...

The Postgate and Firmin cowshed was just a couple of miles down the road from my childhood home. If you should find yourself in East Kent at any time, take a look in the Museum of Canterbury, where the exhibits include the original Bagpuss figures and some Clangers. There's a wee bit mroe about this here.

I Am Not The Beatles said...

A sad day indeedy.

I watched a documentary quite recently about him and The Clangers where he explained that an entire script was written full of 'bloodys' and 'fuckings' ie 'look at that fucking spacecraft' and then translated into wooooos and woooeees for Kids TV. Brilliant. xxx

davyh said...

It happened when I was away and I thought 'Bugger. I need to do a post about that because no-one else will.' But you did Kips. Bless you.

This man's voice was the voice of my childhood....'Listen to me and I will tell you the story of Noggin the Nog, as it was told in the days of old...'

(That and the Moomins - who were Swedish, of course x).

marmiteboy said...

He was a genius. My own favourite has always been Pogles wood which sadly is never shown these days.