Creator of classic children's TV dies, 83; Postgate's classic legacy lives on.Byline: BY TOM PUGH Charles Thomas Michael Pugh (born London 13 March 1937) was an English cricketer. Tom Pugh was educated at Eton and was a right-handed batsman who played in 80 first-class matches between 1959 and 1962, including 76 for Gloucestershire whom he captained between 1961 and 1962. Daily Post Correspondent OLIVER POSTGATE, the creator of Bagpuss, The Clangers and a series of other classic children's television programmes, has died, aged 83. His other creations, including Noggin the Nog Noggin the Nog was a popular British children's television series originally shown by the BBC in the United Kingdom during the years 1959 to 1965. Thirty-six programmes were made, originally in black and white, and running for ten minutes long, by a company called , Ivor the Engine Ivor the Engine was a children's animation by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms company. It was a children's television series relating the adventures of a small green locomotive who lived in the "top left-hand corner of Wales" and worked for the Merioneth and and Pingwings Pingwings was an animated black and white children's television series of 18 ten-minute episodes broadcast in the UK during the early 1960s. Created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin of Smallfilms, it starred a family of penguin-like creatures who lived at the back of a , were screened on the BBC BBC in full British Broadcasting Corp. Publicly financed broadcasting system in Britain. A private company at its founding in 1922, it was replaced by a public corporation under royal charter in 1927. and ITV (1) See interactive TV. (2) (iTV) The code name for Apple's video media hub (see Apple TV). from the 1950s. Postgate's creations were made by Smallfilms, the company he set up with the artist and puppeteer Peter Firmin. He narrated all its productions. Although only 13 episodes of Bagpuss were made from 1974, the pink "saggy, old, cloth cat" is fondly remembered and was voted Britain's best-loved children's television character. Postgate's partner, Naomi Linnell, confirmed he died at a nursing home near his home in Broadstairs, Kent, on Monday. Born in Hendon, Middlesex, Postgate set up Small films in a disused cowshed near Canterbury after spending his early years in a number of different jobs. In October this year, the rights to many of his creations, including Bagpuss, The Clangers and Ivor the Engine, were acquired by media company Coolabi in a pounds 400,000 deal. In an interview with the BBC in 2005, Postgate explained how Bagpuss and some of his other characters came into being. He said: "We would go to the BBC once a year, show them the films we'd made, and they would say 'Yes, lovely, now what are you going to do next?' "We would tell them and they would say 'That sounds fine, we'll mark it in for 18 months from now', and we would be given praise and encouragement and some money in advance. "And we'd just go away and do it. They hadn't any ideas in their heads, and they were happy enough to leave that to us." In 1957, Postgate married Prudence Myers, becoming stepfather to her three children, and the couple later had twins and another son. She died in 1982. An active figure in the anti-nuclear campaign, Postgate was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Kent in 1987. His autobiography, Seeing Things, in which he charted his life from childhood to frustrated writer, political activist and inventor, was published in 2000 . Michael Carrington, Controller of the BBC's CBeebies, said: "Oliver Postgate was a pioneer of children's television, but above all he was an incredible storyteller. "BBC audiences, for a very long time, enjoyed the programmes he created. "Through the 1950s into the 1980s, programmes like Noggin The Nog, Ivor The Engine, The Clangers and Bagpuss were at the heart of the BBC's mission to provide inspiring content for its young audiences. "These programmes without doubt delighted millions of children, exciting their sense of fun and stimulating their imaginations - going on to become icons of their childhood. "Indeed, Oliver's wonderful concepts have stood the test of time. "The simple stories and resourceful production techniques still punch above their weight in a world full of fast-paced programmes and hi-tech production wizardry. "Oliver will be missed by the children's television industry as a whole, but he has created a legacy of originality which will surely inspire generations of audiences and programme makers to come." CAPTION(S): Classic double act - Oliver Postgate, with Bagpuss; Pink 'saggy, old, cloth cat' Bagpuss |
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