Sad news today - the death of the great (and happily long-lived) Oliver Postgate, about whom I' ve posted before. He was surely one of the great creative forces in postwar England, his work (especially in collaboration with Peter Firmin) spreading innocent happiness and good cheer of a peculiarly English kind - as it will continue to do long after he is gone. Creations like Bagpuss, the Clangers and Noggin the Nog are true classics, and if Postgate hadn't worked in the doubly despised field of (a) television and (b) what's worse, children's television, he would surely have been more highly regarded and more widely honoured.
Today is also the birthday of George Grossmith (1847), co-creator of another enduring, happiness-spreading English classic - The Diary of a Nobody. Sadly, the Diary - available here in a delightful weblog version - is in hiatus till later in the month, while the Pooters wrestle with the Lupin problem...
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Very sad to hear of his death. His influence is immense. I see his work everywhere: on t-shirts, mugs, calendars. I just hope he enjoyed the spoils of that success because it's clear that his work is deeply ingrained in the minds of many of us who grew up with those shows. And you forgot to mention 'Ivor the Engine'. I spent many years walking around making that 'ssshhhe-teee-cough' noise.
ReplyDeleteYou were lucky to escape the attention of the authorities, Dick.
ReplyDeleteWho said I did? I was often nicked for my frighteningly accurate impression of the soup dragon.
ReplyDeleteToo true. But cheer up, John Ryan of Pugwash fame is still with us.
ReplyDeleteI actually looked up Pugwash thinking it was a Postgate production. Disappointed to read that it's not as filthy as thought.
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