There was a sad bit of news today: Oliver Postgate - the creator of the 1970s children's TV classics The Clangers, Bagpuss, Noggin the Nog and Ivor the Engine - has died. If you're my sort of age, you will probably remember the Clangers and their swanee whistle voices, and the gargley Soup Dragon (and all those other programmes too), with very fond nostalgia. I was four when the Clangers started, and I loved them. Their gentleness, music, and liking for strange contraptions seeped into my consciousness - I identified with them and wanted to be a Clanger too!
Now the BBC has released a fragment from a missing Clangers' episode, and re-awoken great memories. This was the last-ever Clangers programme, and was a four minute election special broadcast on October 10, 1974. It was considered controversial (What, politics in children's telly? How appalling!) and has never been shown since.
As I remember, the Clangers lived in a kind of peaceful anarchy - arguably much preferable to any political system known to us today! In the fragment, the narrator tries to explain politics to the incredulous Clangers, who shake their heads in disbelief at it all. And their episode Treasure is a parable about how very silly it is to get obsessed with money!
So let's call on the BBC to release the whole of the 'missing' episode. Perhaps the Clangers have some wisdom that will get us out of our current economic and political messes!
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Flow x
RIP Mr Postgate. You gave a lot of people a lot of joy...
ReplyDeletePS Do you accept guest postings, Flow? I know Someone who'd love to tell your readers what Go-Go-ing With The Flow is to Him. In exchange for a link to His website, natch! ;-)
Yup, I've got one or two other people lined up to do guest posts already, Me, but you'd be welcome.
ReplyDeleteYou need to make sure what you write is in the spirit of the blog's 'mission statement' - "Because sometimes we all need to remember the GOOD things in life!" - i.e. generally upbeat =)
I'll add an image, and if I want to edit anything, I'll clear changes with you first. Depending on what you write, it may be a week or two before I publish your piece, because I try to keep a balance of content - e.g. serious then silly, political/social content then personal, and so on...
Look forward to reading your post!