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Oliver Postgate RIP

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Oliver Postgate, creator (with Peter Firmin) of many seminal and brilliant children’s cartoons, has died at the age of 83.

Postgate’s first creation was Ivor the Engine (in 1958), followed many, many others including Noggin the Nog, The Clangers and the universally loved Bagpuss. Although I never saw these as a kid (my enlightened(?) parents refused to have one of these “appalling peddlers of trash” TVs until I was at university) I found both Bagpuss and The Clangers as an adult. I loved them and I still do, to the extent that some of the “catch phrases” have become a part of our ecolect, notably “the mice on the mouse organ”, “Professor Yaffle”, “the Soup Dragon” and “Blue String Pudding”.

Here is not the place to write a full scale obituary, but you can find more about Oliver Postgate and his work at:

I have to admit to agreeing with Sarah Vine in the last of those linked pages, that this should be a national day of mourning. The world needs more Like Oliver Postgate.

One thought on “Oliver Postgate RIP”

  1. I always loved Noggin the Nog and Ivor the Engine. I’ve never actually seen Bagpuss though I used to watch the Clangers. The world does need more people like Oliver Postgate.

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