''A Rubovian Legend'' is a British

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

created by

Gordon Murray Ian Gordon Murray (born 18 June 1946 in Durban, Union of South Africa), is a South African-born British designer of Formula One racing cars and the McLaren F1 road car. He is the founder and CEO of Gordon Murray Automotive. Early life Born t ...

. It centers around a fictional kingdom ruled by King Rufus XIV and Queen Caroline, assisted by Albert Weatherspoon and the Lord Chamberlain.

Premise

The show takes place within a small, fictitious kingdom named Rubovia, ruled by King Rufus XIV and Queen Caroline, and assisted by the Lord Chamberlain and Albert Weatherspoon, the latter of which creates most of the problems faced in each episode practising magic.

Main characters

*King Rufus XIV (voiced by Raymond Rollett in the 1955 plays and

Derek Nimmo Derek Robert Nimmo (19 September 193024 February 1999) was an English character actor, producer and author. He is best remembered for his comedic upper class "silly ass" and clerical roles including Revd Mervyn Noote in the BBC1 sitcom ''All G ...

from 1956)- the fourteenth ruler of Rubovia, whose predecessors all shared the same name. *Queen Caroline (voiced by Violet Lamb)- the wife of King Rufus, who is usually quite assertive, although when in the company of her pet

Chinese dragon The Chinese dragon, also known as ''loong'', ''long'' or ''lung'', is a legendary creature in Chinese mythology, Chinese folklore, and Chinese culture at large. Chinese dragons have many Outline of life forms, animal-like forms such as Bixi (my ...

Pongo, she is a lot calmer. She does not usually take part in ruling the kingdom, annoying her husband to do so, except during money-making schemes. *The Lord Chamberlain (voiced by

Philip Latham Charles Philip Latham (17 January 1929 – 20 June 2020) was a British television actor. He was educated at Felsted School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which he graduated in 1951. In the late 1960s/early 1970s he was well know ...

in the first play,

Peter Hawkins Peter John Hawkins (3 April 1924 – 8 July 2006) was a British actor. During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, he was one of the most sought-after voice artists for radio and television, becoming a regular face and voice around the Soho-based cir ...

in the other two 1955 plays, and

Roy Skelton Roy William Skelton (20 July 1931 – 8 June 2011) was an English stage, screen and voice actor, whose voice was more familiar to television viewers than his name. Born in Nottingham to John H Skelton and Dorothy (née Bromley), he provided ...

from 1956)- the senior officer of the royal household, who also enjoys playing draughts with the King, and delivers royal commands and announcements, sometimes to a crowd of citizens. *Albert Weatherspoon (voiced by Peter Hawkins in the 1955 plays and James Beattie from 1956)- officially the Royal Gardener, although he assumes many other titles, including Court Photographer and, crucially, Royal Magician. Due to his busy days he cannot practice magic often, and so when he is required to use it, things usually go wrong. He is more successful as an inventor, however, having created the

speaking tube A speaking tube or voicepipe is a device based on two cones connected by an air pipe through which speech can be transmitted over an extended distance. Use of pipes was suggested by Francis Bacon in the ''New Atlantis'' (1672). The usage for tel ...

. *MacGregor (voiced by an unknown actor from 1958 and Roy Skelton in the 1976 revival)- A rogue of the kingdom, who usually commits acts for financial gain. Originally a black Indian, in the 1976 series he was changed to a Native American for the 1976 series, due to a complaint received during the 1958–1964 series asking why the villain of the series was black.

Production

Created by

, who wanted to break the mold of British puppet shows, the first three plays were transmitted live in 1955, with the voices of Raymond Rollett, Violet Lamb and

, with

in the first play. Kim Allen designed the puppets used in this series, however in 1956 Gordon decided to revamp, designing his own. In 1958 the first of twenty-find five new, recorded plays were broadcast, sporadically running until 1964. Only Violet reprised her role from the previous plays, with

as King Rufus,

as the Lord Chamberlain, Prince Rupert and King Boris, and James Beattie as Albert Weatherspoon. A twenty-sixth play, entitled The Giddy Ghost, was never broadcast, due to

colour television Color television or Colour television is a television transmission technology that includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improves on the monochrome or black-and-white t ...

being just a few weeks away, with the

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abandoning many of its black-and-white programmes. Like many BBC programmes of the 1950s and 1960s, little of ''A Rubovian Legend'' survives in the archive, save for a four-minute clip of the 1961 episode Knight for a Day which appeared in a 1988 episode of

DEF II DEF II was a programming strand on BBC2, which aired at 6 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 May 1988 to 23 May 1994, to serve the teenage market. It was produced by Janet Street-Porter, and followed on from her influential youth TV show ''Netw ...

hosted by

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...

Episodes

Series 1 (1955-1956)

*The Queen's Dragon - 15 December 1955 *Clocks and Blocks - 19 April 1956 *The Dragon's Hiccups - 17 May 1956

Series 2 (1958-1964)

*Clocks and Blocks - 28 October 1958 *The Dragon's Hiccups - 17 March 1959 *Mystery of Rubovia Castle - 26 May 1959 *The Wonky Wand - 8 December 1959 *Zaza Knows All - 24 May 1960 *Spray Fever - 9 August 1960 *Chickweed Wine - 4 October 1960 *Knight for a Day - 17 January 1961 *Crafty Art - 21 March 1961 *Fit and Well - 11 April 1961 *Something in the Air - 20 June 1961 *The Bell - 29 May 1962 *Gala Performance - 19 June 1962 *Bees and Bellows - 2 October 1962 *The Enchanted Duck - 16 October 1962 *The Trap - 30 October 1962 *The Clue - 1 January 1963 *A Cranky Banquet - 22 January 1963 *The Secret River - 29 January 1963 *Stop Press - 12 February 1963 *Fire, Fire, Fire - 13 August 1963 *Calling All Trunks - 19 November 1963 *The Troublesome Double - 3 December 1963 *Bewitched Boots - 17 December 1963 *A Sinister Visitor - 17 March 1964

1976 revival

In 1976, following the success of Gordon Murray's

Trumptonshire Trumptonshire is a fictional county created by Gordon Murray, in which the ''Trumptonshire Trilogy'' of ''Camberwick Green (1966), Trumpton'' (1967), and ''Chigley'' (1969) are located. Trumptonshire is populated by characters portrayed by 8-inch ...

trilogy, ''A Rubovian Legend'' was remade in a similar style, simply renamed ''Rubovia'', and vastly watered down in its writing compared to its predecessor. Gordon himself narrated, with

providing all the voices. Only two episodes have been found, although an LP containing two of the six episodes was released, and it is rumoured the castle seen in Gordon's later series The Gublins is the same used here.

References

External links

*http://www.roxburgh.org/rubovia Realm of Rubovia * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rubovian Legend BBC children's television shows Fictional European countries 1955 British television series debuts 1960 British television series endings 1976 British television series debuts 1976 British television series endings British television shows featuring puppetry 1950s British children's television series 1960s British children's television series 1970s British children's television series British stop-motion animated television series Television shows set in Europe Television series set in fictional countries Steampunk television series Television series about royalty Television series about dragons