Gus Honeybun was the station mascot for

Westward Television Westward Television was the first ITV franchise-holder for the South West of England. It held the franchise from 29 April 1961 until 31 December 1981. After a difficult start, Westward Television provided a popular, distinctive and highly regar ...

, and later

Television South West Television South West (TSW) was the ITV franchise holder for the South West England region from 1 January 1982 until 31 December 1992, broadcasting from studios at Derry's Cross in Plymouth, Devon. History Origins and Launch On 28 Decembe ...

, from 1961 to December 1992. A

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

, and star of ''Gus Honeybun's Magic Birthdays'', he achieved a longevity for a TV puppet second only to the

Sooty Sooty is a British children's television media franchise created by Harry Corbett incorporating primarily television and stage shows. The franchise originated with his fictional glove puppet character introduced to television in 1955, with the ...

characters. The clips were filmed at Westward/TSW's

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

studios in the Derry's Cross part of the city. There were four different Gus Honeybun puppets and TSW employed a person to create Gus Honeybun's wardrobe. Gus had a theme tune composed by TV composer

Ed Welch Edward William Welch (born 22 October 1947) is an English songwriter, composer, conductor and arranger. Early life and education Ed Welch had a classical music upbringing. He attended Christ Church Cathedral School from 1957-1961, where he ...

. A short video was made to accompany it, featuring Gus and several TSW presenters walking around in Plymouth. A 7"

picture disc Picture discs are gramophone (phonograph) records that show images on their playing surface, rather than being of plain black or colored vinyl. Collectors traditionally reserve the term picture disc for records with graphics that extend at lea ...

single of the theme song was released in 1987 to several local record shops. Other Gus merchandise available included cuddly toy puppets, keyrings and car stickers. One car sticker said "Watch Gus on TSW!" and had his face and the TSW logo on it. The character was devised to fill unsold advertising slots during children's TV broadcasts. Several

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

franchise stations had at one time had a regional birthdays slot (often following

Children's ITV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...

or the predecessor children's television slot) with a continuity announcer and puppet announcing children's birthdays. With Gus, the announcer would read out a

birthday card A birthday card is a greeting card given or sent to a person to celebrate their birthday. Similar to a birthday cake, birthday card traditions vary by culture but the origin of birthday cards is unclear. The advent of computing and introduction of ...

and the puppet would give a jump, known as a bunny hop, for each year of the child's life. Alternatives to bunny hops were ear waggles, head stands, winks and later "putting out the lights" and a colour-distorting "magic button". Gus appeared with virtually every Westward/TSW presenter, including the late Ian Stirling,

Fern Britton Fern Britton (born 17 July 1957) is an English author and television presenter. She co-presented '' Breakfast Time'' in the 1980s, coming to mainstream national attention when hosting cookery game show ''Ready Steady Cook'' between 1994 and 200 ...

Judi Spiers Judith Marilyn Spiers (born 15 March 1953) is a British radio and television presenter. Career Initially training to be an actress at the Rose Bruford College, Spiers began her broadcasting career at Westward Television in 1977, then the ITV st ...

, David Fitzgerald,

Ruth Langsford Ruth Wendy Holmes (née; Langsford; born 17 March 1960) is an English television presenter. She has presented various television shows, including '' This Morning'' (1999–present) in which she is the longest serving presenter, '' Gift Wrapped ...

and

Sally Meen Sally Jennifer Meen (born 13 June 1965) is an English television presenter. Meen has a degree in Catering and Institutional Management, and latterly qualifications in Art and Design. Her TV career started out as a dancer on Benny Hill, then a ...

. The character was given the full name Augustus Jeremiah Honeybun by some continuity announcers, and was said to have been found under a gorse bush on

Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous ...

in 1961 by the founders of

. During the TSW era, Gus was broadcast twice a day on weekdays (before and after

), and usually once a day at weekends. The show usually lasted about 2 or 3 minutes per episode. From 1987 to 1990, TSW used to often opt out of showing the first and last Children's ITV in-vision continuity links of the day so it could fit in Gus' birthday slot on weekday afternoons. There was also a TSW-/Gus-branded ''Hoppa'' bus, made by local bus and coach company

Western National Western National was a bus company operating in South West England from 1929 until the 1990s. Early history Western National Omnibus Company was founded in 1929 as a joint venture between the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the National O ...

. It was in regular use on most service routes until TSW's demise in 1992.

Westcountry Cult

Gus Honeybun attracted a cult following and it was not unknown for adults to write in requesting "bunny hops" etc. 12 was the official age limit for having a birthday read out on air, so people of 40 were presented as being 4 and so on. Gus Honeybun was so identified with regional television in the south-west that when TSW's managing director Harry Turner presented the station's ITV franchise renewal in 1991 he took Gus with him. However, Gus's ''Magic Birthdays'' series and his career at the station were ended at the start of 1993, when

Westcountry Television ITV Westcountry, formerly known as Westcountry Television and Carlton Westcountry, was the ITV franchise holder for the south west of England, covering Cornwall, Devon, Isles of Scilly, southern and western Somerset and western Dorset. The com ...

took over from TSW after winning the franchise. The last ever Gus Honeybun programme, aired on 31 December 1992, at the tail end of the final ''

TSW Today ''TSW Today'' was the news programme on Television South West, the ITV licensee for South West England. The programme began as ''Today South West'' on 4 January 1982, then in 1987 it was renamed ''Today'' and in 1989, it became ''TSW Today.'' W ...

'', which paid tribute to the station's 11 years of service, saw Gus returned to the moor and reunited with his rabbit family with the help of continuity announcers

and David Fitzgerald. The successor ITV franchise Westcountry did provide a programme called '' Birthday People'', but this was cancelled in 2004.

In popular culture

The puppet was spoofed on ''

Victoria Wood As Seen On TV ''Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV'' is a British comedy sketch series written by and starring comedian Victoria Wood, with appearances from Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Duncan Preston, Susie Blake and Patricia Routledge. The show was televised on B ...

'' by

Susie Blake Susie Blake (born 19 April 1950) is an English television, radio and stage actress. She is best known for her portrayal of the snobbish TV announcer in '' Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV'' and Bev Unwin in ''Coronation Street'', which she played ...

's continuity announcer character accompanied by 'Wally Wallaby'. Terry Wogan for some time referred to Gloria Hunniford (whose show preceded his on national

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

) as Gloria Honeybun. In the post-apocalyptic novel by

Jasper Fforde Jasper Fforde (born 11 January 1961) is an English novelist, whose first novel, ''The Eyre Affair'', was published in 2001. He is known mainly for his ''Thursday Next'' novels, but has published two books in the loosely connected ''The Big Over ...

entitled ''

Shades of Grey Variations of gray or grey include achromatic grayscale shades, which lie exactly between white and black, and nearby colors with low colorfulness. A selection of a number of these various colors is shown below. Chart of computer web color ...

'', which is set 1500 years into the future, Devon and Cornwall are known as 'The Honeybun Peninsula'.

External links

Gus at Flambards

South West Film & Television Archive

References

{{reflist Television characters introduced in 1961 Puppets 1961 British television series debuts 1992 British television series endings 1960s British children's television series 1970s British children's television series 1980s British children's television series 1990s British children's television series British television shows featuring puppetry Television series about rabbits and hares Mass media in Cornwall Television shows produced by Westward Television Television shows produced by Television South West (TSW) English-language television shows