Johnny Morris (television Presenter)

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Ernest John Morris OBE (20 June 1916 – 6 May 1999) was a Welsh television presenter. He was known for his children's programmes for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

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on the topic of

zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

, most notably '' Animal Magic'', and for narrating the ''

Tales of the Riverbank ''Tales of the Riverbank'', sometimes called ''Hammy Hamster'' and ''Once Upon a Hamster'' for the Canadian version, is a British children's television series developed from a Canadian pilot. The original series was later broadcast on Canadian ...

'' series of stories.

Early life

Morris was born on 20 June 1916 in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, the son of a postmaster. He learned to play the violin as a child and toured the valleys of South Wales, performing with his cello-playing father. Morris attended Eveswell Junior School and then Hatherleigh School, Newport, and worked as a solicitor's clerk, a timekeeper on a building site, and a salesman before managing a farm in

Aldbourne Aldbourne (pronounced "awld·bawn") is a village and civil parish about north-east of Marlborough, Wiltshire, England, in a valley on the south slope of the Lambourn Downs – part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. ...

, Wiltshire for 13 years."Naturalist who brought Animal Magic to millions"
''BBC News''. 6 May 1999.

Radio and television career

Morris was discovered telling stories in a pub by the then BBC Home Service West Regional producer

Desmond Hawkins Desmond Hawkins, OBE (20 October 1908 – 6 May 1999), born in East Sheen, Surrey, was an author, editor and radio personality. Career The political and artistic upheavals of the 1930s meant a proliferation of serious magazines. Desmond w ...

. Morris made his radio début in 1946, and featured in a number of regional series throughout the 1950s. He was often employed on light entertainment programmes as a storyteller, such as in ''Pass the Salt'', or as a commentator on local events. A natural

mimic MIMIC, known in capitalized form only, is a former simulation computer language developed 1964 by H. E. Petersen, F. J. Sansom and L. M. Warshawsky of Systems Engineering Group within the Air Force Materiel Command at the Wright-Patterson AFB in ...

and impersonator, Morris first appeared on television as ''The Hot Chestnut Man'' (1953–1961), a short slot in which he was shown sitting roasting chestnuts. He would tell a humorous yarn in a

West Country accent West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of the native population of South West England, the area sometimes popularly known as the West Country. The West Country is often defined as encompassi ...

, often ending with a moral. In 1960 he narrated the imported, Canadian-produced ''

'' series of stories about Hammy the Hamster, Roderick the Rat, GP the Guinea Pig, and their assorted animal friends along a riverbank. The show used slowed-down footage of real animals filmed doing humanised things such as driving a car or boat, and living in houses. In the 1960s Morris also narrated books 1–11 of ''

The Railway Stories ''The Railway Stories'' are a series of audio adaptations of The Railway Series books by the Rev. W Awdry and his son Christopher. Nearly all of the 42 books in the series have been recorded by one of five different narrators: Johnny Morris, Wi ...

'', recordings of

the Railway Series ''The Railway Series'' is a series of British books about a railway known as the North Western Railway, located on the fictional Island of Sodor. There are 42 books in the series, the first published in May 1945 by the Rev. Wilbert Awdry. Tw ...

books by the Rev. W. Awdry. The recordings of the first eight books were re-released in LP format in the 1970s but the other three sets of recordings were never reissued and in the end were rerecorded by

Willie Rushton William George Rushton (18 August 1937 – 11 December 1996) was an English cartoonist, satirist, comedian, actor and performer who co-founded the satirical magazine ''Private Eye''. Early life Rushton was born 18 August 1937 in 3 Wilbraham Plac ...

. During the 1980s he also recorded a few audiobooks for

Sylvanian Families is a line of collectible anthropomorphic animal figurines made of flocked plastic. They were created by the Japanese gaming company Epoch in 1985 and distributed worldwide by a number of companies. History Beginning and growth At the beginning ...

. Morris's ability to create a world which children could relate to through his mimicry led to his best-known television role, that of the presenter, narrator and '

zoo keeper A zookeeper, sometimes referred as animal keeper, is a person who manages zoo animals that are kept in captivity for conservation or to be displayed to the public.Hurwitz, Jane. Choosing a Career in Animal Care (World of Work). New York: Rosen Gr ...

' for '' Animal Magic''. For more than 400 editions, from 1962 until 1983, and with inserts shot at Bristol Zoo Gardens, Morris would create comic dialogues with the animals, whom he also voiced. His regular companion on the show was Dotty the ring-tailed lemur. When the idea of imposing human qualities and voices upon animals fell out of favour the series was discontinued. Morris very rarely worked with spiders, having a phobia that he wished to keep from the public. Morris carried over his comedic commentary technique into other programmes, such as ''Follow the Rhine'', a BBC2 travelogue which included a witty Morris commentary featuring his companion Tubby Foster – actually his producer Brian Patten. ''Follow the Rhine'' was based on Morris' earlier

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

series ''Johnny's Jaunts''. These series chronicled not only the Rhine journey but other worldwide journeys and were broadcast between 1957 and 1976. Included in this series were tales based upon his visits to such places as Austria (a skiing misadventure!), Spain, Hong Kong, Japan, USA, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, South America, South Sea Islands, France; and even a cruise on the River Thames. Morris was Vice President of the

Bluebell Railway The Bluebell Railway is an heritage line almost entirely in West Sussex in England, except for Sheffield Park which is in East Sussex. It is managed by the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society. It uses steam trains which operate between an ...

in Sussex from its early days in the 1960s until the late 1980s, attending several anniversaries and landmark events over the first few decades of the railway's existence. He also made two promotional LPs for the railway in the 1970s, one of which was released on the Discourses Label (DCM1209), 'Johnny Morris on the Bluebell Railway‘. He released other recordings, too: 'Sights and Sounds of Britain', a 1975 Flexidisc (Lyntone 2881) and 'It's a Dog's Life’ (Lyntone 2462), a single promoting Winalot dog foods, which, oddly, played at 33⅓ rpm. In the 1970s, Morris read children's bedtime stories for the

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

to be heard via the telephone. Children could dial 150 and hear a different story over the telephone each week; these included the Peter Pixie stories written by Olive Hyett. He was also a presenter on BBC Schools Radio's '' Singing Together'', and wrote and read stories on BBC Schools Radio's ''A Service for Schools'' which was later renamed ''Together''. In a nod to his role with ''Animal Magic'', Morris also added his voice to the award-winning ''

Creature Comforts ''Creature Comforts'' is a British adult stop-motion comedy mockumentary franchise originating in a 1989 British humorous animated short film of the same name. The film matched animated zoo animals with a soundtrack of people talking about th ...

'' series of electricity advertisements, created by

Aardman Animations Aardman Animations Limited (also known as Aardman Studios, simply Aardman or Aardman Animation and stylised as AARDMAN as of 2022) is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England. It is known for films made using stop-motion and clay ani ...

. These advertisements featured animated claymation animals speaking about their life and conditions in a way comparable to the dialogues that Morris had created in the earlier television show. Although latterly criticised in the 1990s for his anthropomorphic technique of introducing television viewers to animals, Morris was active in

environmentalism Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seek ...

, and in his eighties demonstrated against the building of the

Newbury bypass The Newbury bypass, officially known as The Winchester-Preston Trunk Road (A34) (Newbury Bypass), is a stretch of dual carriageway road which bypasses the town of Newbury in Berkshire, England. It is located to the west of the town and forms ...

near his home. In June 2004, Morris and

Bill Oddie William Edgar Oddie (born 7 July 1941) is an English writer, comedian, songwriter, musician, artist, birder, conservationist, television presenter and actor. He was a member of comedy trio The Goodies. A birder since his childhood in Quinto ...

were jointly profiled in the first of a three part

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

series, ''

The Way We Went Wild The Way We Went Wild is a three-part BBC television, TV series, first shown on BBC Two, about British wildlife television presenter, presenters. It was narrated by Josette Simon. Episode 1 Episode 1, screened on 13 June 2004, featured Johnny Mor ...

'', about television wildlife presenters. Morris was awarded the OBE in 1984. His autobiography, ''There's Lovely'', was first published in 1989.

Death

diabetic Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

, Morris collapsed at his home in

Hungerford Hungerford is a historic market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, west of Newbury, east of Marlborough, northeast of Salisbury and 60 miles (97 km) west of London. The Kennet and Avon Canal passes through the town alongside the ...

, Berkshire, in March 1999 when he was about to star in a new animal series ''Wild Thing'' on

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 ...

. Admitted to the Princess Margaret Hospital, Swindon, Wiltshire for tests, he was discharged to a nursing home in the Devizes and Marlborough district, where he died on 6 May 1999. His wife, Eileen, had pre-deceased him by 10 years; he had two stepsons. He bequeathed his house to his co-host on ''Animal Magic'',

Terry Nutkins Terence Paul Nutkins (12 August 1946 – 6 September 2012) was an English naturalist, television presenter and author. He appeared in the UK children's programmes '' Animal Magic'', '' The Really Wild Show'', '' Brilliant Creatures'' and ...

; a large sum of cash to his housekeeper, Rita Offer; and smaller sums to his gardener and his builder but he left nothing to his stepsons, his step-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren – possibly because a failed business partnership had cost him £500,000."Johnny Morris cut family from will"
''The Independent'' (London). 17 November 1999.

Bibliography

Morris was also a writer. His books include: *''Just Like you and Me'' – *''Around the World in Twenty Five Years'' – (also a BBC radio series)

References

External links

* *
BBC Obituary - Johnny Morris
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Johnny 1916 births 1999 deaths Audiobook narrators British television presenters Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Newport, Wales Welsh television presenters