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''Play School'' was a British children's television series produced by 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. ...

...

which ran from 21 April 1964 until 11 March 1988. It was created by

Joy Whitby Joy Whitby (born 27 July 1930) is an English television producer and executive who has specialised in children's programmes during her career. Early life Whitby read History at St Anne's College, Oxford, and, after graduating, her first job wa ...

and was aimed at preschool children. Each programme followed a broad theme and consisted of songs, stories and activities with presenters in the studio, along with a short film introduced through either the square, round or arched window in the set. The programme spawned numerous spin-offs in Britain and other countries and involved many presenters and musicians during its run. Despite a revamp in 1983, ''Play School'' maintained the same basic formula throughout its 24-year history, but changes to the BBC's children's output led to the programme's cancellation in 1988, when it was replaced by ''Playbus'', which soon became ''

Playdays ''Playdays'' (known as ''Playbus'' until December 1989) is a British pre-school television programme which ran from 1988 to 1997 on CBBC. The show was the successor to '' Play School'' and, like its predecessor, was designed as an educational p ...

''.

Broadcast history

''Play School'' originally appeared on weekdays at 11am on BBC2 and received holiday runs on BBC1 in Summer 1964 and 1965, later acquiring a mid-afternoon

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

repeat as the opening programme of BBC1's teatime children's schedule. The morning showing was transferred to BBC1 in September 1983 when

BBC Schools BBC Schools, also known as BBC for Schools and Colleges, is the educational programming strand set up by the BBC in 1957, broadcasting a range of educational programmes for children aged 5–16. From launch until June 1983, programming was based o ...

programming transferred to BBC2. It remained in that slot even after daytime television was launched in October 1986 and continued to be broadcast at that time until it was superseded in October 1988 by ''Playbus''. When the BBC scrapped the afternoon edition of ''Play School'' in April 1985, to make way for a variety of children's programmes in the afternoon, a Sunday morning compilation was launched called ''Hello Again!''. There were several opening sequences for ''Play School'' during its run, the first being "Here's a house, here's a door. Windows: 1 2 3 4. Ready to knock? Turn the lock – It's Play School." This changed in the early 1970s to "A house – with a door. 1, 2, 3, 4. Ready to play? What's the day? It's..." In this version blinds opened on the windows as the numbers were spoken. The blinds were no longer featured towards the end of the 1970s and the word "windows" was added before "1 2 3 4". The final opening sequence involved a multicoloured house with no apparent windows. This was used from 1983 until the end of the programme. This saw the most radical revamp of the programme overall (not just in the opening titles). The opening legend then became "Get ready. To play. What's the day? It's..." Unlike earlier BBC programmes aimed at preschool children such as ''

Watch with Mother ''Watch with Mother'' was a cycle of children's programmes created by Freda Lingstrom and Maria Bird. Broadcast by BBC Television from 1952 until 1975, it was the first BBC television series aimed specifically at pre-school children, a developmen ...

'', ''Play School'' featured real presenters who spoke directly to their audience. Presenters included the first black host of a children's show,

Paul Danquah Paul Danquah, born Joseph Paul Walcott (25 May 1925 – 13 August 2015), was a British film actor, known particularly for his role in the film '' A Taste of Honey'' (1961), adapted from the 1958 play of the same name written by Shelagh Delan ...

;

Brian Cant Brian Cant (12 July 1933 – 19 June 2017) was an English actor of stage, television and film, television presenter, voice artist and writer. He was best known for his work in BBC television programmes for children from 1964 onward, most notably ...

, who remained with the show for 21 years; actress Julie Stevens; TV personality

Johnny Ball Johnny Ball (born Graham Thalben Ball; 23 May 1938) is an English television personality, a populariser of mathematics and the father of BBC Radio 2 DJ Zoe Ball. Early life Ball was born in Bristol and attended Kingswood Primary School on th ...

; former pop singers

Lionel Morton Lionel Morton (born Lionel Walmsley, 14 August 1942) is an English former musician and television presenter. Morton was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. In the early 1960s, he was the lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist of the group, the ...

and

Toni Arthur Toni Arthur-Hay (born Antoinette Alice Priscilla Wilson; 27 December 1940) is an English theatre director, former folk singer and television presenter. Early life and education Arthur was born in Oxford, England. She describes her childhood ...

; husband and wife

Eric Thompson Eric Norman Thompson (9 November 1929 – 30 November 1982) was an English actor, scriptwriter and stage director. He is best remembered for creating and performing the English narration for ''The Magic Roundabout'', which he adapted from ...

and

Phyllida Law Phyllida Ann Law (born 8 May 1932) is a British actress, known for her numerous roles in film and television. Early life Law was born in Glasgow, the daughter of Meg "Mego" and William Law, a journalist. Prior to the Second World War, her fath ...

; Italian model and actor

Marla Landi Marla Landi, Lady Dashwood (born Marcella Teresa Scarafia in 1933, Turin, Italy) is an Italian-born British film actress and television presenter. Career Landi's major roles included '' Across the Bridge'' (1957), '' Dublin Nightmare'' (1958), ...

; and

Balamory ''Balamory'' is a British live-action children's programme on BBC One, BBC Two and CBeebies for pre-school children, about a fictional small island community off the west coast of Scotland, named ''Balamory''. Four series were produced between ...

producer Brian Jameson.

Don Spencer Donald Richard Spencer (born 22 March 1941),is an Australian children's television presenter, singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He had a long-running role on ''Play School'' on both the Australian version (1968–99) and the United Kingdom ...

and Diane Dorgan also appeared on the Australian version. ''Play School'' and another BBC children's television programme ''

Jackanory ''Jackanory'' is a BBC children's television series which was originally broadcast between 1965 and 1996. It was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. The show was first transmitted on 13 December 1965, and the first story was the fairy-t ...

'' were sometimes recorded at

BBC Birmingham BBC Birmingham is one of the oldest regional arms of the BBC, located in Birmingham. It was the first region outside London to start broadcasting both the corporation's radio (in 1922) and television (in 1949) transmissions, the latter from th ...

BBC Manchester BBC Manchester (often known as BBC Salford) is the British Broadcasting Corporation regional headquarters for the North West, the largest BBC region in the UK. BBC Manchester is a department of the BBC North Group division. The BBC considers ...

when

BBC Television Centre Television Centre (TVC) is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, that was the headquarters of BBC Television between 1960 and 2013. After a refurbishment, the complex reopened in 2017 with three studios in use for ...

in London was busy.

Contents of the show

A section of each episode was a filmed excursion into the outside world taken through one of three windows: the young viewers were invited to guess whether the round, square, or arched window would be chosen that day, usually by means of the phrase, "...Have a look – through the....(whichever) window." A triangular window was added in 1983. Very often the film would be of a

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

producing something such as chocolate biscuits, or of a domestic industry such as refuse collection, but a number of subject matters were covered, such as watching animals or fish, boats on a lake, children in a playground or at school, a family going tenpin bowling, people in a cafe and visiting a

jumble sale A jumble sale (UK), bring and buy sale (Australia) or rummage sale (U.S and Canada) is an event at which second hand goods are sold, usually by an institution such as a local Boys' Brigade Company, Scout group, Girlguiding group or church, ...

, among other things. At the beginning of the 1983 revamp, the windows were now referred to as "shapes" as in "'let's have a look through one of the shapes..." After the shapes were moved to a spinning disc, the programme went back to using windows which resembled those used in the late 70s, albeit with the addition of the triangular window. Whenever they were shown now, only the window that the show was using for the day would be on the set. Each episode would also include a short story read from a book, introduced by checking the time on a clock. Normally the clock would show either an hour or a half hour and the young viewers were asked, "Can you tell what time the clock says today? Well, the long hand is pointing straight up, so that means it's something o'clock – and the short hand is pointing to the number...two (or whatever). So today, the clock says, two...o'...clock" (the latter phrase always delivered very slowly). This was followed by, "But what's underneath the clock?", and viewers would then see a turntable under the clock featuring certain items such as toy animals or clocks, which were, in a clever twist, always a clue to the forthcoming story. This was all accompanied by a slightly eerie, yet undeniably catchy, clock-like tune. (On one occasion, the item under the clock turned out to be none other than Little Ted, so the presenter concerned said, "What a very odd place for a toy to be!" and the story appropriately turned out to be about odd things.) Both the clock and the three window option live on in the children's programme ''

Tikkabilla ''Tikkabilla'' is a UK children's television programme, shown on CBeebies. The programme aims to educate pre-school children in an entertaining manner. The title "Tikkabilla" comes from the Hindi word meaning " Hopscotch", a popular children's g ...

'', which borrows much from ''Play School'', while a similar choice of portal into a film clip was provided by the abdomen-mounted video displays in the children's show ''

Teletubbies ''Teletubbies'' is a British children's television series created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for the BBC. The programme focuses on four differently coloured characters known as the Teletubbies, named after the television screens on th ...

''. Most of the programmes were studio-based, but there were a number of outside broadcasts at a variety of locations, such as zoos, seasides, central London, churches, schools and farms. There would also be songs, games, poems and stories, as well as regular painting and craft activities. The presenters would frequently invite the younger viewers to participate at home, usually by means of the prompt, 'Can you do that?' They normally signed off at the end of each episode by saying, "Time for us to go now, but only until tomorrow, so goodbye until tomorrow" – or, at the end of a week, "Goodbye, until it's our turn to be here again". (The latter phrase stemmed from the fact that the presenters changed from one week to the next.) From 1971 to 1984, ''Play School'' also had a sister programme called ''

Play Away ''Play Away'' is a British television children's programme. A sister programme to the infants' series '' Play School'', it was aimed at slightly older children. It ran from 1971 until 1984, and was broadcast on Saturday afternoons on BBC 2.Alist ...

''. Many 2 inch Quadruplex videotape master copies of ''Play School'' editions were

wiped Lost television broadcasts are mostly those early television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives (or in personal archives) usually because of deliberate destruction or neglect. Common reasons for loss A significant prop ...

by the

...
in 1993 on the assumption that they were of no further use and that examples of some other episodes were sufficient.

Overseas sales and adoption

''Play School'' was sold to Australia, and was then followed by local production. The Australian version has been produced since 1966. Similarly New Zealand bought the programme before producing their own from 1972 to 1982 & 1986 to 1989. The Canadian adaptation was ''

Polka Dot Door Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. History Etymology The term ...

'' and ran from 1971 to 1993. Other countries including '' Lekestue'' in Norway (1971–81), ''Das Spielhaus'' in Switzerland (1968-1994), ''Das Kleine Haus'' in Austria (1969-1975), ''Giocagiò'' in Italy (1966-1970), ''La Casa Del Reloj'' in Spain (1971–74), and Israel were provided with scripts and film segments so they could produce their own versions.

Presenters

The first show was presented by Virginia Stride and

Gordon Rollings Gordon Charles Rollings (17 April 1926 – 7 June 1985) was an English actor who mainly appeared on television, but also appeared on-stage and in feature films. He was born in Batley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England in 1926 and start ...

. Other presenters throughout the 24-year run included * Rick Jones * Carole Ward *

and his wife

* Julie Stevens *

Terence Frisby Terence Peter Michael Frisby (28 November 1932 – 22 April 2020) was a British playwright, actor, director and producer, best known as the author of the play ''There's a Girl in My Soup''. Early life Frisby was born in 1932 in New Cross, s ...

(as Terence Holland) *

Gordon Clyde Gordon David McCallum Clyde (22 May 1933–26 January 2008) was a British television actor, writer and musician. He was educated at Highgate School from 1945 and Christ's College, Cambridge from 1951, where he studied English and music. He i ...

Valerie Pitts Ann Valerie, Lady Solti (née Pitts; 19 August 1937 – 31 March 2021) was a British television presenter who was one of the BBC's original team of presenters during the 1950s. She left the programme in 1960 to marry James Sargent who was stage ...

Colin Jeavons Colin Abel Jeavons (born 20 October 1929) is a retired British television actor. Career Jeavons' earliest television role was as Jules Neraud in an episode of the 1956 anthology series of teleplays ''Nom-de-Plume''. Broadcast live, it is unkno ...

Carol Chell Carol Chell (born 1941) is a British children's television presenter and TV executive. She originally qualified as a teacher, and produced many educational TV shows in the 1960s. She is best known for her work as a long-serving presenter from 196 ...

Miranda Connell Miranda Connell (born 3 August 1938, Stansted, Essex, England) is an English actress. Early life and education She attended Elmhurst Ballet School and the Cheltenham Ladies' College, then appeared on stage in Stratford-upon-Avon and the West E ...

Wally Whyton Wallace Victor "Wally" Whyton (23 September 1929 – 22 January 1997) was a British musician, songwriter and radio and TV personality. Biography Born in London, England, Whyton grew up listening to jazz, blues and folk music, and learned to play ...

Ann Morrish Ann Morrish (born 15 June 1928) is a British actress. Her television appearances include regular roles in ''Compact (TV series), Compact'' and ''The Expert (TV series), The Expert'', as well as ''The House of Eliott'', ''Minder (TV series), Minde ...

* John White *

Chloe Ashcroft Chloe Ashcroft (born 7 July 1942) is an actor and former presenter of several BBC children's TV programmes, including '' Play School'', '' Play Away'', ''Hokey-Cokey'', ''Excuse Me'', ''All Change'', and ''Pie in the Sky''. She also appeared in ...

and her husband David Hargreaves * Diane Dorgan *

Johnny Silvo Johnny Silvo (born John Frederick Woods; 2 December 1936 – 19 December 2011) was a British folk and blues singer. Biography Born in 1936, Silvo started his career playing skiffle and jazz and singing solo in nightclubs. When the folk scene ...

Derek Griffiths Derek Griffiths (born 15 July 1946) is a British actor, singer, and voice artist who appeared in numerous British children's television series in the 1960s to present and has more recently played parts in television drama. Career Griffiths was ...

* Beryl Roques *

Sarah Long Sarah Long (18 March 1938 – 23 November 1987) was an English actress and television presenter. Born in London, she is best remembered for her long run as a presenter on the preschool children's television series '' Play School'' from Septembe ...

Carmen Munroe Carmen Esme Munroe, (born 12 November 1932)

Jon Glover Jonathan Philip Glover (born 26 December 1952) is an English actor. He has appeared in various television programmes including '' Play School'', '' Survivors'', the Management consultant in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', ''Casualty' ...

* Fred Harris * John Golder * Karen Platt *

Carol Leader Carol Leader (born 10 November 1950 in Colchester, Essex) is a former English theatrical and television actress, and senior psychoanalytic psychotherapist. She played Barbara Charlton in '' Young at Heart'' from 1980 to 1981, and Sadie Tomkins i ...

Stuart McGugan Stuart McGugan (born 2 March 1944) is a Scottish actor. He played the roles of Gunner 'Atlas' Mackintosh in the BBC sitcom ''It Ain't Half Hot Mum'' and Bomba MacAteer in ''Tutti Frutti''. McGugan was a presenter on BBC's '' Play School'' fr ...

Chris Tranchell Chris Tranchell (born Christopher Peter John Small, 13 April 1941) is a British actor, best known for his role in the television drama '' Survivors'' as Paul Pitman. He also appeared in three different ''Doctor Who'' serials: ''The Massacre o ...

Floella Benjamin Floella Karen Yunies Benjamin, Baroness Benjamin, (born 23 September 1949GRO Register of Marriages: SEP 1980 14 0207 LAMBETH – Keith D. Taylor=Floella K.Y. Benjamin) is a Trinidadian-British actress, singer, presenter, author, businesswoman, ...

* Ben Bazell * Sheelagh Gilbey * Elizabeth Millbank * Ben Thomas * Christopher Bramwell *

Lucie Skeaping Lucie Skeaping (née Finch) is a British singer, instrumentalist, broadcaster and writer. She was a founder of the early music group the City Waites and the pioneering klezmer band the Burning Bush. She presents BBC Radio 3's '' Early Music ...

* Iain Lauchlan * Patrick Abernethy * Elizabeth Watts (presenter) * Brian Jameson * Wayne Jackman * Jane Hardy * Stuart Bradley *

Kate Copstick Kate Copstick (born 25 February 1956 in Glasgow) is a Scottish actress, television presenter, writer, critic, director and producer. She studied for a law degree at the University of Glasgow. Career As a comedy actor, Copstick appeared on c ...

* Delia Morgan * Mike Amatt Only four of these presenters presented the programme during all three decades of its existence, namely

(1964–85),

(1966–88),

(1967–84 & 1986–87) and

(1969–88). Chell was both the longest-serving presenter and the one who made the most appearances on the programme (763 in total). In addition, two regular presenters from the 1960s and 1970s, namely

and

, made a few guest appearances on the programme during the 1980s. Other presenters who were on the programme for 10 or more years included Julie Stevens,

, Fred Harris,

and

.*Paul R Jackson ''Here's A House – A Celebration of Play School'
Kaleidoscope
**Volume 1 (2010) **Volume 2 (2011) In many cases five programmes would be produced in the space of two days, with one day of rehearsal and one day of recording.

Celebrity storytellers

A number of famous people also appeared on the show as storytellers: many became semi-regulars. They included:

Val Doonican Michael Valentine Doonican (3 February 1927 – 1 July 2015) was an Irish singer of traditional pop, easy listening, and novelty songs, who was noted for his warm and relaxed style. A crooner, he found popular success, especially in the Un ...

, Richard Baker,

Rolf Harris Rolf Harris (born 30 March 1930) is an Australian entertainer whose career has encompassed work as a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter and television personality. He often used unusual instruments in his performan ...

Clive Dunn Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn (9 January 19206 November 2012) was an English actor. Although he was only 48 and one of the youngest cast members, he was cast in a role many years his senior, as the elderly Lance Corporal Jones in the BBC sitcom ' ...

Roy Castle Roy Castle (31 August 1932 – 2 September 1994) was an English dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician. In addition to being an accomplished jazz trumpet player, he could play many other instruments. Following a vers ...

Pat Coombs Patricia Doreen Coombs (27 August 1926 – 25 May 2002) was an English actress. She specialised in the portrayal of the eternal downtrodden female, comically under the thumb of stronger personalities. She was known for many roles on radio, ...

David Kossoff David Kossoff (24 November 1919 – 23 March 2005) was a British actor. In 1954 he won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles for his appearance as Geza Szobek in '' The Young Lovers''. He played Alf Larkin in TV sit ...

Patricia Hayes Patricia Lawlor Hayes (22 December 1909 – 19 September 1998) was an English character actress. Early life Patricia Hayes OBE was born in Streatham,Dennis Barker, "Hayes, Patricia Lawlor (1909–1998)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biogra ...

Sam Kydd Samuel John Kydd (15 February 1915 – 26 March 1982) was a British-Irish actor. His best-known roles were in two major British television series of the 1960s, as the smuggler Orlando O'Connor in '' Crane'' and its sequel ''Orlando''. He als ...

James Blades James Blades OBE (9 September 190119 May 1999) was an English percussionist. He was one of the most distinguished percussionists in Western music, with a long and varied career. His book ''Percussion Instruments and their History'' (1971) is a s ...

Frank Windsor Frank Windsor Higgins (12 July 1928 – 30 September 2020), known professionally as Frank Windsor, was an English actor, primarily known for his roles on television, especially policeman John Watt in ''Z-Cars'' and its spin-offs. Biography Win ...

Roy Kinnear Roy Mitchell Kinnear (8 January 1934 – 20 September 1988) was a British character actor. He was known for his roles in films such as The Beatles' ''Help!'' (1965), Clapper in ''How I Won the War'' (1967) and Planchet in ''The Three Musketeers ...

, George Chisholm,

Ted Moult Edward Walker Moult (11 February 1926 – 3 September 1986) was a British farmer at Scaddows Farm near Ticknall, Derbyshire, who became a radio and television personality. Early life Moult was born in Derby. He left Derby School at 17 in ...

and

Cilla Black Priscilla Maria Veronica White (27 May 1943 – 1 August 2015), better known as Cilla Black, was an English singer, actress and television presenter. Championed by her friends the Beatles, Black began her career as a singer in 1963. Her ...

. Both existing and former Play School presenters also frequently made guest appearances as storytellers.

Musicians

Many musicians worked on the programme over the years: they included Jonathan Cohen,

William Blezard William Blezard (10 March 1921 in Padiham, Lancashire – 2 March 2003 in Barnes, London) was a talented pianist and composer who was musical director to Noël Coward, Marlene Dietrich and Joyce Grenfell. Personal life Blezard's parents work ...

, Peter Gosling, Alan Grahame,

Paul Reade Paul Geoffrey Reade (10 January 1943 – 7 June 1997) was an English composer. Born in Lancashire, he studied at the Royal Academy of Music and worked at English National Opera as a ''répétiteur''. In 1991 he received an Ivor Novello Award f ...

Spike Heatley Brian John Heatley (17 February 1933 – 10 November 2021), better known as Spike Heatley, was a British jazz double bassist. Early life Heatley was born in Muswell Hill, North London in February 1933. Career He appeared with Vic Ash's sextet ...

, Alan Rushton, Pedro Goble,

Anne Dudley Anne Jennifer Dudley (née Beckingham; born 7 May 1956) is an English composer, keyboardist, conductor and pop musician. She was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in the classical and pop genre ...

, John Gould,

Martin Yates Martin Yates (born 1 July 1958, London) is a British conductor. After attending Kimbolton School (1969–1974), he studied at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College of Music, London, where his teachers included Bernard Keeffe (conducti ...

and Peter Pettinger. Some of them, in particular Cohen, Gosling, Grahame and Reade, occasionally appeared on camera, especially during Christmas editions.

Toys

The presenters were accompanied by a supporting cast of cuddly toys and dolls. The five regulars were: * Humpty, a dark green large egg-shaped soft toy with green trousers, to look like

Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle and one of the best known in the English-speaking world. He is typically portrayed as an anthropomorphic egg, though he is not explicitly described as such. ...

from the nursery rhyme, as he was the first Play School toy introduced, since the first programme on 21 April 1964. Several versions were made. * Teddy/Big Ted and Little Ted, twin

teddy bears A teddy bear is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff under his aunt Margarete Steiff's company in Germany in the early 20th century, the teddy bear, ...

. Little Ted debuted in 1968. Before this, Big Ted was called "Teddy." * Jemima, a rag doll with long red (or pink) and white striped legs. * Hamble was a little doll and one of the original five toys but dropped from the show during the 1980s to be replaced by Poppy. According to Joy Whitby, creator of ''Play School'', Hamble was chosen as representative of a more "downtrodden", humble background than the "

middle-class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Comm ...

" associations that the teddy bears had. She was disliked by presenters as she could not be cuddled.''The Reunion: Play School''

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' ...

, 19 September 2010 on

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

According to the BBC website Chloe Ashcroft "did a terrible thing to Hamble. She just would not sit up...so one day I got a very big knitting needle, a big wooden one, and I stuck it right up her bum, as far as her head. So she was completely rigid, and she was much much better after that." * Poppy, a black doll, replaced Hamble in November 1986 in response to changing attitudes in society (the Hamble doll was also getting rather fragile at this point). A

rocking horse __NOTOC__ A rocking horse is a child's toy, usually shaped like a horse and mounted on rockers similar to a rocking chair. There are two sorts, the one where the horse part sits rigidly attached to a pair of curved rockers that are in contact wit ...

named Dapple was first seen in May 1965 and made occasional appearances, when a particular song or item suggested it. The final line up of toys are on display as exhibits of the

National Science and Media Museum The National Science and Media Museum (formerly The National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, 1983–2006 and then the National Media Museum, 2006–2017), located in Bradford, West Yorkshire, is part of the national Science Museum G ...

, Bradford. The original Humpty was developed by soft toy makers "Ostrobogulous Toys" run by Kristin Baybars, daughter of

Blair Hughes-Stanton Blair Rowlands Hughes-Stanton (22 February 1902 – 6 June 1981) was a major figure in the English wood-engraving revival in the twentieth century. He was the son of the artist Sir Herbert Hughes-Stanton. He exhibited with the Society of Woo ...

and

Ida Affleck Graves Ida Florence Affleck Graves (March 1902 – 14 November 1999) was a British artist, poet, novelist, and children's writer, and member of the Bloomsbury Group.Jacqueline Simms (1999Obituary: Ida Affleck GravesIndependent Online, undated. Earl ...

and Minnie King. Jemima was made by Annette Shelley.Adrian Baldwin (2020
More on Ostrobogulous Toys
blog post, 7 July 2020.

Pets

* Katoo, Charlie and Sparky –

cockatoo A cockatoo is any of the 21 parrot species belonging to the family Cacatuidae, the only family in the superfamily Cacatuoidea. Along with the Psittacoidea (true parrots) and the Strigopoidea (large New Zealand parrots), they make up the ord ...

* Bit and Bot –

goldfish The goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the wild have ...

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 ...

s, including Buffy, Mopsy, Peter, Benjamin and Becky. *

Mice A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

Guinea pigs The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy (), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'' in the family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the word ''cavy'' to describe the ani ...

including Lizzy The pets were cared for by Wendy Duggan, Fellow of the Zoological Society.Bob Chaundy
Obituary: Wendy Duggan
''The Guardian'', 4 March 2012

Notes

References

*''25 Minutes Peace – Celebrating Play School'' (BBC TV programme, 1979) *Paul R Jackson, ''Here's A House – A Celebration of Play School'
Kaleidoscope
**Volume 1 (2010) **Volume 2 (2011)

External links

* * {{Teddy bears, state=collapsed 1964 British television series debuts 1988 British television series endings 1960s British children's television series 1970s British children's television series 1980s British children's television series British television shows featuring puppetry BBC children's television shows Lost BBC episodes British preschool education television series 1960s preschool education television series 1970s preschool education television series 1980s preschool education television series English-language television shows Television series about bears Television series about horses Television series by BBC Studios