''Timbuctoo'' is a series of 25 children's books, written and illustrated by

Roger Hargreaves Charles Roger Hargreaves (9 May 1935 – 11 September 1988) was an English author and illustrator of children's books. He created the ''Mr. Men'' series, ''Little Miss'' series and ''Timbuctoo'' series, intended for young readers. The simple and ...

, better known for his ''

Mr. Men ''Mr. Men'' is a British series of children's books by English author Roger Hargreaves which began publication in August 1971. From 1981, an accompanying series of Little Miss books by the same author (but with female characters) was published. ...

'' and ''Little Miss'' series. It was published from 1978 to 1979, with selected reprints in 1993 and 1999. The books tell the stories of a group of animals, each of whom is named after the sound that their particular animal makes. An animated series (produced by Flicks Films and Carlton International) of ''Timbuctoo'' was shown on

CITV 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 ...

which ran from 9 January 1998 to 5 January 2000, narrated by

Ronnie Corbett Ronald Balfour Corbett (4 December 1930 – 31 March 2016) was a Scottish actor, broadcaster, comedian and writer. He had a long association with Ronnie Barker in the BBC television comedy sketch show ''The Two Ronnies''. He achieved promine ...

Books

The original set of 25 books named after their main character were published in 1978 and 1979, along with board books, shaped story books and three Timbuctoo Annuals. In 1999 eight of the books were reprinted with new illustrations to promote the television show, along with a new character, Bray. The first twelve books were also published in Dutch, and the eight 1999 versions published in Greek.

1978

*''Woof'' (an ochre

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

) *''Meow'' (an orange

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

) *''Oink'' (a pink

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus s ...

) *''Chirp'' (a blue

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

) *''Trumpet'' (a grey

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...

) *''Squeak'' (an ochre

mouse 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' ...

) *''Moo'' (a brown

cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

) *''Buzz'' (a black and yellow

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...

) *''Neigh'' (a red

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

) *''Roar'' (a yellow

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

) *''Snap'' (a green

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

) *''Hiss'' (a yellow-green

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

) Four of the books (''Woof'', ''Trumpet'', ''Buzz'' and ''Oink'') were republished in 1993.

1979

*''Croak'' (a green

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

) *''Cluck'' (an orange

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

) *''Growl'' (a black and orange

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...

) *''Honk'' (a black

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

) *''Chatter'' (an orange

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

) *''Quack'' (a white

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

) *''Sniff'' (a grey

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 ...

) *''Bleat'' (an orange

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

) *''Hoot'' (a brown

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

) *''Grizzle'' (a burgundy

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

) *''Puff'' (a black and white

panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white animal coat, coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is ...

) *''Squawk'' (a blue

parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoid ...

) *''Baa'' (a grey and white

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

) There was also a set of ''Timbuctoo Shape Books'' released, including ''Oink'', ''Neigh'', ''Growl'', ''Roar'', ''Squeak'', ''Trumpet'', ''Cluck'' and ''Puff''.

1997

*''Bray'' (a grey

donkey The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...

) Bray was an additional character created and written by Roger's son Adam. This was because standard TV series are often produced in 13 or 26 episode series and an additional character was required to reach 26 episodes. Eight of the original books were reprinted in 1999, with new illustrations, to accompany the TV series. While Bray was listed on the back cover along with the rest of the cast, only Buzz, Cluck, Growl, Meow, Neigh, Oink, Snap and Trumpet were reprinted.

Television adaptation

From 9 January 1998 to 5 January 2000, the TV show ran on

for two series based on characters of books; Series 1 was released on VHS as ''Neigh Finds a New Home and Other Stories'' in March 1999 and Series 2 released as ''Woof Has Forgotten How to Bark and Other Stories'' in February 2000. A total of 26 episodes were produced.

Series Overview

*Series 1: 9 January 1998 to 3 April 1998 (13 Episodes) *Series 2: 6 October 1999 to 5 January 2000 (13 Episodes)

Series 1 (1998)

#"Neigh Finds a New Home" (9 January 1998) #"Honk Goes Swimming" (16 January 1998) #"Snap Learns a New Game" (23 January 1998) #"Cluck Gets a Letter" (30 January 1998) #"Moo Has a Birthday Party" (6 February 1998) #"Chirp Learns to Fly" (13 February 1998) #"Croak Learns to Swim" (20 February 1998) #"Oink and the Big Apple" (27 February 1998) #"Squeak has a Big Day Out" (6 March 1998) #"Bleat Takes the Ball By the Horns" (13 March 1998) #"Grizzle Gets the Giggles" (20 March 1998) #"Hoot Slips up at Question Time" (27 March 1998) #"Meow Goes Fishing" (3 April 1998)

Series 2 (1999-2000)

#"Woof Has Forgotten How to Bark" (6 October 1999) #"Hiss is Hopping Mad" (13 October 1999) #"Chatter and His Long Tail" (20 October 1999) #"Puff Buys Some Paint" (27 October 1999) #"Roar Sets Out to Frighten Timbuctoo" (3 November 1999) #"Trumpet Goes to the Seaside" (10 November 1999) #"Quack Dreams of a New Beak" (17 November 1999) #"Buzz is a Very Busy Bee" (24 November 1999) #"Growl Has a Fright" (1 December 1999) #"Baa Goes Shopping" (8 December 1999) #"Sniff Runs Out of Carrots" (15 December 1999) #"Bray Sleeps Through Christmas" (22 December 1999) #"Squawk Joins the Choir" (5 January 2000)

External links

{{Portal , Children's literature
Timbuctoo
character and episode list at Toonhound
Timbuctoo
at

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Book series introduced in 1978 British picture books Series of children's books Fictional islands ITV children's television shows 1998 British television series debuts 2000 British television series endings 1990s British children's television series 2000s British children's television series British children's animated adventure television series British television shows based on children's books Animated television series about animals Works by Roger Hargreaves Children's fiction books English-language television shows Television series by ITV Studios Sanrio characters 1990s British animated television series 2000s British animated television series