Ivor Sydney Wood (4 May 1932 – 13 October 2004) was a prolific Anglo-French

' animator, director, producer and writer. He was known for his work on children's television series. Born in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

to an English father and a French mother, his family moved to the mountains near

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, France, after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, where he was educated. He studied fine art in Paris, and later worked in an advertising agency in Paris, where he met

Serge Danot Serge Danot (7 February 1931 – 23 December 1990) was a French animator and former advertising executive. He is best known for creating the animated series, ''Le Manège enchanté'' in 1964, which became known in its 1965 English-language ver ...

. Together they made the acclaimed French series ''

Le Manège enchanté ''Le Manège enchanté'' (British English: "The Magic Roundabout", American English: "The Magic Carousel") is a popular French animated children's television series of hundreds of episodes each five minutes long, which premiered on October 5, 196 ...

'' (known in English as ''

The Magic Roundabout ''The Magic Roundabout'' is an English-language children's television programme that ran from 1965 to 1977. It used the footage of the French stop motion animation show ''Le Manège enchanté'' but with completely different scripts and characte ...

''), with Wood as the animator. Following the success of ''The Magic Roundabout'' in the UK, Wood partnered with the London-based animation company

FilmFair FilmFair was a British production company and animation studio that produced children's television series, animated cartoons, educational films, and television advertisements. The company made numerous stop motion films using puppets, clay anima ...

. Wood became both animator and director for a number of FilmFair's animated children's programmes, starting with ''

The Herbs ''The Herbs'' is a television series for young children made for the BBC by Graham Clutterbuck's FilmFair company. It was written by Michael Bond (creator of Paddington Bear), directed by Ivor Wood using 3D stop motion model animation and firs ...

'' in 1968. During the 1970s, he animated and directed ''

Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings ''Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings'' is a British children's animated series about the adventures of a young boy named Simon, who has a magic blackboard. Things that Simon draws on the chalkboard become real in the Land of Chalk Drawings, whi ...

'', ''

Hattytown Tales ''Hattytown Tales'' is a 39-episode stop motion children's television series produced by FilmFair for Thames Television. It aired in the United Kingdom between 1969 and 1973. Creator and writer Keith Chatfield narrated the series, and Ivor Wood di ...

'', ''

The Adventures of Parsley ''The Adventures of Parsley'' is a 32-episode children's television series animated in stop motion. Produced by FilmFair, ''The Adventures of Parsley'' was a spin-off of ''The Herbs''. Its opening credits featured either Parsley the lion roarin ...

'', ''

The Wombles ''The Wombles'' are fictional pointy-nosed, furry creatures created by Elisabeth Beresford and originally appearing in a series of children's novels from 1968. They live in burrows, where they aim to help the environment by collecting and recycl ...

'', and ''

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

''.

Woodland Animations

Woodland Animations was founded by Ivor Wood and his wife Josiane, specifically to produce

stop-motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

animated series for the BBC. The company produced a number of programmes, the earliest and most popular of which was ''

Postman Pat ''Postman Pat'' is a British stop-motion animated television series first produced by Woodland Animations. The series follows the adventures of Pat Clifton, a postman who works for Royal Mail postal service in the fictional village of Greendal ...

''.

Series produced

*''

'' (1981–1996) *'' Gran'' (1983) *''

Bertha Bertha is a female Germanic name, from Old High German ''berhta'' meaning "bright one". It was usually a short form of Anglo Saxon names ''Beorhtgifu'' meaning "bright gift" or ''Beorhtwynn'' meaning "bright joy". The name occurs as a theonym, s ...

'' (1985–1986) *''

Charlie Chalk ''Charlie Chalk'' is a British stop motion animation series produced in 1987 in the United Kingdom by Woodland Animations, who also produced the children's television programmes ''Postman Pat'', '' Gran'', and ''Bertha''. Reception to the show ...

'' (1988–1989)

References

External links

*
The World of Ivor Wood
blog 1932 births 2004 deaths École des Beaux-Arts alumni Deaths from cancer in England English animators English people of French descent English expatriates in France Film people from Yorkshire People from Leeds Stop motion animators {{animator-stub