Oliver Postgate
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Richard Oliver Postgate (12 April 1925 – 8 December 2008) was an English
animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...
,
puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object called a puppet to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the ...
, and writer. He was the creator and writer of some of Britain's most popular children's television programmes. ''
Bagpuss ''Bagpuss'' is a British animated children's television series which was made by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate through their company Smallfilms. The series of thirteen episodes was first broadcast from 12 February to 7 May 1974. The title c ...
'', '' Pingwings'', ''
Noggin the Nog ''Noggin the Nog'' is a fictional character appearing in a BBC Television animated series (of the same name, originally broadcast 1959–1965 and 1982) and a series of illustrated books (published 1965–1977), created by Oliver Postgate and P ...
'', ''
Ivor the Engine ''Ivor the Engine'' is a British cutout animation television series created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms company. It follows the adventures of a small green steam locomotive who lives in the "top left-hand corner of Wales ...
'', ''
Clangers ''Clangers'' (usually referred to as ''The Clangers'') is a British stop motion, stop-motion Animated series, animated children's television series, consisting of short films about a family of mouse, mouse-like creatures who live on, and inside ...
'' and '' Pogles' Wood'', were all made by Smallfilms, the company he set up with collaborator, artist and puppet maker
Peter Firmin Peter Arthur Firmin (11 December 1928 – 1 July 2018) was an English artist and puppet maker. He was the founder of Smallfilms, along with Oliver Postgate. Between them they created a number of popular children's TV programmes, '' The Saga of ...
. The programmes were originally broadcast by the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
from the 1950s to the 1980s. In a 1999 BBC poll ''Bagpuss'' was voted the most popular children's television programme of all time.


Early life

Postgate was born in
Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...
,
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...
, England, into the Postgate family, as the younger son of journalist and writer Raymond Postgate and his wife Daisy (née Lansbury), making him the cousin of actress Angela Lansbury and maternal grandson of Labour politician, and sometime leader,
George Lansbury George Lansbury (22 February 1859 – 7 May 1940) was a British politician and social reformer who led the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party from 1932 to 1935. Apart from a brief period of ministerial office during the Labour government of 1 ...
. His other grandfather was the Latin classicist John Percival Postgate. His brother was the microbiologist and writer John Postgate FRS. Another aunt was Margaret Cole, the socialist politician.


Education

Postgate was educated at the private Woodstock School on Golders Green Road in
Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. north of Charing Cross, nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, London, Whetstone, Mill Hill and Hendon. It is ...
in northwest London and Woodhouse Secondary School, formerly known from 1923 onwards as Woodhouse Grammar School, also in Finchley (and now renamed Woodhouse College), followed by Dartington Hall School, a progressive private boarding school in
Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
.


Early career

Postgate joined the
Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting ...
in 1942 while studying at the Kingston School of Art, but when he became liable for military service during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
the following year, he declared himself a
conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...
, as his father had done during the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. He was initially refused recognition; he accepted a medical examination as a first step to call up, and then reported for duty with the Army in Windsor, but refused to put on the uniform. He was
court-martialled A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the mili ...
and sentenced to three months in Feltham Prison. This qualified him to return to the Appellate Tribunal, where he was granted exemption conditional upon working on the land or in social service, the unserved portion of his sentence being remitted. He worked on farms until the end of the war, when he went to occupied Germany, working for the
Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...
in social relief work. On return to the UK, from 1948 he attended the
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. In ...
, but drifted through a number of different jobs, never really finding his niche. In 1957 he was appointed a
stage manager Stage management is a broad field that is generally defined as the practice of organization and coordination of an event or theatrical production. Stage management may encompass a variety of activities including overseeing of the rehearsal proce ...
with
Associated-Rediffusion Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion London, was the British ITV franchise holder for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 22 September 1955 and 29 July 1968. It was the first ITA franchisee to go on air, ...
, which then held the ITV franchise for London. Attached to the children's programming section, he thought he could do better with the relatively low budgets of the then
black and white television Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...
productions. Postgate wrote ''Alexander the Mouse,'' a story about a mouse born to be king. Using an Irish-produced magnetic system – on which animated characters were attached to a painted background, and then photographed through a 45-degree mirror – he persuaded
Peter Firmin Peter Arthur Firmin (11 December 1928 – 1 July 2018) was an English artist and puppet maker. He was the founder of Smallfilms, along with Oliver Postgate. Between them they created a number of popular children's TV programmes, '' The Saga of ...
, who was then teaching at the Central School of Art, to create the background scenes. Postgate later recalled they undertook around 26 of these programmes live-to-air, which were made harder by the production problems encountered by the use and restrictions of using magnets. After the success of ''Alexander the Mouse'', Postgate agreed a deal to make the next series on film, for a budget of £175 per programme. Making a
stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...
animation table in his bedroom, he wrote the Chinese story ''The Journey of Master Ho''. This was intended for
deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...
children, a distinct advantage in that the production required no soundtrack which reduced the production costs. He engaged an honorary Chinese painter to produce the backgrounds, but as the painter was classical Chinese-trained he produced them in three-quarters view, rather than in the conventional Egyptian full-view manner used for flat animation under a camera. This resulted in the Firmin-produced characters looking as though they were short in one leg, but the success of the production provided the foundation for Postgate with Firmin to start up his own company solely producing animated children's programmes.


Smallfilms

Setting up their business in a disused cowshed at Firmin's home in Blean near
Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...
, Kent, Postgate and Firmin worked on children's animation programmes. Based on concepts which mostly originated with Postgate, Firmin did the artwork and built the models, while Postgate wrote the scripts, did the
stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...
filming and many of the voices. Smallfilms was therefore able to produce two minutes of film per day, ten times as much as a conventional animation studio, with Postgate moving the cardboard pieces himself, and working his 16 mm camera frame-by-frame with a home-made clicker. As Postgate voiced many of the productions, and also narrated WereBear stories, his distinctive voice became familiar to generations of children. They started in 1959 with ''Ivor the Engine'', a series for ITV about a Welsh
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...
who wanted to sing in a choir, based on Postgate's wartime encounter with Welshman Denzyl Ellis, who used to be the fireman on the Royal Scot. (It was remade in
colour Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorp ...
for the BBC in 1976 and 1977.) This was followed by ''
Noggin the Nog ''Noggin the Nog'' is a fictional character appearing in a BBC Television animated series (of the same name, originally broadcast 1959–1965 and 1982) and a series of illustrated books (published 1965–1977), created by Oliver Postgate and P ...
'' for the BBC, which established Smallfilms as a reliable source to produce children's entertainment, when there were only two television channels in the UK. Postgate later described the "gentlemanly and rather innocent" business thus: Postgate had strict views on story-line development, which perhaps resultantly restricted the length of each particular series development. When asked if the ''Clangers'' adventures were quite surreal sometimes, Postgate replied:


Other activities

In the 1970s Postgate and Firmin worked with Michael Rosen on a Teaching to Read series on BBC Schools TV called ''Sam on Boff's Island''. In the 1970s and 1980s Postgate was active in the anti-nuclear campaign, addressing meetings and writing several pamphlets including ''The Writing on the Sky''. In 1986, in collaboration with the historian Naomi Linnell, Postgate painted a ''Illumination of the Life and Death of
Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...
'' for a book of the same name, which is now in the archive of the Royal Museum and Art Gallery, Canterbury. In 1990 he painted a similar work on
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...
for a book entitled ''The Triumphant Failure.'' ''A Canterbury Chronicle,'' a
triptych A triptych ( ) is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all m ...
by Postgate commissioned in 1990 hangs in the Great Hall of Eliot College on the
University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...
's
Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...
campus. Postgate narrated the six-part
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
comedy series '' Elastic Planet'' in 1995. In his later years, he blogged for the ''
New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...
''. Postgate's voice was heard once more in 2003, as narrator for ''Alchemists of Sound'', a television documentary about the
BBC Radiophonic Workshop The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was one of the sound effects units of the BBC, created in 1958 to produce Incidental music, incidental sounds and new music for radio and, later, television. The unit is known for its experimental and pioneering ...
. On 15 July 2007, he was guest on
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
's ''
Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...
''. He was also a guest on The Russell Brand Show on 19 January 2008 where he discussed the making of Bagpuss and his subsequent work in TV and Film. In 1987 the University of Kent at Canterbury awarded an honorary degree to Postgate, who stated that the degree was really intended for
Bagpuss ''Bagpuss'' is a British animated children's television series which was made by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate through their company Smallfilms. The series of thirteen episodes was first broadcast from 12 February to 7 May 1974. The title c ...
, who was subsequently displayed in academic dress.


Personal life

Postgate married Prudence "Prue" Myers in 1957, becoming stepfather to her three children. The couple had twins in 1959 (Stephen and Simon), and another son in 1964 ( Daniel Postgate). Prue died of cancer in 1982. Naomi Linnell was his partner for the last twenty-three years of his life. Postgate's autobiography, ''Seeing Things'', was published in 2000, and his son Daniel wrote an afterword which was added to the book after his father's death in 2008. His grandfather was Labour Party leader (1932-1935)
George Lansbury George Lansbury (22 February 1859 – 7 May 1940) was a British politician and social reformer who led the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party from 1932 to 1935. Apart from a brief period of ministerial office during the Labour government of 1 ...
and he was cousin to English born American actress Angela Lansbury. He is distantly related to the Australian-born writer and academic Coral Lansbury, whose son
Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party an ...
became the 29th
Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...
.


Death

Postgate died at a
nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...
in Broadstairs, near his home on the Kent coast, on 8 December 2008, aged 83. After his death there was huge recognition of his influence and effect on British culture, and affection for the role his work had played in many people's lives. His work was widely discussed in the UK media and many tributes were paid to him and his work across the internet.
Charlie Brooker Charlton ‘Charlie’ Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is an English screenwriter, producer, presenter, author, cartoonist, and social critic. He first became known for creating and presenting satirical television shows that featured biting criticis ...
dedicated a portion of his ''Screenwipe'' show to Postgate, and his influence on Brooker's own childhood, in an episode that was broadcast the day after Postgate's death.


Publications

*'' The Burglarproof Bath Plug- A Collection of Memories, Thoughts and Small Stories Including "The Trouble with Magic'', Oliver Postgate 2008 foreword by Stephen Fry *''Seeing Things: An Autobiography'', Oliver Postgate; illustrated by Peter Firmin, 2000 – ; republished in 2009 – *''The Writing on the Sky'', Oliver Postgate 1982 – *''BECKET'', Oliver Postgate & Naomi Linnell 1989 – *''Columbus, The Triumphant Failure'', Oliver Postgate & Naomi Linnell 1991 *'' The Sagas of Noggin the Nog'' Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin; illustrated by Peter Firmin, 2001 – *'' Thinking it through: the Plain Man's Guide to the Bomb'', Oliver Postgate 1981


References


External links


Oliver Postgate
*
The Smallfilms Treasury



The Dragons' Friendly Society
*
BBC: Oliver Postgate on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs (15 July 2007)

Oliver Postgate – Homespun Genius (The Guardian)
nbsp;– ''includes links to further resources''
1993 BBC television Interview, Kenneth Kendall
{{DEFAULTSORT:Postgate, Oliver People from Hendon English animators British animated film producers English puppeteers English socialists Stop motion animators English bloggers English children's writers Alumni of Kingston University Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art English conscientious objectors People associated with the University of Kent 1925 births 2008 deaths People educated at Dartington Hall School Oliver Lansbury family British male bloggers British Army personnel of World War II British Army personnel who were court-martialled Prisoners and detainees of the United Kingdom British Home Guard soldiers Writers from the London Borough of Barnet British television show creators