Canterbury is historically a place for pilgrims to visit.
I was a bit of pilgrim myself a little while back, with my friends @TheJanePorter and @Bridgeanne, but not in quite the way I’d expected…
What a surprise and treat to find The Canterbury Heritage Museum, with it’s Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin exhibits! Anne and Jane were shocked that, shamingly, I didn’t know Bagpuss very well (what a clanger, you might say)…
but to see the REAL Clangers! Tiny Clanger, the Soup Dragon, the whistling and the music…
with a mug of strawberry Nesquik and a bourbon biscuit, this was a magical part of my childhood.
Of course I had to buy one in the shop, and played with it all the way home.
What nostalgic TV programmes take you back to happy days?
That museum sounds wonderful! I love the Clangers, even though I didn’t see them for the first time until I was in my 20s and they were repeated on late night TV! My childhood favourites were Dogtanian, Lost Cities of Gold, Thundercats and Dangermouse. I’m slowly collecting all the DVD box sets! 😀
Thank you Emma for your wonderful comment!
I LOVE the idea of you watching late-night Clangers in your twenties… I always knew you were my kind of person…
and that’s a fine collection you’re building up there, what a treat for winter afternoons!
How lovely to come to the blog and read about our lovely day! It was definitely the Clangers for me – and the Woodentops. I still remember my awe when we ACTUALLY SAW MUMMY WOODENTOPS KITCHEN!!! I’ve come over all wobbly just remembering. I think most of the episodes must have been outside, whihc made any inside shots very exciting. Oh, and I loved ‘The Herbs’ – I can still sing ‘I’m a very friendly lion called Parsley’. Oliver Postgate’s voice made any programme wonderful – as did Johnny Morris in ‘Animal Magic’. And I would have LOVED a crackerjack pencil….
Hello Anne, thank you so much for calling by! Yes, it was a VERY lovely day. And what a marvellously described viewing of the Woodentop’s kitchen… those early square-eyed moments are hard-wired into our brains, aren’t they?
The Herbs, oh yes, and the voices of Oliver Postgate and Johnny Morris take me instantly back in time.
Do you remember Tales by the Riverbank – real animals in motor cars and hot air balloons?
Oh yes! ‘Tales of the Riverbank’ was absolutely one of my very favourites, and I bought it on DVD and watched it with all mine too. Have just mentioned it to J (16) & M (14). J immediately said ‘I loved ‘Tales of the Riverbank’ and M said ‘It was a great programme’, so I feel proud to have passed my appreciation down the generations…
Great blog post! Hope we can all meet up again soon. I loved that day!
Hello again! How excellent that you’ve passed on your good taste to your children…
The very thought of Tales by the Riverbank takes me back to a very happy place. Last time I looked for it on DVD it was nowhere to be found – must search again immediately!
Yes, another day trip soon please. Where shall we go next?
I’ve been to that museum, I’ve been to that museum ! But I lived in a telly-less household when I was little, so only came to Bagpuss, The Clangers and, of course, Ivor the Engine, much later in life through my husband. Most of the TV I remember watching when I was little I watched at a friend’s house – I think my friend’s mum must have been paid to look after me after school. So it’s all Grange Hill, Rentaghost and Marmalade Atkins for me. Of course as soon as we finally got a telly I became addicted to Neighbours, which only goes to show that depriving children of television does not ensure that they have any taste whatsoever.
Hello Elli! Very relieved to hear that your husband completed your education of vintage classic TV…
Grange Hill is totally quality in my book – but Neighbours?? CONFESSION: I too was an addict and often watched the same episode at lunchtime AND teatime. Oh dear!
Yes! The Clangers, while eating pink wafer biscuits and Jaffa Cakes at our childminder’s house. Also loved The Magic Roundabout, The Flumps and Camberwick Green.
Thanks to your blog post, I am now humming The Clangers feem toon out loud, potentially to the irritation of my colleagues 😉
LNR, aged 39 and a half
Hello LNR aged 39 and a half – how lovely of you to call by!
I LOVE the detail of the pink wafer biscuits… and Magic Roundabout – how could I have forgotten that??? Can you remember the Camberwick Green character-list without googling it?
‘Pew, Pew, Barney MacGrew…’
Oh oh oh!!!! Such wonderful times and true classics. Nothing made today matches the Postgate-Firmin era! Actually the highest compliment I ever received after a storytelling was to be mentioned in the same breath as Oliver Postgate (*all time hero*). Noggin the Nog was one of my faves but the Clangers will always be No.1. Watching it now, with that beautiful final episode “Music of the Spheres” is deeply moving. Genius. Otherwise, I adored Tales by the River Bank, The Herbs, Casey Jones, Belle & Sebastian, Banana Splits (esp. Arabian Knights), and the original Polish series of The Moomins (MUCH better than the horrid Japanese animation). Glory days, much missed…
Hello James! Thank you so much for the wonderful comment.
But of course you were mentioned in the same breath as Oliver Postgate – you are absolutely in the same ancestral line.
The Clangers WERE moving, throughout – you are quite right.
i have never seen the original Polish Moomins. You must invite me round one day for a marathon viewing!
ohhhhh I think a trip to Canterbury may be needed…. this looks FAB!
I’ve been introducing H to my childhood (all this stuff, though not enough Clangers – I need to sort that and fast) and she’s loving it – this would be a fab place to get to – is it all year round?
Hello Jo! Yes I think H would love it. Canterbury is a really nice day trip (and there’s a glorious sweet-shop).
What is her idea of a lovely cosy afternoon in front of the telly? I LOVE getting hooked on a series with my (nearly grown-up) two – such a good conversation point!
Oh, I missed it all! Better late than never, really enjoyed this trip down memory lane….The Herbs! I used to have the annual with recipes in, and a joke about Dill the Dog putting a table full of something instead of a tablespoonful – I always thought that was very hilarious. Don’t forget Pogle’s Wood too – anything P&F was brilliant.
Hello Jane, never too late to call by! That joke would have got me on the funny bone too.
And how could I have overlooked Pogle’s Wood? Bliss!