Quote:
Bagpuss, The Clangers, Ivor the Engine, Noggin the Nog

The animation wasn't even the best bit. Not so long ago I was getting into my brother's car for some journey somewhere, and was all-of-a-sudden transfixed by the voice on the radio. It turned out that Pick of the Week were rerunning a clip of an Oliver Postgate interview. I can't remember what he was talking about, but the sound of his voice was like butterbeans and chocolate digestives and childhood and warmth all wrapped up into one thing. It's an incredibly soothing and mellifluous voice, even when I later heard him relating the dizzying absurdities of Elastic Planet -- although perhaps it's just that I watched all those programmes when I was very, very young. I bet there's a whole generation of Brits who, if you said to them, in the right tone of voice, "Professor Yaffle, a carved wooden bookend in the shape of a woodpecker" would dissolve into reverie...

Peter