Editing Oliver Postgate

{{Short description|British animator, puppeteer and writer}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Oliver Postgate
| birth_name         = Richard Oliver Postgate
| image              = Stella Bowen, Oliver Postgate.jpg
| caption            = Oliver Postgate in 1934, by [[Stella Bowen]]
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|df=yes|1925|4|12}}
| birth_place        = [[Hendon]], [[Middlesex]], England
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2008|12|8|1925|4|12}}
| death_place        = [[Broadstairs]], Kent, England
| occupation         = [[Animation|Animator]], [[puppeteer]], writer
| spouse             = {{marriage|Prudence Myers|1957|1982|end=died}}
| partner            = Naomi Linnell (1985–2008)
| children           = 3, including [[Daniel Postgate|Daniel]]
| family             = [[Postgate family]]<br/>[[Angela Lansbury]] cousin<br/>[[Margaret Cole]] aunt<br/>[[John Postgate (microbiologist)|John Postgate]] brother<br/>
| parents            = [[Raymond Postgate]]<br/>[[Daisy Lansbury]]
}}

[[File:Oliver Postgate plaque.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Blue plaque]] on Oliver's former home in Broadstairs, with ''[[Clangers]]'' mosaic below]]
'''Richard Oliver Postgate''' (12 April 1925 – 8 December 2008) was an English [[Animation|animator]], [[puppeteer]], and writer.<ref name=ODNB/>  He was the creator and writer of some of Britain's most popular children's television programmes. ''[[Bagpuss]]'', ''[[Pingwings]]'', ''[[Noggin the Nog]]'', ''[[Ivor the Engine]]'', ''[[Clangers]]'' and ''[[Pogles' Wood]]'', were all made by [[Smallfilms]], the company he set up with collaborator, artist and puppet maker [[Peter Firmin]]. The programmes were originally broadcast by the [[BBC]] from the 1950s to the 1980s. In a 1999 BBC poll ''Bagpuss'' was voted the most popular children's television programme of all time.<ref name="Bagpuss"/>

==Early life==
Postgate was born in [[Hendon]], [[Middlesex]], England, into the [[Postgate family]], as the younger son of journalist and writer [[Raymond Postgate]] and his wife [[Daisy Postgate|Daisy]] (née Lansbury), making him the cousin of actress [[Angela Lansbury]] and maternal grandson of [[The Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] politician, and sometime leader, [[George Lansbury]]. His other grandfather was the [[Classics|Latin classicist]] [[John Percival Postgate]]. His brother was the microbiologist and writer [[John Postgate (microbiologist)|John Postgate]] [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]]. Another aunt was [[Margaret Cole]], the socialist politician.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/dec/09/oliver-postgate-bagpuss |title=Bagpuss creator Oliver Postgate |author=Philip Purser  |website=The Guardian |date=9 December 2008 |access-date=2023-12-20}}</ref>

==Education==
Postgate was educated at the private Woodstock School on Golders Green Road in [[Finchley]] 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]].<ref name="TimesObit"/><ref name="IndependentObit"/>

==Early career==
[[File:Oliver Postgate BBC Radio4 Desert Island Discs 15 July 2007 b007snc7.flac|thumb|right|The speaking voice of Oliver Postgate, from the BBC Radio 4 programme ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'', 15 July 2007]]
Postgate joined the [[British Home Guard|Home Guard]] in 1942 while studying at the [[Kingston School of Art]], but when he became liable for military service during the [[World War II|Second World War]] the following year, he declared himself a [[conscientious objector]], as his father had done during the [[First World War]].<ref name=ODNB/> 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, Berkshire|Windsor]], but refused to put on the uniform.  He was [[court-martialled]] 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]] in social relief work.<ref name="auto1"/>

On return to the UK, from 1948 he attended the [[London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art]], but drifted through a number of different jobs, never really finding his niche.<ref name=CliveBanks/>

In 1957 he was appointed a [[stage manager]] with [[Associated-Rediffusion]], which then held the [[ITV (TV network)|ITV franchise]] for London.<ref name=CliveBanks/> 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]] productions. Postgate wrote ''Alexander the Mouse,'' a story about a mouse born to be king. Using an Irish-produced magnetic system&nbsp;– on which animated characters were attached to a painted background, and then photographed through a 45-degree mirror&nbsp;– he persuaded [[Peter Firmin]], who was then teaching at the [[Central School of Art]],<ref name="DragonsFriendlySociety"/> 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.<ref name="CliveBanks"/>

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.<ref name=CliveBanks/> Making a [[stop motion]] animation table in his bedroom, he wrote the Chinese story ''The Journey of Master Ho''. This was intended for [[deaf]] 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 [[Perspective (graphical)|three-quarters view]], rather than in the conventional [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Egyptian full-view]] manner used for flat animation under a camera.<ref name=CliveBanks/> 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==
{{Main|Smallfilms}}
Setting up their business in a disused cowshed at Firmin's home in [[Blean]] near [[Canterbury]], Kent,<ref name=BBCObit1/> 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]] 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,<ref name=BBCObit1/> with Postgate moving the cardboard pieces himself, and working his [[16 mm film|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]] who wanted to sing in a choir, based on Postgate's wartime encounter with Welshman Denzyl Ellis, who used to be the [[fireman (locomotive)|fireman]] on the [[Royal Scot (train)|Royal Scot]].<ref name=CliveBanks/> (It was remade in [[colour television|colour]] for the BBC in 1976 and 1977.) This was followed by ''[[Noggin the Nog]]'' 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:

{{quote|We would go to the BBC once a year, show them the films we'd made, and they would say: "Yes, lovely, now what are you going to do next?" We would tell them, and they would say: "That sounds fine, we'll mark it in for eighteen months from now", and we would be given praise and encouragement and some money in advance, and we'd just go away and do it.<ref name="BBCObit1"/>}}

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:

{{quote|They're surreal but logical. I have a strong prejudice against fantasy for its own sake. Once one gets to a point beyond where cause and effect mean anything at all, then science fiction becomes science nonsense. Everything that happened was strictly logical according to the [[laws of physics]] which happened to apply in that part of the world.<ref name="BBCCultTV"/>}}

==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''.<ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/dec/10/bagpuss-oliver-postgate |title=Homespun genius |author=Aida Edemariam and Nicole Jackson |website=theguardian.com |date=10 December 2008 |access-date=2023-12-09}}</ref>

In the 1970s and 1980s Postgate was active in the [[Anti-nuclear movement|anti-nuclear campaign]], addressing meetings and writing several pamphlets including ''The Writing on the Sky''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.abebooks.co.uk/first-edition/WRITING-SKY-Nuclear-Weapons-Postgate-Oliver/3747448666/bd | title=THE WRITING ON THE SKY. Nuclear Weapons. By Postgate, Oliver: Very Good+ Booklet (1983) First Edition; First Printing. &#124; Circle City Books }}</ref>

In 1986, in collaboration with the historian Naomi Linnell, Postgate painted a {{convert|50|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} ''Illumination of the Life and Death of [[Thomas Becket]]''  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]] for a book entitled ''The Triumphant Failure.'' ''A Canterbury Chronicle,'' a [[triptych]] by Postgate commissioned in 1990 hangs in the Great Hall of [[Eliot College, Kent|Eliot College]] on the [[University of Kent]]'s [[Canterbury]] campus.<ref name=CANTCHRO/>

Postgate narrated the six-part [[BBC Radio 4]] comedy series ''[[Elastic Planet]]'' in 1995.<ref>{{cite web|title=Elastic Planet|url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/elastic_planet/|publisher=comedy.co.uk|access-date=27 March 2017}}</ref>

In his later years, he [[blogging|blogged]] for the ''[[New Statesman]]''.<ref name="NewStatesman"/> Postgate's voice was heard once more in 2003, as narrator for ''Alchemists of Sound'', a television documentary about the [[BBC Radiophonic Workshop]]. On 15 July 2007, he was guest on [[BBC Radio 4]]'s ''[[Desert Island Discs]]''.<ref name="auto"/> He was also a guest on [[The Russell Brand Show (radio show)|The Russell Brand Show]] on 19 January 2008 where he discussed the making of Bagpuss and his subsequent work in TV and Film.<ref name=RussellBrand/>

In 1987 the University of Kent at Canterbury awarded an honorary degree to Postgate, who stated that the degree was really intended for [[Bagpuss]], who was subsequently displayed in academic dress.<ref name="CANTCHRO"/>

==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.<ref name="auto1"/>

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]] 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]] became the 29th [[Prime Minister of Australia]].

==Death==
Postgate died at a [[nursing home]] in [[Broadstairs]], near his home on the Kent coast, on 8 December 2008, aged 83.<ref name=BBCNews />

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.<ref name="BBCObit2"/><ref name=DailyTelegraph/> His work was widely discussed in the UK media and many tributes were paid to him and his work across the internet. [[Charlie Brooker]] dedicated a portion of his [[Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe|''Screenwipe'']] show to Postgate, and his influence on Brooker's own childhood, in an episode that was broadcast the day after Postgate's death.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS5GyvlZbz4&t=1436|title = - YouTube|website = [[YouTube]]}}</ref>

==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 {{ISBN|978-1-903708-27-9}}
*''Seeing Things: An Autobiography'', Oliver Postgate; illustrated by Peter Firmin, 2000 – {{ISBN|0-330-39000-7}}; republished in 2009 – {{ISBN|978-1-84767-840-9}}
*''The Writing on the Sky'', Oliver Postgate 1982 – {{ISBN|0-903400-89-8}}
*''BECKET'', Oliver Postgate & Naomi Linnell 1989 – {{ISBN|0-86272-405-8}}
*''Columbus, The Triumphant Failure'', Oliver Postgate & Naomi Linnell 1991 {{ISBN|0-86272-738-3}}
*'' The Sagas of Noggin the Nog'' Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin; illustrated by Peter Firmin, 2001 – {{ISBN|978-1-903708-22-4}}
*'' Thinking it through: the Plain Man's Guide to the Bomb'', Oliver Postgate 1981 {{ISBN|0-903400-73-1}}

==References==
<!--See [[Wikipedia:Footnotes]] for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref(erences/)> tags-->
{{Reflist|colwidth=33em|refs=

<ref name="BBCNews">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7772620.stm |title=Bagpuss and Clangers creator dies |work=BBC News |date=9 December 2008 |access-date=9 December 2008}}</ref>

<ref name=Bagpuss>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/246080.stm |title=Bagpuss cream of television |date=1 January 1999 |work=BBC News|access-date=10 December 2008}}</ref>

<ref name=ODNB>{{cite ODNB |last=Hayward |first=Anthony |title=Postgate, (Richard) Oliver (1925–2008) |year=2012 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/100678 |isbn=9780198614111 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/100678 |access-date=28 May 2012}}</ref>

<ref name=TimesObit>{{Cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100524143058/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article5312941.ece|title=Oliver Postgate: writer of children’s television programmes &#124; Times Online Obituary|date=24 May 2010|website=web.archive.org}}</ref>

<ref name=IndependentObit>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/oliver-postgate-creator-of-bagpuss-the-clangers-and-ivor-the-engine-who-turned-childrens-television-into-an-art-form-1059366.html|title=Oliver Postgate: Creator of 'Bagpuss', 'The Clangers' and 'Ivor the Engine' who turned children's television into an art form &#124; The Independent &#124; The Independent}}</ref>

<ref name=CliveBanks>{{cite web |url=http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/Oliverpostgateinterview.htm |title=An interview with Oliver Postgate |publisher=Clive Banks |date=March 2005 |access-date=9 December 2008}}</ref>

<ref name=DragonsFriendlySociety>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dragons-friendly-society.co.uk/peter/pf6.htm|title=Next|website=www.dragons-friendly-society.co.uk}}</ref>

<ref name=BBCObit1>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7770882.stm |title=Obituary, Oliver Postgate |publisher=BBC |date=9 December 2008 |access-date=9 December 2008}}</ref>

<ref name=BBCCultTV>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/news/cult/2005/04/27/18961.shtml |title=Cult TV&nbsp;– Interview with Oliver Postgate |publisher=BBC Cult TV |date=27 April 2005 |access-date=9 December 2008}}</ref>

<ref name=CANTCHRO>{{cite web |url=http://www.kent.ac.uk/arts/campus/chronicle.html |title=A Canterbury Chronicle |work=Arts, leisure and public events |publisher=University of Kent |access-date=29 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930024111/http://www.kent.ac.uk/arts/campus/chronicle.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=30 September 2007}}</ref>

<ref name=NewStatesman>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/author/oliver-postgate |title=Oliver Postgate blog |magazine=[[New Statesman]] |access-date=9 December 2008}}</ref>

<ref name=BBCObit2>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7772620.stm |work=BBC News |title=Bagpuss and Ivor creator dies |date=9 December 2008 |access-date=27 March 2010}}</ref>

<ref name=DailyTelegraph>{{cite news| url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/marclee/5937837/Oliver_Postgate_and_the_magic_of_TV_storytelling/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310064532/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/marclee/5937837/Oliver_Postgate_and_the_magic_of_TV_storytelling/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=10 March 2012 | work=The Daily Telegraph | location=London | date=10 December 2008 | access-date=27 March 2010 | title=Oliver Postgate and the magic of TV storytelling}}</ref>

<ref name=RussellBrand>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/legacy/russellbrand/2008/01/living_la_vida_bagpuss.shtml | work=BBC Radio 2 | location=United Kingdom | date=23 January 2008 | access-date=8 November 2014 | title=Living La Vida "Bagpuss"}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
*[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3689392/Oliver-Postgate.html Oliver Postgate]
*{{IMDb name|id=0692927}}
* [http://www.smallfilms.co.uk/ The Smallfilms Treasury]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930024111/http://www.kent.ac.uk/arts/campus/chronicle.html A Canterbury Chronicle]
* [http://www.dragons-friendly-society.co.uk/ The Dragons' Friendly Society]
* {{discogs artist|Oliver Postgate}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007snc7 BBC: Oliver Postgate on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs (15 July 2007)]
* [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/dec/10/bagpuss-oliver-postgate Oliver Postgate&nbsp;– Homespun Genius (The Guardian)]&nbsp;– ''includes links to further resources''
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKv9QYtYS7I  1993 BBC television Interview, Kenneth Kendall]

{{Smallfilms}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Postgate, Oliver}}
[[Category:People from Hendon]]
[[Category:English animators]]
[[Category:British animated film producers]]
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