Leafing through the history of Jackanory on World Book Day
Jen Macro
Digital Content Producer, About the 成人论坛
Tagged with:
Today (Thursday 1 March) is , to celebrate we have picked out a few of the books and their narrators who featured on the classic 成人论坛 Children's series, Jackanory.
began in 1965, created by producer Joy Whitby, who had developed the children's show Play School. The first story, Cap o' Rushes was told by Lee Montague. Initially only meant to run for a six week trial, the show was a major part of 成人论坛 Children's television for 31 years, with around 3,500 episodes telling 650 stories, its final episode airing in 1996. The show made a short comeback in 2006 with stories read by Ben Kingsley and John Sessions, and again with Jackanory Junior in 2010 on CBeebies.
Below are just a few of the stories that were told over the three decades the original show was on air:
1965 production shot featuring the first Jackanory storyteller, Lee Montague (centre), with floor manager John Lane and producer Joy Whitby
Dame Judi Dench read 'The Jubilee Bear' written by Ursula Moray Williams in 1977
Michael Palin reading 'Charlie And The Chocolate Factory' by Roald Dahl in 1979
Bernard Cribbins (left) has made the most appearances on Jackanory, over 100. Here he is with Maurice Denham, Jan Francis and David Wood in a 10 part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's novel, 'The Hobbit', in 1979.
Victoria Wood made her Jackanory debut in 1984 reading 'Little Mabel Wins' by Jilly Cooper
HRH Prince Charles took to the outdoors to tell us his story, 'The Old Man of Lochnagar', in 1984
In 1977, way before his role as Jean-Luc Picard, Patrick Stewart read us 'Annerton Pit' by Peter Dickinson
Jane Asher brought E Nesbit's celebrated children's novel 'The Railway Children' to life in 1981
Rik Mayall in 1993, reading us 'The Fwog Prince: The Twuth' by Kaye Umansky. Mayall also gave us an unforgettable reading of Roald Dahl's 'George's Marvellous Medicine' in 1986
Spike Milligan, reading 'Help! I am a Prisoner in a Toothpaste Factory' by John Antrobus in 1980
Charlotte Coleman read 'Night Birds on Nantucket' by Joan Aiken in 1992
Willie Rushton read us A.A Milne's 'Winnie The Pooh' in 1983
Alan Bennett reads from 'The House of Pooh Corner' by A.A. Milne, in the last series of the original run of Jackanory in 1996
If you are feeling nostalgic for Jackanory why not check out CBeebies Bedtime Stories which features a host celebrities reading stories.
- Read the press release '
- Find out more about