Oliver Postgate and Davy Graham - Rest in Peace
died a few days back - one of the most remarkable children's authors ever - creator of Noggin the Nog, The Clangers, Captain Pugwash and Bagpuss amongst many others.
He was a life long socialist (no surprise really when you consider that his father, Raymond, wrote one of the best histories of the English working class), and when Bagpuss merchandise started to appear Oliver sent most of the money to Romanian orphanages and to a centre that looked after unwanted cats.
Most of us will have either grown up with Oliver Postgate's work, or will have sat with their children watching the antics of the Soup Dragon and Ivor the Engine and even now small children love his classic works; it's the pace and the storylines that make Postgate's work universal.
There are no five second scenes, flashing violent images, loud ear-ripping soundtracks; just a brilliantly imagined narrative, good animation (for their time) and great characters.
What has all this to do with folk music? I hear you scream. Quite a lot actually.
The Pugwash theme tune is the old folk dance tune The Trumpet Hornpipe, and one of the most successful of Postgate's creations, Bagpuss, had the great luck to have and as singers and musical directors.
Two great folk musicians, they sang traditional songs, adapted traditional tunes and wrote their own folk-based material throughout.
One of the joys I have now when I sit with small children to watch Bagpuss is spotting the trad tunes and folk song variations in the films.
My dream ticket now would be for Ardmann Animations to work with somebody like Jez Lowe, John Tams, Maddy Prior and Julie Fowlis on an animated series of folk tales for children - now there would be something; and I¹m sure, wherever Oliver Postgate is now, he would approve in spades.
It was while I was writing the above piece that the sad news came through that had died of a massive seizure, aged 68.
He'd been suffering from lung cancer. I'm still quite shocked because the man seemed indestructible.
Born to a Scottish father and a Guyanese mother, Davy was one of the true originals of the British folk scene; a man who could play everything from jazz and blues to traditional music and who wrote what is probably the most played folk guitar piece ever - Anji.
Just as most rock and roll guitarists started off with Apache or Stairway To Heaven, most folk guitarists cut their finger ends on Anji, a simple sounding but pretty difficult piece to play.
A giant of a man and an amazing performer in his heyday, he made many great albums and had a huge influence on people such as Paul Simon, Bert Jansch and Nick Drake.
Please do send your if you wish.
Comment number 1.
At 22nd Dec 2008, paulgahan wrote:Oliver Postgate was not the creator of Captain Pugwash. That was down to a different children's author called John Ryan.
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