It's time for a visit to the most famous county in children's television...
1969:
The trivia:
- There was a genuine board game called "Chug A Lug" which involved smoking, drinking beer and taking soft drugs. Activities on the cards included composing a poem about birth control, discuss the use of jelly as a lubricant and guessing the bra size of all the girls. Penalties involved running to the off license to get more beer, removing clothing or not being allowed to go to the bathroom.
- Italian company Ledragomma created a toy to allow children to bounce around like kangaroos. With a few tweaks and a name change, when it was launched in Britain the “Space Hopper” became the most popular toy in the country - at its peak selling 200,000 a year. Activities with your Space Hopper included races at Butlins holiday camps, boys holding jousting tournaments (squirting water from washing-up bottles) and girls dressing them up like fat orange dolls.
- After more than 17 years of investigations, by the time the US Air Force closed "Project Blue Book" it had collected more than 12,000 reports of Unidentified Flying Objects. Sadly the conclusion was that most sightings were due to misidentification of conventional phenomena or aircraft, mass hysteria, hoaxes or “mental illness” - and that there was no evidence to support the existence of UFO's.
- Meanwhile there was some small event about man landing on the Moon. It didn't get much news coverage...
The memory:
Chigley
Yes it's the third of the "Trumptonshire" trilogy after "Camberwick Green" and "Trumpton". This is the one that people remember because of *that* train song...
God how I loved all three of these stop-motion series as a child. Apart from "Playschool", they are probably my earliest memory of children's television. There's just something so quintessentially British about the little lives of all those characters, each with their own song and their own idiosyncrasies. All three shows have their own singular joys. The Trumpton fire brigade - who never get to put out a real fire. The characters rising out of the music box at the start of "Camberwick Green". The soldiers at Pippin Fort.
But it was the sight of Brackett (no first name sadly) plodding endlessly down the bizarre, modern art covered, corridors of Winkstead Hall in search of Lord Bellborough (who was usually to be found next to a telephone, the annoying old duffer !) that was always my favourite.
It's difficult to accurately date when I first watched Gordon Murray's era defining programmes. They were all shown so often that the repeats blur into one. What's odd though is that I don't have any memories of thinking "Oh I've seen this one before". There is just a haze of happy memories punctuated by Brian Cant's wonderful narration. I do know that when I first went to school I used to come home for lunch sometimes and more often than not there would be an episode to watch as I ate my cheese sandwiches or beans on toast. What also made "Chigley" rather unique was that it featured guest appearances of characters from the other earlier shows. It was probably my first experience of a franchise crossover, and there was always a surge of excitement when someone like Captain Flack and his brigade put in an appearance.
Chigley was described as an industrial hamlet and it certainly was a hive of activity, with a lively wharf, family run pottery and Mr. Cresswell's biscuit factory all within a short distance of each other. Unlike the other two series, there wasn't really a hub (such as the town square) and the action moved between locations as the story dictated. What you could always guarantee was that there would be a need for a train journey and dear old Lord Bellborough would rush to put on his overalls and get Bessie out of her shed and chuffing along the tracks as quickly as possible - all to the strains of "time goes by when you're the driver of a train". He'd rope long suffering Brackett into things too, although he never seemed to do much.
Chigley was described as an industrial hamlet and it certainly was a hive of activity, with a lively wharf, family run pottery and Mr. Cresswell's biscuit factory all within a short distance of each other. Unlike the other two series, there wasn't really a hub (such as the town square) and the action moved between locations as the story dictated. What you could always guarantee was that there would be a need for a train journey and dear old Lord Bellborough would rush to put on his overalls and get Bessie out of her shed and chuffing along the tracks as quickly as possible - all to the strains of "time goes by when you're the driver of a train". He'd rope long suffering Brackett into things too, although he never seemed to do much.
Lord B obviously had a lot of time on his hands as he didn't need much of an excuse to turn train driver (no Lady Bellborough to keep him busy I guess). Not only that but he also operated the vintage Dutch organ for the dancers at the end of the day jamboree outside the biscuit factory. Why was it such an elaborate musical device? Where did the ladies in their odd costumes come from ? (none are shown working at the factory). Why did they feel the need to celebrate their daily freedom from biscuit servitude with a polka? No idea. Perhaps his lordship was secretly an eccentric tyrant who insisted that the workers that used his land jigged about for his sadistic pleasure. We'll never know...
Actually another thing that didn't bother the child me watching, but becomes obvious when viewed through adult eyes, is that the biscuit factory is bigger on the inside. There's just a small entrance, conveyor belt and van parking area outside, yet within there is a vast automated production line, churning out biscuits by the thousand. Perhaps most of it is underground. No wonder the workers couldn't wait for the six o'clock whistle.
Actually another thing that didn't bother the child me watching, but becomes obvious when viewed through adult eyes, is that the biscuit factory is bigger on the inside. There's just a small entrance, conveyor belt and van parking area outside, yet within there is a vast automated production line, churning out biscuits by the thousand. Perhaps most of it is underground. No wonder the workers couldn't wait for the six o'clock whistle.
All of this nicely illustrates one of the key things about the "Trumptonshire Trilogy" - the idea of the old ways living alongside the new. The wharf and the biscuit factory, steam trains and cars, Windy Miller and Farmer Jonathan Bell - everyone gets along and has a place to fit in. It's an idyllic world drawn from multiple eras of British society.
"Chigley" and its stablemates were a huge influence on a generation of children who grew up to be musicians, programme makers and creators in later life. Surreal rock / folk band "Half Man Half Biscuit" released "Time Flies By" and "Trumpton Riots". Lyrics in one of the songs by "Oasis" obliquely referenced faithful retainer Brackett. In Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's seminal comic book "Preacher", one depraved character sings the familiar train song as he rides naked on a bicycle - as you do. If you are 40+ years old, those images and tunes are woven tightly into your DNA.
With DVD's the default home entertainment media of choice in the early 2000s, I ended up buying a whole host of children's favourites on shiny disc. The "Trumptonshire Trilogy" was one of the first. 36 episodes of pure bliss which took me back to a time when kids TV didn't have to be about high octane action or another way of selling innocent little cherubs the latest over-priced tat - just slices of life in a quaint English county (although that one about Windy Miller getting drunk on cider....hmmm...). Maybe I'll get to show "Chigley" to my grandchildren one day - at which point they will probably complain about its lack of 3D virtual reality interaction or some such nonsense.
I'll close off this memory with the sheer brilliance that is the Trumptonshire homage from seminal cop drama "Life On Mars". If only they could have stretched to Gene Hunt chasing down some "nonces" on a train...
With DVD's the default home entertainment media of choice in the early 2000s, I ended up buying a whole host of children's favourites on shiny disc. The "Trumptonshire Trilogy" was one of the first. 36 episodes of pure bliss which took me back to a time when kids TV didn't have to be about high octane action or another way of selling innocent little cherubs the latest over-priced tat - just slices of life in a quaint English county (although that one about Windy Miller getting drunk on cider....hmmm...). Maybe I'll get to show "Chigley" to my grandchildren one day - at which point they will probably complain about its lack of 3D virtual reality interaction or some such nonsense.
I'll close off this memory with the sheer brilliance that is the Trumptonshire homage from seminal cop drama "Life On Mars". If only they could have stretched to Gene Hunt chasing down some "nonces" on a train...
Honourable mentions:
- A Feast Unknown
For most of my life I’ve loved the “pulp” heroes of the early 20th Century. Doc Savage, The Shadow, The Avenger, The Spider and many other characters beginning with “The”. Even though their original adventures were published long before I was born, as we will see, these heroes will feature large in other posts in this personal history. Science fiction author Philip Jose Farmer was also a huge fan - so much so that, even before he got to write his own Doc Savage novel, he included versions of some pulp characters in his “Wold Newton” stories. “A Feast Unknown” (and its two sequels) are slightly adjacent to that - but ’Lord Grandrith’ and ‘Doc Caliban’ are clearly Tarzan and Savage. Incredibly strong, virtually immortal, yet sexually dysfunctional, this ‘pulp erotic horror’ novel sees the two initially at loggerheads but ultimately on the same side against the evil of ‘The Nine’. But this is not before they (obviously) fight each other - with the twist being that they grapple nude while each sporting massive erections! Needless to say I’d never read a book like it!
- Pot Black
I didn't become aware of this seminal snooker tournament until I was probably around nine or ten, but the first competition was shown in 1969, hence why it's included here. Created by then BBC2 controller David Attenborough (yes that one) to make the most of the fledgling channels colour transmissions, it ran for an amazing 17 year and helped transform snooker from a minority interest into one of the most popular sports in the UK. My Dad was a huge snooker fan and the combination of having only one television and the show being on in the winter months meant that we often watched as a family. The soothing tones of commentator Ted Lowe and the simplicity of the format (even if playing is definitely a test of real skill) resulted in me soon enjoying it as much as Dad did (one of the very few sports I can say that about). Plus of course the programme introduced the wider world to a raft of memorable players, such as Ray Reardon, Dennis Taylor, Steve Davis, Jimmy White, Cliff Thorburn, Alex Higgins...the list goes on and on.
- Tommy by The Who
The classic rock concept album and the story of pinball savant / spiritual leader Tommy Walker has arguably become part of the UK’s musical DNA, influencing generations of artists. I think it was my brother who first got hold of a copy of the double LP sometime around 1981 and drove our parents mad by basically playing it to death. I don’t think I had much choice except to become a fan - although that was really cemented when I discovered the 1975 film directed by Ken Russell and the ‘deaf, dumb and blind kid’ became visual . Obviously “Pinball Wizard “ is the track everyone knows, but other clear standouts are “Acid Queen”, “Cousin Kevin” and “We’re Not Gonna Take It”. Then again, controversially, - even though others think it redundant and even repetitive - I have a real soft spot for the 10 minute opus that is “Underture”.
- The Italian Job
Iconic: adjective: widely known and acknowledged especially for distinctive excellence. It’s a word that’s vastly overused nowadays. But it rightly and justly can be applied to this famous heist caper. Occasionally in movies all the elements of cast, crew, plot, action, music, etc. come together to create something really, really special. There's no point me going through all the moments that have become embedded in British society in the years since. Images and phrases that are cult symbols - that some youngsters will know without even being aware of their origins. After it's release there were obvious talks of sequels and many, many ideas about how they would get out of that literal cliffhanger ending (in 2008, the Royal Society of Chemistry even held a competition for a solution). There was that unnecessary remake in 2003 (and why does Mark Wahlberg have a hand in so many bad versions of my favourite films?). I'll stick with the original thank you very much - I love everything about it. A bona fide classic.
