This is the autobiography of Oliver Postgate, the man who wrote, narrated and filmed "Bagpuss", "The Clangers", "Ivor the Engine", "Noggin the Nog" and "Pogle's Wood". The book begins with Postgate's childhood, then goes on to cover his years as a conscientious objector, farmer, inventor, actor and stage manager before looking at the period, beginning in the late 1950s, when he created children's films. In more recent years he has become an advocate of solar power and an opponent of nuclear weapons. This is a humourous account of a colourful life.

Print length

432 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Pan Books
Publication date

4 May 2001
Dimensions

13.5 x 3.2 x 21.6 cm
ISBN-10

0330390007
ISBN-13

978-0330390002
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Peter Firmin
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Product description

Review

"'A glorious gallimaufry that manages to be amusing, affecting, instructive and inspiring.' Daily Mail"

About the Author

Oliver Postgate was born in 1925. He is the grandson of George Lansbury prewar leader of the Labour Party. He is the cousin of Anglea Lansbury and, by marriage, Peter Ustinov. His father was Raymond Postgate, creator of The Good Food Guide. Oliver wrote, narrated and filmed Bagpuss, the Clangers, Ivor the Engine, Noggin the Nog and Pogle's Wood, among many others, while his partner Peter Firmin drew the pictures and made the puppets. All their best known work was produced in a cowshed near Whitstable.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pan Books (4 May 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0330390007
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0330390002
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.5 x 3.2 x 21.6 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 2,190,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 2,892 in TV Communication Studies
- 24,459 in Literary Theory & Movements
- 248,624 in Biographies & Memoirs (Books)

Customer reviews:
4.6 118 ratings

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4.6 out of 5

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eyesandears

I love Oliver Postgate !

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 4 April 2023

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What do Oliver Postgate and Pete Seeger have in commun - just that they were in large part responsible for forming the way i see the world. Great people. Good people. People often getting **** thrown at them because they refused to just blindly follow or conform to stereotypes and because they had love for the planet and for their fellow man. This autobiography allows us to learn a little more about M Postgate, his principles, his search, his life and of course Bagpuss and Clangers and Noggin' the Nog...Be patient, it takes a while to get going but it's worth it.

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Watty

Oliver Postgate - Seeing Things

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 26 February 2012

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Oliver Postgate's memoir Seeing Things is a delight: honest, fuuny and touching this creator of children's classics such as Noggin the Nog and Iv or the Engine records the highs and lows of his remarkable life covering family life in the 1920s with his liberal parents, his experiences as a conscientious objector and a brief but grim time in post war Germany as a driver assisting with aid. His early working life was very varied ranging from farm to theatrical work and he always found himself using his amazing natural aptitude for mechanics in imaginative and resourceful ways. He describes in fascinating detial the development of his collaboration with illustrator Peter Firmin: amazingly, considering the immense popularity of their tales, the fees they recieved were far from generous. I have not yet finished Seeing Things and am loving it. I thoroughly recommend it as a terrific read and it has inspired me to rewatch Noggin and Ivor the Engine whihc I have on DVD.

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skhyam

A talented and gentle man's Life

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 16 June 2012

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Oliver Postgate's Autobiography is a highly readable and enjoyable journey through the last half of the 20th Century and well worth a read by those who, like me, were brought up watching the treats he produced (with Peter Firmin) on TV.

I say treats because, as a child, I was allowed to watch TV as a treat and what I was allowed to watch was controlled as such. Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin produced many of the programmes that were my treats namely Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine, Bagpuss and The Clangers. Oliver's voice is a recognisable and re-assuring part of my childhood memories.

The story of the man is fascinating and in this book is told with a humorous and self-effacing honesty in a style redolent of a Noggin the Nog saga.

I highly recommend it to anyone of my generation and to those younger folk who have been fortunate enough to watch Mr Postgate's output.

Read it!

3 people found this helpful

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Ian Carter

The easy way to relive your (misspent?) childhood

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 5 July 2015

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How could you *not* love this? The honeyed tones of the late (and much missed) Oliver Postgate draw you into his world, as the creator of Bagpuss, Ivor the Engine, the adorable Clangers and the unforgettable Noggin the Nog tells his own story. I'm going to have to digitise this audio cassette so that I can preserve the original and protect it from the use it's undoubtedly going to get over the next few months.
I also bought the companion book, which obviously has much more material (and photos), but the cassette stands well on its own.
The easy way to relive your (misspent?) childhood (although I was an undergraduate when the Clangers first appeared on our screens, and I used to bolt my Sunday tea just so that I could grab a front-row seat in the TV room - complete with a then-rare colour TV.

3 people found this helpful

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waarps

Read it if you remember Bagpuss !

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 29 May 2021

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I loved this book! It was so interesting to read about the person who made the iconic children's films of my childhood in the 1970s. He was an unusual and gifted person and comes across as very likeable.

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Graham Ramsey

Historical interest too

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 30 April 2021

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Delicately frank and open autobiography about him and the times in which he found himself living. Much more historical information than I expected. I would suggest it is good read for anyone interested in the mid 20th century.

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Christopher Kibbey

Oliver Postgate, a man who had the abiding love and gratitude of millions.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 19 June 2016

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This is an autobiography of someone who defined my a great part of my childhood with some of the greatest children's programmes ever made, such as Pogles Wood, Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine, Bagpuss and The Clangers were crafted in a small converted cowshed in Kent on tiny budgets. In Stephen Fry's forward, he says 'I always supposed that if God had a voice it would be that of Oliver Postgate, the same matchless blend of authority, kindliness and humour'. Well, that's how this reads, as though the author was reading the entire book in that voice just for you. Just wonderful.

4 people found this helpful

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Susan Young

Fantastic read!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 19 June 2020

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I down loaded onto the kindle - what a fascinating read.

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Seeing Things Paperback – 4 May 2001

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