The men who brought us

Postgate - Oliver’s son who inherited Smallfilms upon his death in Broadstairs in 2008 at the age of 83 - and examining the skeleton of a Clanger; its knitted skin long since gnawed away by a hungry mouse, when my hero arrived, unannounced in the room.

He took a seat, on the table, next to me. It sounds a bit like an odd dream, or drug-induced episode, but I assure you I was awake and coffee was the strongest stimulant coursing through my veins.

Peter Firmin had brought down the original Bagpuss - as used in the opening scenes - in all his baggy glory. If he was a “bit loose at the seams”, as the show’s opening credits suggested, he certainly didn’t show it. In truth, he was clearly takto ing middle-age well.

For those of us who grew up in the 1970s and 80s, Bagpuss seemed omnipresent on the BBC’s children TV schedule. Granted, there were only ever 13 episodes made, but it’s fair to say the Beeb got their money’s worth.

His vibrant colours and friendly, inquisitive face, were just as I remembered. And, to be honest, looking all the better for not being confined to a dusty museum display case (the other original Bagpuss can be seen at Canterbury’s Beaney Institute).

I got to hold him. In fact, I got to hold him outside the window at the back of his family home which doubled as the shop window in the show itself. Firmin, perhaps surprisingly given how many millions of questions he must have fielded over the 40 years of Bagpuss’ life, was happy to chat about his most famous creation. “We had no inkling Bagpuss’ popularity would last so long,” he admitted.

“Certainly at the time we were making it, I felt we were doing well.

“We had done the Clangers, we were writing books, they were still showing Pogles’ Wood and there was an amazing concentration of work we were involved in.

“Bagpuss was like the culmination of everything we’d done before. It became the pinnacle ofwhatwedid.

“It was our best thing ever and I really enjoyed making them.” In 1999 a BBC poll named Bagpuss the most popular children’s show of all time. It was a family affair too. Emily, the little girl holding Bagpuss in the programme, was Emily Firmin, the daughter of Peter and his wife Joan. Today, she’s a successful artist in her own right in Whitstable. And, just to make you feel old, in her mid50s. His wife Joan also knitted the Clangers.

Peter Firmin was 30 when his