Creator of Trumpton dies at the age of 95

GORDON Murray, the creator of much-loved BBC children’s puppet series Trumpton, Camberwick Green and Chigley, died yesterday at the age of 95.

Thirteen episodes of each were made, all narrated by Brian Cant, and were broadcast repeatedly from the mid-1960s until the 1980s.

They captivated children with their tales of characters such as Windy Miller and the Trumpton firemen Pugh (pictured), Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb.

The episodes were filmed in stop-motion animation, using eightinch models with heads made out of ping-pong balls and clothes out of foam latex.

Murray was born in London in 1921.

After leaving school, he began working as a journalist and joined the Territorial Army before being enlisted in 1939 in the London Scottish Regiment.

In 1944, he took part in the Normandy landings as a platoon commander, having been commissioned into the Royal Corps of Signals, and landed on Gold Beach.

After the war he became an actor in repertory theatre where he met his wife, ballet dancer Enid Martin, before setting up his own puppet company.

Justin Johnson of the British Film Institute described Murray as ‘a true hero of children’s TV’, adding: ‘The Trumptonshire Trilogy was a beautifully observed picture of everyday middle England. Ordinary, everyday people doing everyday tasks.

‘It worked because the scripts were always well constructed with believable characters. Every week, Lord Belborough on his train, the Trumptonshire clock or the fire engine being called out.’