Common cause
The Wombles introduced environmentalism to Britain’s children 50 years ago. MARION McMULLEN recalls the TV debut of Wimbledon’s eco-warriors
THE Wombles were ahead of their time when it came to recycling.
The lovable residents of Wimbledon Common made their first TV appearance 50 years ago on February 5, 1973, and quickly became favourites of young children across the country.
The shy and retiring Wombles lived underground and their motto was “Make good use of bad rubbish”.
Children’s TV star and entertainer Bernard Cribbins provided the voices of characters such as wise old Great Uncle Bulgaria, inventor Tobermory and sleep-loving Orinoco, and said it was simple to bring the characters to life because of how The Wombles was written. “The structure of the writing was such that you knew exactly where everybody was socially in that household,” he explained.
The Wombles were the brainchild of Elisabeth Beresford and she published her first story in 1968. The stop-motion TV series, which ran until 1975, was commissioned after her tales were read on Jackanory.
She based the characters on members of her family with her son Marcus Robertson providing the inspiration for Orinoco. He said he was 13 or 14 when his mother first wrote the books and that Orinoco was “the fattest, laziest and greediest of them.”
The name Wombles came from a mispronunciation by Elizabeth’s daughter Kate when she was a child on a Boxing Day stroll, and spoke of “Wombledon Common”.
Sixty episodes of the BBC1 series were made and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang star Lionel Jeffries directed the film Wombling Free in 1977, with David Jason as one of the voices of the Wombles.
The expert litter pickers even joined forces with Sir Paul McCartney last year to encourage people to eat less meat for the sake of the environment and offered recipes like Madame Cholet’s Chilli Non Carne and Tobermory’s Corn and Courgette Fritters.