Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The First Story by Oliver Postgate The First Story by Oliver Postgate. THE HOUND british toon news & chatter. TV TOONS animated series TOON MAKERS animation studios & people. COMICS characters, strips & comic books. TOON GODS British animators & illustrators. Ivor the Engine producers: SmallFilms animation: cut-out animation 1959 / 6 x 10mins / b/w / for Assoc. Redifusion 1962-1964 / 26 x 10mins / b/w / for Assoc. Redifusion 1975 / 40 x 5mins / col / for The BBC. 2004 / promotional ads for BBC2 Wales. "Not very long ago, in the top left-hand corner of Wales, there was a railway. " Ivor was a handsome green locomotive operated by Jones the Steam and run along the Merioneth and Llantisilly railway in Wales. Jones and Ivor were friends with Dai Station, Owen the Signal, Mr Pugh, Mrs Thomas, Mrs Porty, Mr Dinwiddy the gold-miner, Bluebell the Donkey and Jones the Song who was choir-master to the Grumbly and District Choral Society of which Ivor was a very welcome member, singing first bass. Ivor's work took him to Llaniog, Tan-y-Gwlch, Llanmad, and Tewyn Beach. He was regularly taken to Grumbly Town and Grumbly Gasworks, and just the other side of the works was the extinct volcano of Smoke Hill. That was were Ivor and Jones first discovered The Egg. And from the egg came forth Idris the Welsh Dragon, a red-hot fellow who made his home in Ivor's boiler for a while. Ivor The Engine was the very first series to be produced by SmallFilms, the animation company operated by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. SmallFilms were rich with ideas and creative skills, and Ivor's welsh world was perfectly realised. In his fascinating autobiography "Seeing Things" (Panmacillan) Oliver describes the creative processes he went through to bring Ivor's world to our tv . screens. ITV commissioned the series after they viewed SmallFilms' two minute test reel. There was no soundtrack, so Oliver pefrormed the whistles, clangs and "pss-t-koffs" live in accompaniement to the visuals. With the commission looming Oliver had been concerned about his ability to create all of the necessary characters, scenarios and scripts but in the end, everything seemed to come together quite naturally: "Fortunately, now that I had the pictures in my head, the people, Jones the Steam, Owen the Signal, Dai Station, simply turned up for work. I didn't have to invent them, they came off my pen as if they had been there all along, waiting to be called. " The first Ivor series was shot in black and white. However, 16 years later, after the completion of Bagpuss Monica Simms at the BBC encouraged Oliver and Peter to remake the Ivor stories in colour, together with any other new tales they could muster up. The rights were duly tracked down to Rediffusion Holdings who, it seems, gave them back to the SmallFilms partnership with ne'er a concern and the new adventures could be born. Ivor The Engine's adventures continued in book form too. Numerous stories have been published and reprinted through the years by Abelard Schuman, Picture lions and Diamond Books. All are written by Oliver Postgate and beautifully illustrated by Peter Firmin. In 1979, incredibly, an Ivor book "'The Elephant" actually fell foul of Brent Council's intolerance of racial discrimination. They apparently objected to the depiction of Indian Elephant-Keeper Bani Moukerjee, whom Oliver refers to as: " . a delightful loving man, who spoke with an accent one might call 'Bombay Welsh. " 2004 saw Ivor returning to his Welsh roots, when he starred in a series of promotional adverts for BBC2 Wales. These were written and narrated by Oliver, and featured Peter's artwork once more. Although they were brought to life through the magic of computer software, you could hardly see the join. M & L R T C LTD ? "And in a shed, in a siding at the end of the railway, lived the Locomotive of the Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited, which was a long name for a little engine so his friends just called him Ivor. " - Ivor The Engine: The First Story. Ivor the Engine prints London's Animation Art Gallery are currently offering us two chuffingly-good limited edition gicleé prints. Each piece measures 22" x 19" and is restricted to just 100 editions. What's more, they're signed by the one and only Peter Firmin. "Tea With Ivor" featurs Ivor in his shed, with Jones the Steam and Dai Station. Meanwhile, "On the Railway" depicts Ivor out on his rounds. How good are these? Well, The Hound has a copy of the latter hanging proudly in his living room. Robert Harrop figures. In Spring 2007 Robert Harrop Designs produced their first fully-fledged 3D figure of Ivor, with Jones the Steam and Idris on board. It was restricted to just 600 editions, and needless to say, it's now sold out in many shops. In 2008, wee had something different. It was a box set featuring Ivor and the Signal Box, in a 2D cut-out perspective, and restricted to just 600 editions. It brought to life the exact same image as that "On the Railway" print, identified earlier. Ivor the Engine on DVD. Films by SmallFilms. story: Oliver Postgate pictures: Peter Firmin music: Vernon Elliott told by: Olwen Griffiths Anthony Jackson & Oliver Postgate. On the web. Smallfims The official site. Clean, clear graphics and interface lead you to a page on the characters, episode listing, several WAVs, and info on the associated books, games and videos. Best of all is the detailing of Ivor's creation, via Oliver Postgate's friendship with a chap called Denzil. Double: Take Double: Take hold the rights to the 40 colour episodes, and this here page features 3 fine pics and an ickle intro to peruse. Whirligig-tv Whirligig's nostalgia page is suitably 'retro' in design, with 2 familiar pics and a theme WAV. Philip Reeve. Award-winning children's author best known for his Mortal Engines Quartet series. He won the 2006 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, a once-in- a-lifetime book award for his concluding volume. He's also popular for his series of Mortal Engines prequels, the first one being a finalist for the 2010 Carnegie Medal. Before Fame. He wrote his first story at the age of five years old called Spike and his dog Spook. Trivia. He won the annual 2007 Carnegie Medal award, honoring the year's best children's book for his novel Here Lies Arthur. Family Life. He was born in Brighton, England. He had a son named Sam in 2002 with his wife Sarah. Associated With. His earliest influences include the likes of JRR Tolkein and Oliver Postgate. Celebrating Ivor the Engine. Not very long ago, in the top left-hand corner of Wales, there was a railway. An engine driver once told Oliver Postgate that engines come to life when you steam them up in the morning. From that idea, Ivor the Engine entered the treasure trove of classic children's TV. Celebrating Ivor the Engine New 2014 Ivor the Engine stamp Postmarked in Blean, Canterbury - where Ivor was created Limited edition of just 250 Beautiful artwork by Ivor co-creator, Peter Firmin Available signed by Peter Firmin. Jump Aboard and Join the Railway Club. Did you know we run a club just for railway covers? It is a great way to get every cover in the Buckingham Railway series. Members of the Railway Cover Club get each new cover reserved for them at the lowest possible price with no commitment. We tell you what is reserved in advance by email. Don't want it? Just email back and say "no thanks!". But as our railway covers often sell out, this way, you don't risk missing out! And we have a great loyalty scheme for club members too. Already in the Railway Cover Club - you can relax! This cover was automatically reserved for anyone in our Rail and Rail+ clubs at the lowest possible price. Ivor the Engine. It was 1958. Oliver Postgate was working on children's television programmes in London, which went out live. He had the idea of starting a film animation company to make low budget pre-recorded programmes for children and Smallfilms started up. Ivor the Engine was Smallfilms' first production. The first Ivor the Engine series was shot in 1959 for ITV in black and white, with artwork and models by Peter Firmin and stories, script and production by Oliver Postgate. It was inspired by Postgate's wartime encounter with Welshman Denzyl Ellis, who used to be the fireman on the Royal Scot. Ellis told Oliver that steam engines come to life when you spent time steaming them up in the morning. And from that, Ivor the Engine was born! Ivor was a little engine who wanted to sing and the first story tells of how he was given the pipes from an old organ so that he could sing with the choir. Ivor only had three notes (from the pipes of Morgan's Roundabout organ) but, as Evans says: "He sings them beautiful". The series was a hit and further productions were planned. They both moved with their families to Blean, near Canterbury, Kent and continued working in an old cowshed near Peter's house. It was 16 years before the films were remade for the BBC in colour and Ivor was seen in his trademark green. By that time, Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate had put themselves in the history books after creating still more classic children's animations, Noggin the Nog, Pingwings, Pogles' Wood, The Clangers and Bagpuss.