Oliver Postgate - a podcast by BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the animator Oliver Postgate. As the creator of Noggin the Nog, The Clangers and Bagpuss, Oliver holds a special place in many childhoods. So it may come as something of a surprise that he never thought about how his programmes would be received by children; instead he says he simply focussed on making the stories great - everything else was secondary. For 20 years he toiled in a converted pigsty in Kent, animating the characters Peter Firmin drew, churning out 120 seconds of film a day. He says a respectable average for an animation company now would be two seconds!

Oliver's own childhood was a lonely one; ignored by his busy parents and sent to an experimental school he hated. He says that to this day, he has no meaning unless he is doing something, and this is a direct legacy of his desperation to be noticed as a child.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: When the Saints Come Marching In by Pete Fountain
Book: Huge book of English Poetry
Luxury: A comfortable bed.

Further episodes of Desert Island Discs: Archive 2005-2010

Further podcasts by BBC Radio 4

Website of BBC Radio 4