Once upon a time, there was a children's programme called Jackanory. An actor (it always seemed to be Bernard Cribbins) would walk into a room carrying a large book, sit down in an armchair and start reading a story.
Back in the Sixties and Seventies, such an unpromising programme idea was surprisingly popular. Were we, as children of the Sixties, less demanding? I don't think we were. I never found Jackanory very interesting - though it wasn't as dull as Animal Magic, Johnny Morris's zoo show.
The BBC axed Jackanory in 1996 after 3,500 episodes but has decided to bring it back for one-offs, starting next week (27 November 2007) with Sir Ben Kingsley reading The Magician of Samarkand.
(I may not have been Jackanory's greatest fan but I have been hooked on reading since my maternal grandmother bought me an Enid Blyton book when I was six or seven. )
Television has played such an influential part in our lives that hearing a long-forgotten signature tune can trigger the most powerful nostalgia. This BBC website has title sequences from a range of cult series, from Swap Shop to the Clangers. But does anyone remember Marine Boy, a BBC children's programme of the late Sixties?
Marine Boy now you're talking Rob! I didn't realise it at the time but it was actually a Japanese cartoon in the now much admired 'Manga' style. One thing I did know was that it looked light years ahead of it's 60's contemporaries and the slightly later stuff we watched and loved like Wacky Races, Scooby Doo etc.
Like yourself I wasn't too big a Jackanory fan but I feel obliged to defend Johnny Morris putting daft voices and jokes to footage of zoo animals on our black and white telly! You just wouldn't get away with it these days...!
Posted by: Andrew Wake | November 24, 2006 at 07:25 PM
Indeed, I also remember Marine Boy. I always thought it'd be brilliant to have some Oxygum (I was learning to swim around the time it was being broadcast, though those must have been repeats).
Some considerate soul has uploaded the titles to YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HqSkY4vtVY
Posted by: Mark H Wilkinson | November 28, 2006 at 08:20 PM