The Woofits is a series of

children's books A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younge ...

written in the 1980s by British television and radio personality

Michael Parkinson Sir Michael Parkinson (born 28 March 1935) is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his television talk show '' Parkinson'' from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007, as well as other talk shows and programmes both in the U ...

, best known for his TV chat shows. The stories featured the Woofits a family of anthropomorphic dog-like creatures who lived in the fictional

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

coal mining village of Grimeworth (based on the real life Cudworth where Parkinson was born and nearby village of

Grimethorpe Grimethorpe is a large village in the metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it had a population of 4,672 at the 2011 census. Grimethorpe is located to the east of Barnsl ...

). Most of the inhabitants of Grimeworth were woofits (and had the surname "Woofit"), although humans also appeared in the stories.

Books

The four original books published in 1980 by Collins of London were *The Woofits Day Out *The Woofits Play Cricket *The Woofits Play Football *The Daily Woofit In addition there were Woofit Annuals for the years 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983. In some of the annuals the setting for the stories was moved from Grimeworth to Batley in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

where the Woofits worked at a woollen

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...

and were of Scottish origin.

Television

In 1981

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

made two series of Woofits cartoons to be shown on

ITV's ITV is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passin ...

lunchtime slot for young children based on the original stories and new stories with Michael Parkinson narrating them. *Series 1: 6 episodes - 30 April 1981 – 4 June 1981 *Series 2: 12 episodes -11 February 1982 – 29 April 1982

Characters

The main members of the Woofit family lived in 3

terraced In agriculture, a terrace is a piece of sloped plane that has been cut into a series of successively receding flat surfaces or platforms, which resemble steps, for the purposes of more effective farming. This type of landscaping is therefore ...

houses along Grimeworth Street, Grimeworth these were - Number 8 *Grandpa Ironside and Grandma Emily, the heads of the family Number 10 *Uncle Athelstone, miner, gardener and bandleader of Grimeworth

Colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

brass band *Uncle Gaylord, Athelstone's brother a football pools winner who considered himself

posh Posh is an informal adjective for "upper class". It may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Posh'' (album), a 1980 album by Patrice Rushen *" Posh!", a 1968 song from the musical ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' * ''Posh'' (2006 TV series), a 2006 Philip ...

. Number 12 *John Willy Woofit, son of Ironside and coal miner and played the trombone in the brass band *Lavina, wife of John Willy *Elton, son of Lavinia and John Willy, dreamed of being a

pop star A pop icon is a celebrity, character, or object whose exposure in popular culture is regarded as constituting a defining characteristic of a given society or era. The usage of the term is largely subjective since there are no definitively object ...

. *Angela, sister of Elton who had ambitions to be a TV newsreader *Elton's pet dog Gershwin Other characters included Baskerville Woofit (editor of the Daily Woofit), Cluff Woofit (manager of the local football team) and local policeman Sergeant Fox.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woofits British picture books Series of children's books ITV children's television shows Children's fiction books Television series by Yorkshire Television English-language television shows