''For the Children'' was the umbrella title given to

British television Television broadcasts in the United Kingdom began in 1932, however, regular broadcasts would only begin four years later. Television began as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transm ...

programmes and sequences targeted at children of school age, in the early years of the

BBC Television Service BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

. The title was first used in 1937 at 3pm as the opening programme for afternoon viewing (as television would generally be broadcast from 3pm to 4pm and then later, from 9pm to 10pm). Suspended in 1939 along with the rest of BBC Television for the duration of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, it returned on 9 June 1946, running on Sunday afternoons and expanded to twenty minutes in length. The series featured a variety of different presenters and acts: story readings, puppet shows, songs. On Saturday 13 March 1937, George Queen's Pantomime Goose was shown in the ''For the Children'' slot, the opening programme before ''In Your Garden'' came on at 3:10pm. In October 1946 the "hugely popular" children's puppet

Muffin the Mule Muffin the Mule is an animated puppet animal character in a British 1946 to 1955 television show for children. The puppet was made in 1933 for Ann Hogarth. The original TV shows featuring the animal character himself were presented by Annette ...

made his television debut on the show, accompanied by his "friend"

Annette Mills Annette Mills (born Edith Mabel Mills; 10 September 1894 – 10 January 1955) was an English actress, dancer, songwriter and television presenter, best known for presenting the children's television show ''Muffin the Mule''. Early life Annette ...

. The puppet's character was devised by the puppeteer

Ann Hogarth Margaret Ann Gildart Bussell (née Jackson; 19 July 1910 – 9 April 1993), better known as Ann Hogarth, was a British puppeteer. She, her husband, and "Hogarth Puppets" toured the world. She is best known for her puppet Muffin the Mule, which was ...

. Jane Phillips, 'Hogarth, Ann (1910–1993)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, 200
accessed 10 Feb 2017
/ref> ''For the Children'' was last broadcast in December 1951, when "Children's Television" became the title used for the afternoon children's sequences, until use of an overall title was abandoned in the late 1950s.

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Further reading