Peter Arthur Firmin (11 December 1928 – 1 July 2018) was an English artist and puppet maker. He was the founder of Smallfilms, along with

Oliver Postgate Richard Oliver Postgate (12 April 1925 – 8 December 2008) was an English Animation, animator, puppeteer, and writer. He was the creator and writer of some of Britain's most popular children's television programmes. ''Bagpuss'', ''Pingwings' ...

. Between them they created a number of popular children's TV programmes, '' The Saga of Noggin the Nog'', ''

Ivor the Engine ''Ivor the Engine'' is a British cutout animation television series created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms company. It follows the adventures of a small green steam locomotive who lives in the "top left-hand corner of Wales ...

'', '' Clangers'', ''

Bagpuss ''Bagpuss'' is a British animated children's television series which was made by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate through their company Smallfilms. The series of thirteen episodes was first broadcast from 12 February to 7 May 1974. The title c ...

'' and '' Pogles' Wood''.

Early life

Born in Harwich, Essex, in 1928, Peter Firmin trained at the Colchester School of Art in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

. After

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

in the Royal Navy, he attended

Central School of Art and Design The Central School of Art and Design was a school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Crafts. ...

in London from 1949–1952. He worked in a

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

studio, as an illustrator and as a lecturer. It was while he was teaching at Central School of Art that

came looking for, as Firmin put it: "... someone to illustrate a television story – someone who was hard up and would do a lot of drawing for very little money". Postgate and Firmin went on to form Smallfilms.

Career

Firmin was best known as half of the Smallfilms production company, active from 1958 to the late 1980s. Most of Smallfilms' animation work was produced in a barn on Firmin's land in Blean near

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

in Kent. Firmin made the sets, puppets and backdrops for the programmes, often also contributing to making sound and visual effects during filming. In addition to his work with Oliver Postgate, Firmin made other puppets and children's programmes. In 1959, with his wife Joan, he devised a programme of nursery rhymes for

Associated-Rediffusion Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion London, was the British ITV franchise holder for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 22 September 1955 and 29 July 1968. It was the first ITA franchisee to go on air, ...

, called ''The Musical Box'', which used live cardboard animation and puppets. It was presented by

Rolf Harris Rolf Harris (30 March 1930 – 10 May 2023) was an Australian musician, television personality, painter, and actor. He used a variety of instruments in his performances, notably the didgeridoo and the Stylophone, and is credited with the inventi ...

and then by Wally Whyton. In 1961, ITV commissioned another puppet. Ollie Beak was a little owl made of chicken feathers stuck into a crocheted body. He appeared on ''Smalltime'', and was joined in 1962 by Fred Barker (a shaggy dog made for Postgate/Firmin 1961 production ''The Dog Watch'') and in 1963 by Whiffles, an otter puppet, and Penelope, another owl. With Ivan Owen, Firmin co-created the TV puppet Basil Brush in 1962. He made the first puppet for ''The Three Scampies'', using a real fox brush, lending the correct name for a fox’s tail to the puppet character. For the UK's

Decimal Day Decimal Day () in the United Kingdom and in Republic of Ireland, Ireland was Monday 15 February 1971, the day on which each country decimalised its respective £sd currency of pound sterling, pounds, Shilling (British coin), shillings, and pe ...

(15 February 1971), Muskit reappeared with Firmin and made a trip to the shops in a BBC TV schools' programme. Firmin continued to work as an illustrator. He wrote and illustrated many books of Smallfilms characters, as well as children's books of his own devising and books for adults including Vita Sackville-West's poetry () and ''Seeing Things'', Postgate's autobiography ().

Printmaker

Firmin, having retired from TV production, produced engravings and

linocut Linocut, also known as lino print, lino printing or linoleum art, is a printmaking technique, a variant of relief printing in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for a relief printing, relief surface. A design i ...

Noggin stamp

In 1994, Firmin provided an illustration for a British postage stamp, SG1804, featuring characters from Noggin the Nog. It was one of a set featuring characters from British children's literature. He produced further illustrations for the advertising campaign to publicise the stamps.

Recognition

He was awarded an honorary MA by the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

on 17 July 1987 and an Honorary degree from the University of Essex in 2012. In 2011 Firmin was awarded the Freedom of the City of Canterbury in recognition of his "outstanding work". He received the

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. Between 12 May and 29 July 2018, Firmin's work was featured in the exhibition ''Clangers, Bagpuss & Co'', organised by the V&A Museum of Childhood at the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull.

Personal life

Firmin was married to Joan, who knitted the Clangers from vibrant pink wool. They met at the Central School of Art and Design in London, where Joan was studying

bookbinding Bookbinding is the process of building a book, usually in codex format, from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools, or in modern publishing, by a series of automated processes. Firstly, one binds the sheets of papers alon ...

. They were married in 1952 and lived in London until moving to Kent in 1959. They had six daughters: One, Emily, appeared in the opening sequence of ''

''. The Firmins lived on the farm in Blean, Kent, where Smallfilms produced their programmes. Firmin died on 1 July 2018 at his home in Kent after a short illness at the age of 89. All the new episodes of ''Clangers'' made after this date were dedicated to his memory - the

epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

"''In loving memory of Peter Firmin''" can be seen at the end of the credits of these episodes.

Publications

*''Basil Brush Goes Flying'', written and illustrated by Peter Firmin (Issue 8 of Edmund Ward Starting to Read Books) (Kaye & Ward Limited, 1969) *''Stanley, the tale of the Lizard'', Peter Meteyard; illustrated by Peter Firmin (Andre Deutsch, 1979) *''The Last of the Dragons'', E. Nesbit; illustrated by Peter Firmin (Macdonald, 1980) *''Melisande'', E. Nesbit; illustrated by Peter Firmin (MacDonald, 1980) *''The Winter Diary of a Country Rat'', written and illustrated by Peter Firmin (Kaye and Ward, 1981) *''Chicken Stew'', written and illustrated by Peter Firmin (Pelham Books, 1982) *''Tricks & Tales'', written and illustrated by Peter Firmin (Kaye and Ward, 1982) *''The Midsummer Notebook of a Country Rat'', written and illustrated by Peter Firmin (Kaye and Ward, 1983) *''Pinny and the Bird'' and other Pinny tales, written and illustrated by Peter Firmin (Andre Deutsch, 1985) *''Pinny and the Floppy Frog'' ''Pinny's Party'' , written and illustrated by Peter Firmin (Andre Deutsch, 1987) *''My Dog Sandy'', written and illustrated by Peter Firmin (Andre Deutsch, 1988) *''Making Faces'', written and illustrated by Peter Firmin (Collins Pic- Lions Publishing, 1988) *''Ziggy and the Ice Ogre'', Chris Powling, illustrated by Peter Firmin (Heinemann, 1988) *''The Jenius'', Dick King Smith, illustrated by Peter Firmin (Victor Gollancz, 1988) *''Nina's Machines'', written and illustrated by Peter Firmin (A & C Black, 1988) *''Boastful Mr Bear'' , ''Happy Miss Rat'' , ''Hungry Mr Fox'' , ''Foolish Miss Crow'' , written and illustrated by Peter Firmin (Bolitha Press & Dell of NY, 1989) *''The Land and the Garden'', Vita Sackville-West, illustrated by Peter Firmin (Webb & Bower, 1989) *''Seeing Things: An Autobiography'', Oliver Postgate; illustrated by Peter Firmin, 2000

References

External links

*
Peter Firmin
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

*
Article from ''Something about the Author'' (Volume 58) about Peter Firmin

The Smallfilms Treasury

The Dragons' Friendly Society
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Firmin, Pete 1928 births 2018 deaths People from Harwich Alumni of the Central School of Art and Design English animators British animated film producers 20th-century English illustrators British children's book illustrators People from Blean British television show creators