''Timbuctoo'' is a series of 25 children's books, written and illustrated by

Roger Hargreaves Roger Hargreaves (9 May 1935 – 11 September 1988) was a British cartoonist, illustrator and writer of children's books. He created the ''Mr. Men'' series, ''Mr. Men#"Little Miss" series, Little Miss'' series and ''Timbuctoo'' series, intended ...

, better known for his ''

Mr. Men ''Mr. Men'' is a British series of children's books and media franchise written and illustrated by English author Roger Hargreaves which began publication in August 1971. From 1981, an accompanying series of Little Miss books by the same aut ...

'' and ''Little Miss'' series. It was published from 1978 to 1979, with selected reprints in 1993 and 1999. The books tell the stories of a group of animals, each of whom is named after the sound that their particular animal makes. An animated series (produced by Flicks Films and Carlton International) of ''Timbuctoo'' was shown on

CITV CITV is a British children's morning programming block on ITV2 and formerly a free-to-air channel owned by ITV plc. CITV, then Children's ITV, launched on 3 January 1983 as a late afternoon programming block on the ITV network for children aged ...

which ran from 9 January 1998 to 16 April 1999, narrated by

Ronnie Corbett Ronald Balfour Corbett (4 December 1930 – 31 March 2016) was a Scottish actor, broadcaster, comedian and writer. He had a long association with Ronnie Barker in the BBC television comedy sketch show ''The Two Ronnies''. He achieved promine ...

Books

The original set of 25 books named after their main character were published in 1978 and 1979, along with board books, shaped story books and three Timbuctoo Annuals. In 1999 eight of the books were reprinted with new illustrations to promote the television show, along with a new character, Bray. The first twelve books were also published in Dutch, and the eight 1999 versions published in Greek.

1978

*''Woof'' (an ochre

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...

) *''Meow'' (an orange

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

) *''Oink'' (a pink

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

) *''Chirp'' (a blue

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

) *''Trumpet'' (a grey

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

) *''Squeak'' (an ochre

mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

) *''Moo'' (a brown

cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are called co ...

) *''Buzz'' (a black and yellow

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

) *''Neigh'' (a red

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

) *''Roar'' (a yellow

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

) *''Snap'' (a green

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term "crocodile" is sometimes used more loosely to include ...

) *''Hiss'' (a yellow-green

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

) Four of the books (''Woof'', ''Trumpet'', ''Buzz'' and ''Oink'') were republished in 1993.

1979

*''Croak'' (a green

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

) *''Cluck'' (an orange

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

) *''Growl'' (a black and orange

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

) *''Honk'' (a black

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, also called "true seal" ** Fur seal ** Eared seal * Seal ( ...

) *''Chatter'' (an orange

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

) *''Quack'' (a white

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

) *''Sniff'' (a grey

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

) *''Bleat'' (an orange

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

) *''Hoot'' (a brown

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

) *''Grizzle'' (a burgundy

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

) *''Puff'' (a black and white

panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. Its body is ...

) *''Squawk'' (a blue

parrot Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in ...

) *''Baa'' (a grey and white

sheep Sheep (: sheep) or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are a domesticated, ruminant mammal typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to d ...

) There was also a set of ''Timbuctoo Shape Books'' released, including ''Oink'', ''Neigh'', ''Growl'', ''Roar'', ''Squeak'', ''Trumpet'', ''Cluck'' and ''Puff''.

1997

*''Bray'' (a grey

donkey The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...

) Bray was an additional character created and written by Roger's son Adam. This was because standard TV series are often produced in 13 or 26 episode series and an additional character was required to reach 26 episodes. Eight of the original books were reprinted in 1999, with new illustrations, to accompany the TV series. While Bray was listed on the back cover along with the rest of the cast, only Buzz, Cluck, Growl, Meow, Neigh, Oink, Snap and Trumpet were reprinted.

Television adaptation

The Timbuctoo animated television show was broadcast from January 1998 to April 1999. It ran on

for two series and was based on the characters of the book series. Series 1 was released on VHS as ''Neigh Finds a New Home and Other Stories'' in March 1999 and Series 2 released as ''Woof Has Forgotten How to Bark and Other Stories'' in February 2000. A total of 26 episodes were produced.

Series overview

*Series 1: 9 January 1998 to 3 April 1998 (13 episodes) *Series 2: 8 January 1999 to 16 April 1999 (13 episodes)

Series 1 (1998)

#"Neigh Finds a New Home" (9 January 1998) #"Honk Goes Swimming" (16 January 1998) #"Snap Learns a New Game" (23 January 1998) #"Cluck Gets a Letter" (30 January 1998) #"Moo Has a Birthday Party" (6 February 1998) #"Chirp Learns to Fly" (13 February 1998) #"Croak Learns to Swim" (20 February 1998) #"Oink and the Big Apple" (27 February 1998) #"Squeak has a Big Day Out" (6 March 1998) #"Bleat Takes the Ball By the Horns" (13 March 1998) #"Grizzle Gets the Giggles" (20 March 1998) #"Hoot Slips up at Question Time" (27 March 1998) #"Meow Goes Fishing" (3 April 1998)

Series 2 (1999)

#"Woof Has Forgotten How to Bark" (8 January 1999) #"Hiss is Hopping Mad" (15 January 1999) #"Chatter and His Long Tail" (22 January 1999) #"Puff Buys Some Paint" (29 January 1999) #"Roar Sets Out to Frighten Timbuctoo" (5 February 1999) #"Trumpet Goes to the Seaside" (12 February 1999) #"Quack Dreams of a New Beak" (26 February 1999) #"Buzz is a Very Busy Bee" (5 March 1999) #"Growl Has a Fright" (12 March 1999) #"Baa Goes Shopping" (19 March 1999) #"Sniff Runs Out of Carrots" (26 March 1999) #"Bray Sleeps Through Christmas" (9 April 1999) #"Squawk Joins the Choir" (16 April 1999)

External links

Timbuctoo
character and episode list at Toonhound
Timbuctoo
at

LibraryThing LibraryThing is a social cataloging web application for storing and sharing book catalogs and various types of book metadata. It is used by authors, individuals, libraries, and publishers. Based in Portland, Maine, LibraryThing was developed b ...

{{Roger Hargreaves Book series introduced in 1978 British picture books Series of children's books Fictional islands ITV children's television shows 1998 British television series debuts 1999 British television series endings 1990s British children's television series British children's animated adventure television series British television shows based on children's books Animated television series about animals Works by Roger Hargreaves Children's fiction books British English-language television shows Television series by ITV Studios Sanrio characters 1990s British animated television series ITV animated television series