A BELOVED children’s programme with ties to Harwich has celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Although the BBC only broadcast 13 episodes of Bagpuss in 1974, it has a cult following even today.
The first episode aired on February 12, 1974.
Co-creator Peter Firmin, who also worked on The Clangers, was born in Harwich in 1928.
The late artist and puppet maker trained at Colchester School of Art and later Central School of Art and Design in London from 1949 to 1952.
He met future Bagpuss co-creator and narrator Oliver Postgate when the latter visited Central School of Art in search of an illustrator.
The pair went on to form production company Smallfilms which was active from 1958 to the late 1980s.
Mr Firmin also created Basil Brush with Ivan Owen, the first puppeteer and voice of that character.
In 2015, Essex University honoured Mr Firmin with an honorary degree.
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