Peter Firmin
Encyclopedia
Peter Arthur Firmin is an English artist and animator
. He was the founder of Smallfilms
, along with Oliver Postgate
. Between them they created a number of popular children's TV programmes, The Saga of Noggin the Nog
, Ivor the Engine
, Clangers
, Bagpuss
and Pogles' Wood
.
in Colchester
and Central St Martins College
in London. He worked in a stained glass
studio and worked as a lecturer.
It was while he was teaching at the Central School of Art (later Central St Martins College) that Oliver Postgate
came looking for, as Firmin puts it: "…someone to illustrate a television story – someone who was hard up and would do a lot of drawing for very little money". They immediately 'clicked' and went on, in due course, to form Smallfilms
.
near Canterbury
in Kent
. Firmin is an illustrator
. He has written and illustrated two main books and illustrated many others including Seeing Things, Postgate's autobiography.
Firmin also co-created, with Ivan Owen
, the British
TV
puppet
legend Basil Brush
in 1963. He made the first Basil Brush puppet using a real fox tail.
. It was one of a set featuring characters from British children's literature. He produced further illustrations for the advertising campaign to publicise the set of stamps.
by the University of Kent
on July 17, 1987. In 2011 it was announced that Firmin was to be awarded the Freedom of the City
of Canterbury in recognition of his "outstanding work."
from vibrant pink wool.
They have six daughters:
Charlotte is also an illustrator; as is Hannah, known for her book jacket illustrations for Alexander McCall Smith
's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
series; Josie, who runs hand-painted china shops in London and Canterbury; Katy, Lucy, and Emily, the youngest, who appeared in the opening sequence of Bagpuss
, and is an artist living in Whitstable.
The Firmins still live on the farm in Blean
, Kent
, where Smallfilms produced their programmes.
Animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...
. He was the founder of Smallfilms
Smallfilms
Smallfilms was a British company that made animated television programmes for children, from 1959 to the 1980s. It was a partnership between Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin . Several very popular series of short films were made using stop-motion animation, including The Clangers, Noggin the Nog,...
, along with Oliver Postgate
Oliver Postgate
Oliver Postgate was an English animator, puppeteer and writer.He was the creator and writer of some of Britain's most popular children's television programmes...
. Between them they created a number of popular children's TV programmes, The Saga of Noggin the Nog
Noggin the Nog
Noggin the Nog is a popular British children's character appearing in his own TV series and series of illustrated books, the brainchild of Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. The TV series is considered a 'cult classic' from the golden age of British children's television...
, Ivor the Engine
Ivor the Engine
Ivor the Engine is a British children's animation by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin's Smallfilms company. It is a children's television series relating the adventures of a small green locomotive who lived in the "top left-hand corner of Wales" and worked for The Merioneth and Llantisilly Railway...
, Clangers
Clangers
Clangers is a popular British stop-motion animated children's television series of short stories about a family of mouse-like creatures who live on, and in, a small blue planet . They speak in whistles, and eat green soup supplied by the Soup Dragon...
, Bagpuss
Bagpuss
Bagpuss is a 1974 UK children's television series, made by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate through their company Smallfilms. The title character is "an old, saggy cloth cat, baggy, and a bit loose at the seams"...
and Pogles' Wood
Pogles' Wood
Pogles' Wood was an animated British Children's television series produced by Smallfilms between 1966 and 1967 and screened by the BBC between 1966 and 1968 as part of the Watch with Mother series. The Pogles were tiny country folk who lived in a tree...
.
Early life
He trained at Colchester School of ArtColchester Institute
Colchester Institute is a large provider of further and higher education based in the town of Colchester, and includes the Centre for Music and Performing Arts, Centre for Hospitality and Food Studies, and the Professional Training Centre. Higher Education courses are accredited by the University...
in Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...
and Central St Martins College
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. The school has an outstanding international reputation, and is considered one of the world's leading art and design institutions...
in London. He worked in a stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
studio and worked as a lecturer.
It was while he was teaching at the Central School of Art (later Central St Martins College) that Oliver Postgate
Oliver Postgate
Oliver Postgate was an English animator, puppeteer and writer.He was the creator and writer of some of Britain's most popular children's television programmes...
came looking for, as Firmin puts it: "…someone to illustrate a television story – someone who was hard up and would do a lot of drawing for very little money". They immediately 'clicked' and went on, in due course, to form Smallfilms
Smallfilms
Smallfilms was a British company that made animated television programmes for children, from 1959 to the 1980s. It was a partnership between Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin . Several very popular series of short films were made using stop-motion animation, including The Clangers, Noggin the Nog,...
.
Animation
Most of Smallfilms' animation was done in a farmyard barn in BleanBlean
Blean is located in the Canterbury district of Kent, England. It is the name of the civil parish as well as the village within it: the latter is scattered along the road between Canterbury and Whitstable, in the middle of what was once the extensive Forest of Blean.The village name of Blean is...
near Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. Firmin is an illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
. He has written and illustrated two main books and illustrated many others including Seeing Things, Postgate's autobiography.
Firmin also co-created, with Ivan Owen
Ivan Owen
Ivan Owen was a British voice actor who created the vocal persona of the puppet Basil Brush.Born in South London, Owen had already developed expertise in puppet voices when he met Peter Firmin, Basil's designer, in the 1960s. He voiced Basil from his first appearance in 1963, which he modelled, it...
, the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
puppet
Puppet
A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....
legend Basil Brush
Basil Brush
Basil Brush is a fictional anthropomorphic fox raconteur, best known for his appearances on daytime British children's television. He is primarily portrayed by a glove puppet, but has also been depicted in animated cartoon shorts and comic strips...
in 1963. He made the first Basil Brush puppet using a real fox tail.
The Noggin Stamp
In 1994, Firmin provided an illustration for a British postage stamp (SG1804) featuring characters from Noggin the NogNoggin the Nog
Noggin the Nog is a popular British children's character appearing in his own TV series and series of illustrated books, the brainchild of Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. The TV series is considered a 'cult classic' from the golden age of British children's television...
. It was one of a set featuring characters from British children's literature. He produced further illustrations for the advertising campaign to publicise the set of stamps.
Recognition
He was awarded an honorary MAMaster of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
by the University of Kent
University of Kent
The University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...
on July 17, 1987. In 2011 it was announced that Firmin was to be awarded the Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...
of Canterbury in recognition of his "outstanding work."
Personal life
Firmin is married to Joan, who knitted the ClangersClangers
Clangers is a popular British stop-motion animated children's television series of short stories about a family of mouse-like creatures who live on, and in, a small blue planet . They speak in whistles, and eat green soup supplied by the Soup Dragon...
from vibrant pink wool.
They have six daughters:
Charlotte is also an illustrator; as is Hannah, known for her book jacket illustrations for Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE, is a Rhodesian-born Scottish writer and Emeritus Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. In the late 20th century, McCall Smith became a respected expert on medical law and bioethics and served on British and international committees...
's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a series of twelve novels by Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith. The agency is located in Gaborone, capital of Botswana. Its founder is a Motswana woman, Mma Precious Ramotswe, who features as the stories' protagonist and main detective...
series; Josie, who runs hand-painted china shops in London and Canterbury; Katy, Lucy, and Emily, the youngest, who appeared in the opening sequence of Bagpuss
Bagpuss
Bagpuss is a 1974 UK children's television series, made by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate through their company Smallfilms. The title character is "an old, saggy cloth cat, baggy, and a bit loose at the seams"...
, and is an artist living in Whitstable.
The Firmins still live on the farm in Blean
Blean
Blean is located in the Canterbury district of Kent, England. It is the name of the civil parish as well as the village within it: the latter is scattered along the road between Canterbury and Whitstable, in the middle of what was once the extensive Forest of Blean.The village name of Blean is...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, where Smallfilms produced their programmes.
Publications
- Seeing Things: An Autobiography, Oliver Postgate; illustrated by Peter Firmin, 2000 - ISBN 0-330-39000-7
- The Midsummer Notebook of a Country Rat, Peter Firmin 1983 ISBN 0-7182-2601-1
- The Winter Diary of a Country Rat, Peter Firmin 1981 ISBN 0-7182-2541-4
- Tricks & Tales, Peter Firmin 1982 ISBN 0-7182-2600-3