April 1974 wasn't all about ABBA, it was also about the Wombles.
Top 5 singles, week ending 27 April 1974 1) Seasons In The Sun (Terry Jacks) 2) Waterloo (Abba) 3) The Cat Crept In (Mud) 4)Remember You're A Womble(Wombles) 5) Angel Face (Glitter Band)
As a nine year-old I was absolutely target market for the pointy-nosed Wimbledon litterpickers and contributed considerably to their collective royalties. I had all the records and most of the books and two cuddly toys and a miniature keyring and a plastic carrier bag with Orinoco on the front which I pretended was a Tidy Bag and lots of other merch. This is my Wombles table mat which came out at most mealtimes in 1974, depicting Wellington who predictably was the Womble I most identified with. My brother had an Orinoco table mat and I never ever sat in that seat.
Wombles novels 1968: The Wombles 1970: The Wandering Wombles 1973: The Wombles at Work 1974: The Wombles to the Rescue 1976: The Wombles Go Round the World
The Wombles were the brainchild of Elisabeth Beresford, a struggling children's author until her six year-old daughter mispronounced Wimbledon Common as Wombledon Common while out for a walk, inspiring the idea of little conscientious creatures keeping the heathland tidy. In the first books, which predated the TV series, they appear on the front cover as small bearlike creatures with slightly rodentlike noses. I remember buying The Wombles as a Puffin paperback and being somewhat disappointed they didn't look proper, not like they were on the telly. Later covers went full-on for the new design.
Wombles Core: Great Uncle Bulgaria, Tobermory, Orinoco, Bungo, Tomsk, Wellington, Madame Cholet Also: Alderney, Miss Adelaide, Cairngorm McWomble the Terrible, Shansi, Stepney, Obidos Occasionally: Cousin Yellowstone Boston, Cousin Botany, Great-Great-Great Uncle Hapsburg, Great Aunt Thessaly
The Wombles are all named after geographical locations, the idea being that they picked a name from an atlas as a child. Tobermory's a town on Mull, Orinoco's a river in Venezuela, Bungo's a province in Japan, Tomsk's a city in Russia, Cholet's a commune in France and I'll not insult your intelligence by telling you where Bulgaria is. In the books Wellington is supposed to be the New Zealand city but it was really the school that Elisabeth's nephew went to. Only one of the core Wombles was female and even she was consigned to the kitchen, because this was over 50 years ago (and because feisty young Alderney was never lifted from the page to the screen). The Beresfords moved to Alderney in the mid 1970s, quite possibly off the royalties, and Elisabeth lived in on the tiny Channel Island until her death in 2010.
Wombles TV series 1973: Series 1 (5th Feb - 2nd Mar, 18th Jun - 6th Jul) BBC1 1975: Series 2 (15th Sep - 24th Oct) BBC1
also 1997/1998/1998 ITV
The Wombles march to fame started in the last week of 1969 when the first book was selected to be read on Jackanory and proved very popular. The BBC then commissioned FilmFair to make a 30 part series for the five minute slot before the Evening News with Ivor Wood doing the animation (after he did The Herbs and before he did Paddington). I was seven when the first episode was shown, with its iconic blowy umbrella, and was immediately hooked. I was so besotted that for Christmas that year, or maybe the year after, my auntie made me a cuddly Great Uncle Bulgaria which I still have and here it is. I bet she won't have been expecting to see her masterful creation here again this morning.
Just before the evening news on BBC1 in 1974 Jan: Crystal Tipps and Alistair Feb: Magic Roundabout May: The Wombles Jul: Adventures of Parsley Aug: Hector's House Sep: Captain Pugwash Oct: Roobarb Dec: Magic Roundabout
These were golden years for children's TV. I know most people think that about their childhood viewing but those are bona fide classics, each shining out from our screens in five minutes flat. Trippy Crystal Tipps, overdubbed Zebedee and Co, a herbidacious lion, silly old Hector, life aboard The Black Pig and bouncy Roobarb and Custard. The Wombles' first series was getting its second outing in 1974 because when you're little you don't mind repeats because familiar is good. We moved house in April 1974 and for the first time I had a bedroom of my own, so posters of Wellington and Madame Cholet went straight up on the wall alongside my giant map depicting all the UK's new administrative districts. All the clues were there even then.
Wombles singles Jan 1973: The Wombling Song (peaked at 4) Mar 1974: Remember You're A Womble (3) Jun 1974: Banana Rock (9) Oct 1974: Minuetto Allegretto (16) Nov 1974: Wombling Merry Christmas (2) Apr 1975: Wombling White Tie And Tails (22) Jul 1975: Superwomble (20) Nov 1975: Let's Womble To The Party Tonight (34)
The Wombles became a musical act when Mike Batt was invited to perform the show's theme on Cilla Black's Saturday night show, and became a rock band after the single subsequently made it onto Top of the Pops. Shaggy grey costumes were hastily sewn. Mike performed as Orinoco, Chris Spedding (who'd later produce the Sex Pistols) was guitarist Wellington and Clem Cattini (ex of the Tornados) was Bungo the drummer. Now that these furry-suited personas existed the Wombles could give personal appearances and suddenly they were everywhere, indeed they somehow became the best selling artists of 1974 beating all the classic glam rock acts. The last of their four Top 10 singles was Wombling Merry Christmas, the runner-up to Mud for the festive charttopper, and Mike Batt kept 'em coming but within a year the musical bubble had burst.
I had all the Wombles albums, even Superwombling which was probably pushing the envelope a bit too far. The best of the four was Remember You're a Womble where Mike started experimenting with all sorts of musical styles including rock, calypso, country, boogie woogie and classical (specifically Minuetto Allegretto which I once played in front of my entire school on the violin). And these musical purchases proved important because they directly inspired my brother and I to get our own record player, a small black number which proved the entry level drug to a world of popular music. The first non-Wombles single I bought was Billy Don't Be a Hero by Paper Lace, I suspect solely because it was on Bus Stop records, which was also in the charts exactly 50 years ago. Thank you Wombles for opening my eyes to a lot more than litter.
Today I have been telling you about the Wombles, which is exactly what I would have been doing had we met fifty years ago because nothing changes.
