And Peter lived on a farm.
It was a rather unusual farm because it didn't grow any crops and there were no sheep or cows, but it was the home of Ivor the Engine, Noggin the Nog, the Clangers and of course Bagpuss.
And there they made the most beautiful, the most brilliant, funny old Small Films in the whole wide world or so we like to think.
A brief history of Smallfilms and the films they produced.
Here are some photos of Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin at work.
A new society has been formed to help maintain and promote the wealth of works produced Smallfilms. Named after the society of dragons in the saga of Noggin the Nog, their first act is to produce a new set of Noggin material - a video, a book and a set of postcards.
Visit them at the Dragons' Friendly Society site
In the Lands of the North, where the black rocks stand guard against the cold
sea, in the dark night that is very long, the men of the Northlands sit by their great log
fires and they tell a tale...
So began each of the Sagas of Noggin the Nog, in which the crown of Noggin, Prince of the
Nogs is sought by his wicked uncle Nogbad the Bad who devises evil plots to threaten the
safety of the kingdom, and sometimes the world, in order to force Noggin to give up his
crown. In each saga Nogbad pursues his plot to the very brink of success, but at the
last moment his purposes are foiled by some unexpected piece of luck, cleverness or lack
of attention on the part of the Nogs.
Visit my Noggin the Nog site
or
Neil Jones's Northlands site
Not very long ago, in the top left-hand corner of Wales, there was a railway. It wasn't a very long railway or a very important railway, but it was called The Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited, and it was all there was.
And in a shed, in a siding at the end of the railway, lives the Locomotive of the Merioneth and Llantisilly Rail Traction Company Limited, which was a long name for a little engine so his friends just called him Ivor.
So began, in 1959, the first episode of the first series of a set of television films which were to become part of the mainstream of Children's television for the next thirty years.
It was a rather unusual shop because it didn't sell anything.
You see, everything in that shop was a thing that somebody had once lost, and Emily had found, and brought home to Bagpuss.
Emily's cat Bagpuss.
The most important.
The most beautiful.
The most magical.
Saggy old cloth cat in the whole wide world.
Alternatively, try Catnip's Bagpuss Homage Page
If you want more in depth analysis/codswallop, you should head for Jill's Sociopolitical Analysis and the Bagpuss FAQ, and you can also pose questions to the world's best educated bookend when you Ask Yaffle.
They lived a peaceful life, salvaging junk from space to build machines, and making friends with all the strange creatures that came to visit them.
Find out everything there is to know at John Fletcher's Clangers site
If you're really keen, you can even buy some collectable Clangers
Find out more at Heff's Pogles Wood site or Jenny's Pogles Wood Page
Pingwings was shown on ITV in the early '60s.