Roundabout Magic

I have always loved making thing.  A life time of various handicraft projects in progress. So, it really wasn't unusual that at some point during my university days, I made a full model Magic Roundabout - just because I wanted to - using table tennis balls, felt, string, wire, beads, enamel paint, balsa wood and other odds and ends I found. Once finished it was on display in my student bedsit until I moved back from York and started teaching in Essex. The cardboard roundabout itself was too damaged to keep when I stored all my stuff and moved to Istanbul in 1997, but the characters had mostly made it through not far off half a century when I found them this week, working my way through boxes of family photos and treasures.  Sadly, the roundabout horses (balsa wood) are broken, everyone is a bit shabby and dusty, Brian has lost his nose, Dylan has lost a shoe, and Zebedee has lost his spring (so have I !!!) but it was a nostalgic and magical ride as I unpacked these little folk so lovingly made, so very long ago.

For those of you who don't know : The Magic Roundabout was a (stop animation) children's programme written and told by Eric Thompson, and broadcast in 441 five-minute-long episodes from 18 October 1965 to 25 January 1977.  (Wikipedia). Aimed at children, broadcast directly before the early evening news where it also gained popularity with an adult audience because the subtext of the dialogue always went over the heads of children but straight to the heart of what it is to be human with affection and gentle amusement, and with universal appeal. 

Pictured top left: Ermintrude, Dougal, Florence, Mr Rusty, Zebedee, Mr McHenry, Dylan, Brian, a roundabout horse.