On this date in 1946, Muffin the Mule first appeared on BBC TV. 10 things you might not know about Muffin the Mule:
He was made as a ‘kicking’ Mule in 1933 by Fred Tickner for the Hogarth puppet circus.
He didn’t have a name at first. It was Annette Mills who gave him the name Muffin in 1946.
Annette Mills was the older sister of actor Sir John Mills. She was a dancer, but her career was cut short by a broken leg. Hence she started telling stories and singing songs for children. Noticing that the top of her Piano was rather like a stage, she hit on the idea of populating it with the characters in her stories.
It was agreed that Annette was to write the songs for the puppets which would appear on her grand piano, Ann Hogarth would write the scripts and manipulate the puppets, and Jan Bussell would direct the shows.
Muffin’s first appearance was in a 12 minute live performance broadcast from Alexandra Palace at 5pm in an edition of For the Children.
Typically, Muffin danced on top of a piano as Mills played. His antics caught the public’s imagination and the BBC have claimed Muffin as the first star to be made by TV.
His friends include Mr Peregrine Esquire, Oswald the Ostrich & Willie the Worm, Hubert the Hippopotamus, Grace the Giraffe, Sally the Seal, and Peter the Pup.
In the early 1950s, a Fleetways weekly magazine, Woman's Illustrated, featured stories about Muffin the Mule and/or his friends on its children's page. A book containing some of Muffin’s stories was published in the Soviet Union in 1958.
The theme song was sung by Keith Hopwood.
The series continued until Annette Mills died in 1955. The rights to Muffin The Mule were bought by Maverick Entertainment in 2003, and a new animated version was shown on the CBeebies between September 2005 and August 2008. It was also translated into Welsh as "Myffin y Mul".
NEW!!
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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