Post Box Green



Camberwick Green is a British children's television series that ran from January to March 1966 on BBC1, featuring stop motion puppets. Camberwick Green is the first in the Trumptonshire trilogy, which also includes Trumpton and Chigley.

Post box

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Post boxes in Australia
The yellow box is for express mail.
A British Lamp Box post box of the 1940 pattern at Denvilles, Havant, Hampshire.
First Paris street letter box from c.1850
A public (though unconventional) post box in Japan shaped as tea caddy

A post box (British English and others, also written postbox, known in the United States and Canada as collection box, mailbox, post box, or drop box) is a physical box into which members of the public can deposit outgoing mail intended for collection by the agents of a country's postal service. The term post box can also refer to a private letter box for incoming mail.

Renewal

Varieties of post boxes (for outgoing mail) include:

Contents

  • 1History of post boxes

History of post boxes

Lamp box mounted next to a sewer gas destructor lamp in Crookes, Sheffield, England.

Europe

In 1653, the first post boxes are believed to have been installed in Paris.[1] By 1829, post boxes were in use throughout France.[2]

In the British Isles the first pillar post boxes were erected in Jersey in 1852. Roadside wall boxes first appeared in 1857 as a cheaper alternative to pillar boxes, especially in rural districts. In 1853 the first pillar box in Britain was installed at Botchergate, Carlisle. In 1856 Richard Redgrave of the Department of Science and Art designed an ornate pillar box for use in London and other large cities. In 1859 the design was improved, and this became the first National Standard pillar box. Green was adopted as the standard colour for the early Victorian post boxes. Between 1866 and 1879 the hexagonal Penfold post box became the standard design for pillar boxes and it was during this period that red was first adopted as the standard colour. The first boxes to be painted red were in London in July 1874, although it would be nearly 10 years before all the boxes had been repainted.[3]

The first public letter boxes (post boxes) in Russia appeared in 1848 in St. Petersburg.[citation needed] They were made of wood and iron. Because these boxes were lightweight and easy to steal, they disappeared frequently; later boxes were made of cast iron and could weigh up to 45 kilograms.[citation needed]

Asia

The post box arrived in the late 19th century Hong Kong and were made of wood. In the 1890s, metal pillar box appeared in Hong Kong and remained in use till the late 1990s. From the 1890s to 1997 the boxes were painted red and after 1997 were painted green.

North America

The United States Post Office Department began installing public mail collection boxes in the 1850s outside post offices and on street corners in large cities. Collection boxes were initially mounted on lamp-posts.[4] As mail volume grew, the Post Office Department gradually replaced these small boxes with larger models. The four-footed, free-standing U.S. Mail collection box was first suggested in 1894, following the successful use of such designs in Canada, and quickly became a fixture on U.S. city street corners.[4][5] Unlike Canadian mailboxes, which were painted red,[6] U.S. mail collection boxes were originally painted a dark green to avoid confusion with emergency and fire equipment, then to red and blue in the 1950s, and finally, all-blue with contrasting lettering.[5][7] The coming of the automobile also influenced U.S. mailbox design, and in the late 1930s, an extension chute or 'snorkel' to drive-up curbside collection boxes was adopted.[4]

USPS 'Snorkel' collection boxes for drive-through access
A British pillar box with two apertures, one for stamped, and the other for franked, mail

Types of post boxes

Some postal operators have different types of post boxes for different types of mail, such as, regular post, air mail and express mail, for local addresses (defined by a range of postal codes) and out-of-town addresses, or for post bearing postage stamps and post bearing a postage meter indicator.[citation needed]

Some countries have different coloured post boxes; in countries such as Australia, Portugal, and Russia, the colour indicates which type of mail a box is to be used for, such as 1st and 2nd class post. However, in Germany and parts of Sweden, because of postal deregulation, the different colours are for the different postal services. Other nations use a particular colour to indicate common political or historical ties.[8]

Post boxes or mailboxes located outdoors are designed to keep mail secure and protected from weather. Some boxes have a rounded or slanted top or a down turned entry slot to protect mail from rain or snow.[5][9] Locks are fitted for security, so mail can be retrieved only by official postal employees, and the box will ordinarily be constructed so as to resist damage from vandalism, forcible entry, or other causes.[5][9][10] Bright colours are often used to increase visibility and prevent accidents and injuries.[11][12] Entry openings are designed to allow the free deposit of mail, yet prevent retrieval via the access slot by unauthorised persons.[5][13]

Clearance

Post boxes are emptied ('cleared') at times usually listed on the box in a TOC, Times of Collection, plate affixed to the box. In metropolitan areas, this might be once or twice a day. Busy boxes might be cleared at other times to avoid overflowing, and also to spread the work for the sorters. Extra clearances are made in the period leading up to Christmas, to prevent boxes becoming clogged with mail.[citation needed]

Since 2005, most Royal Mail post boxes have had the time of only the last collection of the day listed on the box, with no indication of whether the box is cleared at other times earlier in the day. The reason given for this by the Royal Mail is that they needed to increase the type size of the wording on the 'plate' listing the collection times to improve legibility for those with poor sight and that consequently there was insufficient room for listing all collection times throughout the day. Some post boxes may indicate the next collection time by a metal 'tab'[14] or dial that can be changed while the box is open. The tab displays a day or number, each number corresponding to a different time shown on the plate.

Terrorism and political vandalism

The surviving Manchester pillar box from the 1996 bomb

During 1939 a number of bombs were put in post boxes by the IRA as part of their S-Plan campaign. When the Provisional IRA blew up the Arndale shopping centre in the 1996 Manchester bombing one of the few things to survived unscathed was a Victorian pillar box dating from 1887 (A type A Jubilee pillar).

Post Box Green

In 1952, a number of post boxes were attacked in Scotland in a dispute over the title adopted by the British monarch which was displayed in cypher on the boxes. This included at least one which was damaged in the Inch housing estate in Edinburgh with a home made explosive device. The issue in question was the fact that Queen Elizabeth I had not been the queen of Scotland, and so Scotland couldn't have a Queen Elizabeth II. The compromise was to put the Scottish crown on Scottish pillar boxes, without any reference to the particular reigning monarch. One such example can still be seen today in Hong Kong at Statue Square.

In the United States of America, nearly 7,000 USPS collection boxes were removed following the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack and the 2001 anthrax attacks in which letters containing anthrax spores were placed in public collection boxes. Since that time, a decrease in first-class mail volume and the onset of online bill payment processing has resulted in lower demand for collection box service in the U.S.[4]

In Northern Ireland several red Royal Mail post boxes were painted green by Irish Republicans in early 2009, in order to resemble An Post's post boxes in the Republic of Ireland.[citation needed]

In Britain the disposal of hypodermic needles into post boxes is a modern problem. This raises concerns among employees about AIDS/HIV and other infectious diseases and has caused Royal Mail (UK) to issue metal needle-proof gauntlets for their employees in high risk areas to protect those employees from infection.[citation needed]

Colours

Colours for Post boxes
Red
Argentina • Australia • Belgium • Canada • Denmark • Gibraltar • Greece(express post) • Greenland • Hungary • Iceland • India • Isle of Man • Israel • Italy(domestic post) • South Korea • Japan • Jersey • Macau • Malaysia • Malta • Mauritius • Monaco • Netherlands - surviving heritage and PTT boxes • New Zealand • Norway(national and international mail) • Poland • Portugal • Romania • Spain(express mail) • Singapore • South Africa • Thailand • United Kingdom[15]
Yellow
Australia(Express Post) • Austria • Brazil • Bulgaria • Cyprus(red before 1960) • Finland • France • Germany(Deutsche Post) • Greece(regular & international mail) • Iran • Malaysia(Express Post) • Norway(local mail) • Russia(1st Class) • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain(regular mail) • Sweden(national and international mail) • Switzerland (& Liechtenstein) • Turkey • Ukraine • Vatican City • Vietnam
Blue
Belarus • Faroe Islands • Germany(many private postal companies) • Guernsey • Alderney • Dominican Republic • Sark • Italy(Air Mail only) • United Kingdom(Air Mail - 1933-1940) • Portugal(1st Class (Blue Mail) only) • Sweden(local mail) • Russia • United States
Green
China • Hong Kong(red before 1997) • Taiwan • Ireland • Some heritage boxes in the United Kingdom, notably Stoke on Trent, Rochester & Scunthorpe
Orange
Czech Republic • Estonia • Indonesia • Netherlands (TNT N.V./PostNL (red before 2006))
White
Gray

Symbols

Swedish Royal Post
Irish Post & Telegraphs 'P7T' logo
  • Australia – a styled red letter 'P' on a white circle, 'P' standing for 'Post'.
  • Canada – a combination of a bird wing and an aircraft wing in a red circle and flanked by the words Canada Post / Postes Canada. Previously the words Canada, Canada Post, or Canada Post Corporation) were used on post boxes. Some older post boxes had the words 'Royal Mail'.
  • Continental Europe – most designs include a Post horn, like those used by postmen to announce their arrival. In Germany the post horn is the only element indicating post services.
  • Ireland – from 1922 the Irish harp entwined with the letters 'SE' for Saorstát Éireann, then 'P7T' Gaelic script for Post & Telegraphs and from 1984 An Post with their wavy lines logo, often on the door as a raised casting.
  • Russia – logo of Russian Post (Почта России) written white on blue and black on yellow 1st class mail boxes.
  • Japan – a 'T' with another bar above it (〒).
  • United Kingdom – all post boxes display the Royal Cypher of the reigning monarch at the time of manufacture. Exceptions are the Anonymous pillar boxes of 1879–87, where the cypher was omitted, and all boxes for use in Scotland manufactured after 1952 (including replicas of the 1866 Penfold design) which show the Queen's Crown of Scotland instead of the Royal Cypher for Elizabeth II. Private boxes emptied by Royal Mail do not have to carry a cypher. Royal Mail post boxes manufactured since 1994 carry the wording 'Royal Mail', normally above the aperture (lamp boxes) or on the door (pillar boxes). Before this date all post boxes, with the exception of the Anonymous pillar boxes, carried the wording 'Post Office'.
  • United States – the United States Postal Service (USPS) eagle logo, except that boxes for Express Mail use the USPS Express Mail logo.


Gallery of Post Boxes from around the world

  • British Edward VII Type A pillar box of 1902 by A.Handyside of Derby in front of Mansfield College, Oxford

  • French Post Box at Dinard airport

  • French Post Box at Ile de Bréhat

  • Post Boxes in Lisbon, Portugal (1st class mail in blue and 2nd class in red)

  • Post Box of Indian Postal Service

  • VR pillar box in Kilkenny, Ireland, painted green with obvious door repair

  • IrishLamp Box erected by An Post

  • Italian domestic Post Box

  • Japanese Post Box at the Osaka Central Post Office

  • U.S. Post Box in front of the Post Office in Conneaut, Ohio

  • Post box incorporated into a Type K4 telephone kiosk, introduced in 1927. 10 survive in the UK of this design by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott which also incorporates two stamp vending machines. This red telephone box is in Warrington, Cheshire, England

  • A standard British lamp letter box mounted on a post in Menai Bridge, Anglesey, Wales

  • A Victorian wall box of the Second National Standard type dating from 1859, in Brough, Derbyshire, England

  • Large square pillar box (type A wall box freestanding) in Gloddaeth Street, Llandudno, Wales

  • A Guernsey Post Type C double aperture pillar box

  • A Victorian hexagonal red post box of the Penfold type manufactured in 1866 outside King's College, Cambridge (not the original location for this box).

  • One of the 150 post boxes erected during the uncrowned reign of Edward VIII

  • German mail box with an old Post horn with arrows (stylized lightning bolts) from the Deutsche Bundespost, on the top sign the new Post horn from Deutsche Post AG

  • A post box in San Marino

  • A Polish post box

  • Swedish post box

  • A post box in Funningur, Faroe Islands

  • Pillar box in Bruges, Belgium

  • Singapore AA style sheet metal mail box in Hong Kong

  • A Ukrainian post box in the city of Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine

  • A Czech post box

  • A R2-D2 themed post box in Boston, Massachusetts as part of the celebration for Star Wars' 30th anniversary

  • A postbox of one the many private mail companies in Germany, this one PIN in Berlin[16]

  • Post box mounted on an electric pole in Bangalore, India

  • In Chellaston, Derby, United Kingdom

  • Krakow, Poland

  • Post box in Macau, China with Cantonese & Portuguese text

  • Post box in Lützelflüh-Goldbach, Switzerland

  • Post box in Quebec city, Canada

  • Post boxes in Heinola, Finland. Orange 2nd class postbox is very common, blue 1st class mailboxes only at selected places.

See also

  • Post Office box, used for incoming mail
  • Stamp vending machine, often attached to post boxes

References and sources

Notes
  1. ^Lawrence, Ken. 'Before the Penny Black'. Ken Lawrence. http://www.norbyhus.dk/btpb.html. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  2. ^Batcow, Stan (2001-12-02). 'The Post Boxes of Blackpool, England'. http://www.ausgang.com/collect/post.html. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  3. ^Wicks, Paul (2002). 'History of British Letter Boxes - Part 1: Victorian Letter Boxes'. Paul Wicks. http://www.wicks.org/pulp/part1.html. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  4. ^ abcdMarsh, Allison (2006-03-20). 'Postal Collection Mailboxes'. National Postal Museum. http://www.arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=1&cmd=1&mode=&tid=2032051. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  5. ^ abcdeShaman, Tony. 'Antique Street Letterboxes'. Antique67.com. http://www.antique67.com/articles/antique_letterboxes/antique_letterboxes.html. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
  6. ^ Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, History In A Box: Red Forever!, Civilisation.ca. http://www.civilisations.ca/cpm/histbox/canad_e.htm
  7. ^Marsh, Allison; Pope, Nancy (2006-04-28). 'Orr & Painter mailbox'. Postal Collection Mailboxes. National Postal Museum. http://www.arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=2&cmd=1&id=76927&img=1&pg=1. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
  8. ^ Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, Colour, A Postal Symbol, Civilisation.ca. http://www.civilisations.ca/cpm/histbox/couleu_e.htm
  9. ^ abGlancey, Jonathan (2007-01-16). 'Classics of everyday design No 6'. theblog. The Guardian. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/art/2007/01/classics_of_everyday_design_no_6.html. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
  10. ^Marsh, Allison (2006-04-29). 'Street collection box damaged September 11, 2001'. Postal Collection Mailboxes. National Postal Museum. http://www.arago.si.edu/index.asp?con=2&cmd=1&id=83037&img=1&mode=&pg=1&tid=2032051. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  11. ^'A Victorian post box in Brecon - made in the Black Country'. Black Country Bugle. 2007-06-28. http://www.blackcountrybugle.co.uk/blackcountrybugle-news/displayarticle.asp?id=106007. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  12. ^'Campaign to preserve red post boxes'. BBC UK News. BBC. 2002-10-03. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2294797.stm. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  13. ^William, Earle (1975-04-29). 'Secured mailbox'. USPTO Database. USPTO. http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=38&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PALL&s1=3880344&OS=3880344&RS=3880344. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
  14. ^'Changes to post box collections: Collection Tabs'. Postwatch.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2007-06-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20070630075459/http://www.postwatch.co.uk/issues/CurrentIssues.asp?id=15. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
  15. ^ All Royal Mail / GPO post boxes were painted BS 538 Post Office Red between 1874 and 1969. With the introduction of the K8 Telephone kiosk in 1969, a new 'red' colour was adopted for GPO street furniture, designated B.S. 539 Post Haste Red. After British Telecom and Royal Mail were split by the British Government, BT continued to use BS539 exclusively, whilst Royal Mail use both BS538 and BS539 in a seemingly random way. Prior to 1859 there was no standard colour although there is a document in the BPMA archive indicating that optionally, the lettering and Royal cypher could be picked out in white or black. In 1859, a bronze green colour became standard until 1874. It took ten years for every box to be repainted during this period).
  16. ^PIN MAIL AG
Sources

Farrugia, Jean (1969). The letter box: a history of Post Office pillar and wall boxes. Fontwell: Centaur Press. p. 282. ISBN 0900000147.

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Look at other dictionaries:

  • post box — post boxes also post box N COUNT A post box is a metal box in a public place, where you put letters and packets to be collected. They are then sorted and delivered. Compare letterbox. [BRIT] (in AM, use mailbox) … English dictionary

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  • post box — noun A box in which post can be left by the sender to be picked up by a courier. Would you take these letters down to the post box please theyve already got stamps … Wiktionary

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Camberwick Green
GenreStop motion animation
Written byGordon Murray
Narrated byBrian Cant
Theme music composerFreddie Phillips
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes13
Production
ProducerGordon Murray
Running time15 mins
Release
Original networkBBC1
Original release3 January –
28 March 1966
Chronology
Followed byTrumpton

Camberwick Green is a British children's television series that ran from January to March 1966 on BBC1, featuring stop motionpuppets. Camberwick Green is the first in the Trumptonshire trilogy, which also includes Trumpton and Chigley.[1]

Background[edit]

The series was written and produced by Gordon Murray and animated by Bob Bura, John Hardwick and Pasquale Ferrari. Music was by Freddie Phillips while narration and song vocals were provided by Brian Cant. There are thirteen fifteen-minute colour episodes produced by Gordon Murray Pictures. The inspiration for the name is believed to have stemmed from the East Sussex village of Wivelsfield Green, supported by the nearby villages of Plumpton (Trumpton) and Chailey (Chigley).

Each episode begins with a shot of a musical box which rotates while playing a tune. It is accompanied by the following narration:

Here is a box, a musical box, wound up and ready to play. But this box can hide a secret inside. Can you guess what is in it today?

Then the lid, a hexagon constructed of six triangles in alternating colours, slowly opens up like an iris, or in the manner of a camera shutter, while the box smoothly revolves to the accompaniment of an exquisite Baroqueminuet. An hexagonal platform bearing the motionless figure of the puppet character which will play a central role in today's episode, slowly rises into position: the platform flush with the shifted triangular cover-tiles, which are now splayed open like the stiff petals of a flower; as the music-box comes to a halt with an audible click. After a brief introduction, the background appears and the story begins.

The series is set in the small, picturesque (and fictitious) village of Camberwick Green, Trumptonshire, which is inhabited by such characters as Police Constable McGarry (Number 452), and the iconic Windy Miller, owner of a clanking old – but nevertheless efficiently functional – windmill and a firm believer in old-fashioned farming methods.

The series mixes contemporary technology with Edwardian costume and social attitudes. Almost all the characters have their own theme songs and travelling songs. There are other characters who never appear in the stories, including Mr Honeyman who (according to Peter Hazell's song) 'keeps the chemist shop', and an unnamed clown or pierrot, who turns a roller caption to display the show's opening and closing credits.

Each week the villagers undergo such domestic crises as a shortage of flour, a swarm of bees, a water shortage and rumours of an unwanted electrical substation being built in the village, but all problems are happily resolved by the end of each episode. The episodes then conclude with the narrator bidding farewell to the puppet character who was seen at the beginning and is shown going back into the musical box.

Camberwick Green has no overt fantasy content apart from the musical box. For the most part, it is simply about ordinary people doing everyday things, and perhaps for that reason it remains popular. Along with its two successors, the series was repeated many times on the BBC until 1985, and then on Channel 4 from 1994 to 2000.

Episodes[edit]

  1. 'Peter the Postman' (3 January 1966)
  2. 'Windy Miller' (10 January 1966)
  3. 'Mr Crockett the Garage Man' (17 January 1966)
  4. 'Dr Mopp' (24 January 1966)
  5. 'Farmer Jonathan Bell' (31 January 1966)
  6. 'Captain Snort' (7 February 1966)
  7. 'Paddy Murphy' (14 February 1966)
  8. 'Roger Varley the Sweep' (21 February 1966)
  9. 'PC McGarry' (28 February 1966)
  10. 'Mr Dagenham the Salesman' (7 March 1966)
  11. 'Mr Carraway the Fishmonger' (14 March 1966)
  12. 'Mickey Murphy the Baker' (21 March 1966)
  13. 'Mrs Honeyman and Her Baby' (28 March 1966)

Episode titles were given in Radio Times, but were not shown on screen.

Characters[edit]

Pippin Fort[edit]

The staff and soldier boys of Pippin Fort are a regular feature of Camberwick Green, demonstrating their foot drill, working in the community, responding to emergencies, and (at a stage before Trumpton in the time-line) providing the local fire-fighting capability with their bright red mobile fire pump.

  • Captain Snort - the commanding officer; appears in every episode.
  • Sergeant Major Grout - the second-in-command at the fort; appears in 12 out of 13 episodes.
  • Private Armitage - the strongest swimmer, later revealed (in Chigley) to be a frogman; appears in 12 out of 13 episodes.
  • Private Featherby - appears in 12 out of 13 episodes.
  • Private Higgins - the smartest soldier boy, who has a military career ahead; appears in 12 out of 13 episodes.
  • Private Hopwood - appears in 12 out of 13 episodes.
  • Private Lumley - has poor drill and can't tell his left from his right; not a natural soldier, he discovers an aptitude for baking, and is apprenticed to Mickey Murphy; appears in 12 out of 13 episodes.
  • Private Meek - sometimes in trouble for daydreaming, he proves adept at babysitting Baby Honeyman - appears in 12 out of 13 episodes.
  • The Sentry - a regular character, also the fort's Bugler, who has dialogue and plotlines, but is never named; appears in 11 out of 13 episodes.

The villagers[edit]

  • Mr 'Windy' Miller - an iconic character, who keeps Colley's Mill, rides a tricycle, and values tradition; he appears in every episode.
  • Dr Mopp - the village doctor, who wears a top hat and drives a vintage motor car; he appears in 12 episodes.
  • Mr Carraway - the fishmonger; he appears in 12 episodes.
  • Mrs Dingle - the postmistress, invariably accompanied by her puppy dog 'Packet'; she appears in every episode.
  • Mr Mickey Murphy - the village baker; he appears in every episode.
  • Mrs Murphy - the baker's wife; she appears in 8 episodes.
  • Paddy Murphy - the baker's son; he appears in 9 episodes.
  • Mary Murphy - the baker's daughter; she appears in 9 episodes.
  • Police Constable McGarry - Camberwick Green's policeman, known as 'PC McGarry, number 452' from his theme song; he appears in 6 episodes.
  • Farmer Jonathan Bell - operator of a 'modern mechanical farm', and a promoter of technology; he appears in 11 episodes; also makes guest appearances in Trumpton and Chigley.
  • Mr Peter Hazel - the village postman; he appears in 10 episodes.
  • Mrs Honeyman - a housewife who is the main vehicle of village gossip; she appears in every episode; also makes minor background appearances in Trumpton.
  • Baby Honeyman - Mrs Honeyman's baby boy; he appears in every episode.
  • Mr Thomas Tripp - the milkman and proprietor of Tripp's Dairy; he appears in 5 episodes; also appears in Trumpton and in Chigley.
  • Mr Roger Varley - the chimney sweep; he appears in 9 episodes; also makes guest appearances in Trumpton and appears in 1 episode of Chigley, in which he services the Winkstead Hall boiler, known as 'Binnie'.
  • Mr Crockett - the proprietor of Crockett's Garage; he appears in 5 episodes, and is mentioned in 2 others; also makes guest appearances in Trumpton.
  • Mr Dagenham - the salesman who drives a flash red sports car, and is said to be able to sell anything; he appears in only 1 episode (but is the star of that episode), and is mentioned in 1 other. He also appears in 2 episodes of Chigley.
  • Water Board Foreman - he is not named, and appears only in the final episode, supervising the engineers.
  • Water Board Engineer - although never named, he has a key role in episodes 8 and 13, and appears in 4 episodes in total.
  • Water Board Assistant Engineer - the unnamed Water Board Engineer has a similarly unnamed assistant in episodes 8 and 13; he appears only in those 2 episodes.

Unseen characters[edit]

  • Mr Honeyman - the village chemist; despite being referenced (particularly in episodes 1 and 6) he is never seen.
  • Mrs Bell - the farmer's wife; she is mentioned, but not seen.
  • The Farmhands - references are made to the farmhands on Farmer Bell's farm, but they are never seen.
  • Mrs Mopp - the doctor's wife; she is mentioned, but not seen.
  • Mrs Varley - the sweep's wife; despite appearing in several of Mrs Honeyman's stories, she is never seen.
  • Mrs Varley's mother - the sweep's mother-in-law is also said to be local; she is never seen.
  • Mrs McGarry - the policeman's wife; she is mentioned, but not seen.
  • Dr Mopp's nephews - the boys are mentioned, but not seen.
  • Tom Ranger - a boy from the village, who suffered a minor accident; he is never seen.
  • Mr Crockett's son - there is no mention of the boy in Camberwick Green, but he is seen in the following series Trumpton.

Other characters[edit]

  • Clown or Pierrot - the classic Commedia dell'arte character appears in the opening and closing credits of every episode. In contrast to the music box, his theme is a light piece (such as a saltarello) played on Spanish guitar.

Modern use[edit]

Post Box Renewal Dubai

The 1970s pop band Candlewick Green shares its name with the originally planned title of the series. (Murray had planned to name the show 'Candlewick Green' but found that the person writing his contract had misheard and mangled the name; as he did not object to the new name, Murray went forth with the show under the mangled title.)[1]

In 1987 the indie group Pop Will Eat Itself sampled Brian Cant's 'Here is a box...' introduction for the start of their song Razorblade Kisses. The song itself is an instrumental reprise of their song Evelyn, but played in a musical box style to make it sound similar to the Camberwick Green tune.

In 1987, Windy Miller was the face of Windmill Bakery's wholemeal bread. Ceramic pots depicting Windy hugging a beehive and barrels of marmalade and jam were made to tie in with the promotion.[2]

Camberwick Green was spoofed for a 1988 edition of Spitting Image, as 'Gamberwick Greenbelt'. The ninety second sketch had a puppet Nicholas Ridley, described as 'Old Nicky Ridley, the village idiot', aboard a bulldozer who then proceeded to demolish the whole village for redevelopment. In 2015, Private Eye resurrected the spoof as the 'Camberwick Greenbelt' strip cartoon, offering satirical comment on social and political impacts on the British countryside.

The character Windy Miller and his famous windmill appeared in September 2005 along with some other Camberwick Green characters in commercials for Quaker Oats on television in the United Kingdom. The puppets and setting are all re creations, because Murray destroyed the originals in the 1970s. The original narrator, Brian Cant, auditioned to do the voice over for the commercials, before the job was instead given to Charlie Higson.

Episode five of the second series of the BBC's Life on Mars features a recreation of the opening of Camberwick Green, with a puppet of the show's main character, Sam Tyler (John Simm), emerging from the musical box and despairing over his colleague, Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), who can be seen in puppet form 'kicking in a nonce' at the end. This later leads to Sam to threaten Hunt, telling him to 'Stay out of Camberwick Green!' (a cross-reference to the popular and long-running police TV series Dixon of Dock Green).[citation needed] It emerges that Sam is tripping after being accidentally overdosed in his hospital bed.

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Again, the voice over was not supplied by Brian Cant, but is delivered in a similar style. It differs from the original by saying: 'This is a box, a magical box, playing a magical tune. But inside this box there lies a surprise. Do you know who's in it today?'

The narration was provided by Brian Little, the co-founder of Hot Animation, the company that created the sequence. His recording was supposed to be a temporary guide track to help the animators time the shots, but the producers of Life on Mars were content to retain it for the final version. The one-minute sequence was designed and animated by Paul Couvela, the supervising animator of Bob the Builder.[3]

Windy Miller cameos in the closing sequence of the 2009 BBC Children in Need charity single Peter Kay's 'Animated All Star Band' video.

The music video to Radiohead'sBurn the Witch pays homage to both Camberwick Green and The Wicker Man.[4]

Restoration and commercial releases[edit]

The original masters of Camberwick Green – along with those of its sequels Trumpton and Chigley – were believed to have been lost,[5] with most surviving copies tending to suffer from scratched, wobbly or grainy picture quality and a muffled soundtrack.

However, when boxes of some original film were discovered in Gordon Murray's attic – with more footage then discovered by the BBC – the trilogy was restored and remastered for a Blu-ray release in 2011. However, as of 2019, Trumpton and Chigley have yet to have received a Blu-ray release.

VHS[edit]

In 1984, eighteen years later after the broadcasts on BBC in 1966, Longman Video released the first four episodes, as part of its Children's Treasury Collection.

VHS video titleYear of releaseEpisodes
Camberwick Green (SLL 5024)1984Peter Hazel The Postman, Windy Miller, Mr Crockett, Dr Mopp.

Later, in 1989, the BBC released a video with the last three episodes (including E12 Mickey Murphy the Baker as the first episode, E11 Mr Carraway as the second episode and E13 Mrs Honeyman and her Baby as the last episode).

VHS video titleYear of releaseEpisodes
Camberwick Green 1: Mickey Murphy the Baker (BBCV 4231)10 April 1989Mickey Murphy the Baker, Mr Carraway, Mrs Honeyman and her Baby .

Then, in 1996–1997 Telstar Home Entertainnment, as part of its Star Kids range released three videos.

VHS video titleYear of releaseEpisodes
A Busy Day in Camberwick Green (TVE 3011)1996Peter Hazel the Postman, Windy Miller, Mr Crockett, Dr Mopp.
It's Fun to Work in Camberwick Green (TVE 3018)1997Mickey Murphy the Baker, Mrs Honeyman and her Baby, PC McGarry, Mr Carraway
Meet Your Friends in Camberwick Green (TVE 3022)1997Jonathan Bell, Paddy Murphy, Captain Snort, Roger Varley the Sweep

DVD and Blu ray[edit]

The digitally remastered Camberwick Green[5] was released in December 2011 in one multi pack, comprising a Blu ray disc and a DVD.[6][7]

Credits[edit]

  • Music: Freddie Phillips
  • Narrator: Brian Cant
  • Sets: Margaret Brownfoot and Andrew Brownfoot
  • Animation: Bob Bura & John Hardwick
  • Puppets: Gordon Murray
  • Produced by Gordon Murray Puppets Ltd 1966.

References and notes[edit]

  1. ^ abSheridan, Simon (2004). The A-Z of Classic Children's Television: From Alberto Frog to Zebedee. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. pp. 73–78. ISBN1903111277.
  2. ^'Windmill Bakery Windy Milller ceramic condiment setpots'. Trumptonalia.homestead.com. Retrieved 8 December 2020.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  3. ^Life on Mars: The Complete Series Two DVD – 'Behind the Scenes of Episode 5'
  4. ^'Decoding the Politics in Radiohead's 'Burn the Witch' Video | Pitchfork'. Pitchfork. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  5. ^ ab'New, new Barney McGrew: Trumpton and Camberwick Green cleaned up', guardian.co.uk, 13 January 2012
  6. ^'BBC Studio and Post Production | Creator of much-loved Camberwick Green, Trumpton and Chigley sees 1960s children's TV trilogy preserved for future generations'. Bbcstudiosandpostproduction.com. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2013.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  7. ^'December 2011: BBC Studios and Post Production digitally restores all 39 episodes of the first children's animated colour television series'(PDF). BBC Studios and Post Production. Archived from the original(PDF) on 18 April 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2015.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)

External links[edit]

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  • Camberwick Green at IMDb
  • ‹The templateTV.com show is being considered for deletion.›Camberwick Green at TV.com

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