The Old Telly
My object of choice was the yellow black-and-white telly. I was thinking of it during the week. What came to mind were memories of watching the TV after school, especially when I was around the age of five.
In summer I played in the back fields. In autumn my friends and I collected wood and ald trees for the Halloween bonfire. In winter I watched telly.
Two programmes bewitched me. “The Clangers” and “Jackanory” At five, you don’t have a thinking, critical mind. You just watched, captivated, no words, just silent wonder.
“Jackanory” was, looking back now, a very simple programme. A minor celebrity would read a story and act the voices, and illustrations from the book would come up on the telly. You can’t beat a story - no matter what age you are.
However, “Clangers” was pure magic. Little mouse-like people living on a little moon somewhere in the vast universe. They talked by whistling. A soup dragon fed them soup. And a metal chicken lived in the sky. Bizarre stuff. A kindly man narrated each little story. It was another world.