Ahoy There, Me Hearties!

Another bit of my childhood gone, with the announcement of the death of John Ryan, the artist who created Captain Pugwash. This lovely gentleman [former art master at Harrow School and keen Roman Catholic, who also illustrated cartoons for "The Tablet"] first drew his seafaring hero in the late 1950's. In those pre computer days, the animated figures were made with cardboard and levers, and operated by members of the Ryan family! Of course, we watched them on black and white TVs then.

Later Pugwash episodes in the 1970's were done with computer animation. Somehow I feel that with the advent of modern technology and the removal of the original clunkiness, the stories lost some of their original charm. Contrast and compare, as they say!

We had a wonderful history teacher at school [Mr Watson] who grew a beard one summer, and we always called him Pugwash after that. Wonder what happened to him?

Another random memory from my past - when Bob was at theological college, we visited an older Baptist Minister, who suddenly said "Do you take 'The Tablet'?" I thought he meant "Are you on The Pill?" and decided I wouldn't answer such an impertinent question [and was baffled as to why it was directed at Bob anyway!] I hadn't made the connection with the Roman Catholic weekly newspaper!