NEWS
This page is a mix of news about the Trumptonshire franchise and the latest on-site developments.And 40+ years after the event it's pretty remarkable to be able to say that. But Windy & chums aren't about to be pensioned-off just yet.
2009
As some of you may know,October 2009 is the 40th anniversary of Chigley's first broadcast.
Although quite why it's any more worthy of a mention than the 15th,25th or 30th I'm not sure -other than for marketing purposes of course.Not that there's much evidence of anything on that front sadly,apart from some Chigleyana ceramics from the relentless Robert Harrop.
But at least I've used the occasion as a bit of a motivational tool to add some new site content.So,both the Chigley and Oddballs pages have been revised and beefed up.And 2 brand new pages added -World of Water and Pugh,Pugh.The 2nd of which still has to be finished off.But the main event is the launch of a brand new sister site,which is an ongoing attempt to catalogue all the Trumptonshire merchandise from the past 43 years.
I thought most people would probably be more interested in the toys and toothpaste side of things,so I've yet to make a start on the books.But I think there's enough there to make a visit worthwhile,more's being added all the time and if you click on the "memorabilia" link in the menu,it'll open in a new window.Or,as you're here,try Trumptonalia
Changes too at the company that's been trying to secure licensing and merchandising deals on Gordon
Murray's behalf.
In fact the holding company,Entertainment Rights,has gone into administration.
But the UK trading subsiduary has been sold to a consortium called Boomerang Media and continues to trade
as normal,so clients may not even notice the difference.
And Windy's obviously hoping for more of the same because E.R got him the Quaker Oats gig.
2008
Yes. It's been as quiet as one paragraph of text would suggest.
In fact it's been quieter than a Sunday afternoon at the Trumpton umbrella factory.And,as I'm writing this in November,I thought it was about time I made something happen.So I've added some video to the site for the very first time.With a couple of very familiar clips on the audio page,along with the answers to "what took you so long" and "why not more" etc. Plus a couple of great clips you probably won't have seen on the Quaker Oats page,courtesy of the animators.And my thanks to LooseMoose for their permission to use them.
THE TRUMPTONSHIRE TRILOGY
CAMBERWICK GREEN,TRUMPTON AND CHIGLEY
SITE HISTORY
I decided to start this site at the end of 2003.
I'd been thinking about having a go at site design for a while,if only because practically everyone else seemed to be doing it.And my old Trumptonshire book collection provided the inspiration
Of course,as a grown man I really should've known better,and devoted my time to far more productive and worthy pursuits and ........
Well,there are lots of things I probably should've done in my life.And at least it's some sort of box ticked I suppose.
The site launched in Jan.2004 as little more than a shell,with the URL of trumpton3.moonfruit.com.But it was a bit of fun and actually quite cathartic.And I was perfectly happy in the knowledge that I was talking to myself,because it was buried so deep in Google that even I gave up looking.
So it was genuinely something of a shock when like-minded people started emailing.Especially as they'd been largely preceeded by Viagra spam (remember that ?),and the content was based more on a series of personal thoughts and recollections rather than anything particularly informative.
Which is probably why I got a lot of questions about "who did what,to whom,and when ?" And as I felt strangely dutybound to supply the answers,the site kind of just grew steadily from there,becoming far more factually-based in the process.
So here we are in 2009.
The site's still very much ongoing,and thanks for taking the time to check it out. Jay
2006
DVD Releases
All 3 series got a new dvd each featuring all their episodes.And they were released on a staggered
basis in the first half of the year
All 3 then re-appeared in the Autumn,unaltered,stuffed in a cardboard box and rather shamlessly
re-marketed as a completely "new" boxset.
BBC Radio 4 documentary
Radio 4 marked the 40th anniversary of Camberwick's 1st broadcast with a half hour retrospective.
And I've added a full transcript Here
Quaker Oats
The Quaker Oats ad campaign continued.And "Carry On Windy",the feature film,seemed like it was only an ooh-er away.
Trumptonshire at a NickleOdeon near you.
From March 5th all 3 series began to air on NickleOdeon's "Junior Classics" and "Junior Classics 2"
channels (until at least 2009)
Which is great.But as they're both soley devoted to UK kids' animation,then you have to wonder why
it took so long.And it seems a little odd that they only broadcast in the evenings,unless they think it's
just nostalgic mums and dads who want to watch them.
Plenty of other period goodies there too though.And even if you're one of the few people left in the
country who still has only 5 channels,and thinks that's probably still one too many (like me),
then practically all the series featured are now on dvd.So,there's really no excuse for you to miss out on a good wallow.
Camberwick available on Mars
The Beeb is currently a Trumptonshire-free zone of course,which sadly seems more like a divorce than a seperation the longer it goes on.
But it's still happy to acknowledge the show's lasting legacy with the ocassional nod and a wink.
And the latest was a little animated pastiche of the famous Camberwick music box opening sequence,
in an episode of the 2nd series of the hit primetime show "Life On Mars".
It was produced by Hot Animation,a subsiduary of Hit Entertainment,responsible for Bob the Builder and
CONTACT INFORMATION.
It's always good to hear from you.You can either use the guestbook,above-and my thanks to those few intrepid souls that have -or you can email me here- onthefootplate@aol.com
2007
"Trumptonshire Tales"- live stage event.
Following the sell-out success of the first 2 events in Bristol and London,the gang popped up to Scotland and spent a week at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival,August 7th to 14th. And,by all accounts,the country that put the 'Mc' in PC McGarry was more than happy to prove that Trumps is quintessentially British rather than parochially English.
More info on the Brian Cant page.
an ever-growing stable of kids tv shows.Which is interesting,if only because the firm that handles all things Trumptonshire on behalf of Gordon Murray is one of its rivals,Entertainment Rights*.(*bought out & renamed ClassicMedia in 2009)
Very well done it was too,and loose enough not to require Mr.Murray's blessing I suspect.Which is probably just as well considering it's sufficiently off-message that they may well not have got it.
I've uploaded a scan of a brief Radio Times look behind the scenes of it's creation Here
But I'll have to refer you to YouTube for the actual clip,because it's always pre-watershed here on this site of course.
