Practice News
 Animal MagicWednesday 12th November, 2008
Perhaps one of the reasons we have such an affinity with animals in this country is the way they were portrayed in many movies and TV shows that we grew up with.
Which female lead wore the same fur coat in all her movies? –Ok it’s an old joke but ‘Lassie’ probably tops the list of famous TV animals. The rough collie was created by British –American author Eric Knight and appeared in a story in The Saturday Evening Post in 1938 then appeared in the movie ‘Lassie Come Home’ in 1943 alongside a very young Elizabeth Taylor. The original Lassie was in fact a Male dog called ‘Pal’ –the males are bigger and made the child co-stars look smaller. Pal was mated with several females and to this day (a 2005 remake of Lassie Come Home) all the dogs to play Lassie have been male dogs from the ‘Pal’ bloodline –currently on the ninth generation!
Mr Ed was a 10yr old palamino American saddlebred horse who amazed audiences in the 1960’s with his ability to talk –the story goes that the trainer smeared peanut butter around his lips and the attempts to lick this off were used as the mouth movements that words were dubbed onto. Bamboo Harvester (real name) died of a broken leg aged 19 in 1970.
Blue Peter did a great job at teaching children how to look after pets and also gave kids who weren’t lucky enough to own a pet, the chance to see what was involved. ‘Petra’ was the first dog appearing from 1962 -1975 –Peter Purves was her handler and apparently she lost all her teeth at an early age –no bad thing Purves had said as she would still ‘gum you to death’ if given the chance. A bust of her head remains in the Blue Peter garden. It was revealed in the 1990’s that the original pup had died of distemper a few days after first appearing on Blue Peter but Biddy Baxter didn’t think it appropriate to worry children with these details!
George the Tortoise was seen many times heading into his box in November and reappearing next spring. He was thought to have been born in 1920 making him the oldest animal to appear on Blue Peter until his death in 2004!! –It was thought he met his demise in 1988 when he broke out of his box over winter and went missing and indeed, a tribute film was made in his memory only for a dog walking neighbour to find him on the loose a week later!
Animal Magic holds fond memories for many with the anthropomorphic voice-overs from Jonny Morris (who opened Runnymede Veterinary Hospital in 1982). His Co-star Terry Nutkins lost two fingers to an otter he was looking after with Gavin Maxwell of ‘Ring of Bright Water’ fame. Random fact for the day... Nutkins was World Jet-Ski Champion in 1987! Morris died in 1999 cutting his family out of his will and leaving his house to Nutkins !
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