WEB PAGE NO. 2876 21st January 2022

First Picture: Captain Pugwash

Second Picture Cut Throat Jake

Third Picture: The Crew

Forth Picture: Jim the Cabin Boy

Captain Pugwash By special request from a reader in New Zealand a look at Captain Pugwash Captain Horatio Pugwash made his debut in a comic-strip format in the first issue of The Eagle in 1950, then appeared regularly as a strip in Radio Times and was created by John Ryan. In 1957 the BBC commissioned a series of short cartoon films produced by Gordon Murray. Between 1957 and 1966, John Ryan produced a total of 58 five-minute-long episodes for the BBC, made in black-and-white. Between 1974 and 1975, a further 30 were made in a new series made in colour. He used a real-time technique of animation in which cardboard cutouts of the characters were laid on painted backgrounds and moved with levers. The characters' voices were provided by Peter Hawkins. The last series of Pugwash shorts by John Ryan was produced in 1975. A number of spin-off books were written by John Ryan, who in the 1980s drew three new Pugwash comic-strip storybooks: The Secret of the San Fiasco, The Battle of Bunkum Bay and The Quest for the Golden Handshake. A related book by John Ryan was Admiral Fatso Fitzpugwash, in which it is revealed that Pugwash had a medieval ancestor who was First Sea Lord, but who was terrified of water. Captain Pugwash was also sold to various overseas TV stations, including Australia's ABC Television. There the show was screened during weekday afternoons in the 1970s and 1980s. The rights to Captain Pugwash were purchased by The Britt Allcroft Company, which since 1997 has issued a number of digital and part computer-animated cartoon films based on the Pugwash character, set on the island of "Montebuffo", "somewhere in the Spanish Main". In 2005, a black and white episode of Captain Pugwash was repeated on BBC4 as part of the Animation Nation season. A DVD containing "All 30 heroic high sea adventures" from the second-generation colour 1974–75 series (156 minutes running time) was given away with the Sunday Times on 20 January 2008. The 1974-5 series was made available for streaming on BritBox in the United Kingdom in July 2021. Although the accompanying text claims the series is "digitally remastered", little or no restoration work seems to have been applied to the film prints. Characters Captain Pugwash The pompous but likeable captain of the Black Pig. Although he boasts of being the "bravest buccaneer", he is actually quite cowardly and stupid. His greed often gets him into trouble. Nevertheless, he usually wins the day – either with the help of Tom the Cabin Boy or by sheer luck. Despite being a pirate, he is rarely seen committing any acts of piracy. Master Mate A dopey character, who has a tendency to mispronounce common words. He has a teddy bear in his bunk and is quite mild-mannered. It is not entirely clear why he is the mate, as he does not appear to have any authority over the rest of the crew. He was present in the first ever Pugwash story, in which he was depicted as being constantly sleepy Barnabas The most aggressive of the pirates, but in reality just as harmless. He is quite rebellious and grumpy, and is perhaps marginally more intelligent than Willy, the Mate or the Captain. He was not present in the 1997 series. Willy A simple sailor from Wigan. He appears to be the youngest crew member (apart from Tom). He is gentle and is against using violence. He does, however, have the occasional brainwave and has been the crew's saviour "Just you wait till we get back to Wigan – we won't half have a 'tail' to tell!" Tom the Cabin Boy It might be argued that without Tom, Pugwash would have been sunk long ago. He is the most intelligent and resourceful member of the crew, the only one who can cook and the only one who can actually sail a ship. Although Pugwash would never admit it, Tom's ability to think up schemes is probably the only thing that prevents him from being a total failure as a pirate. The rest of the crew also found they were unable to operate without Tom, after he left with the captain when the crew mutinied. Tom is an expert concertina player. Cut-Throat Jake Captain Pugwash's fearsome arch-enemy, captain of the Flying Dustman . When he is not scheming to bring about Pugwash's downfall, he is a rather more competent pirate than his enemy, and always seems to have plenty of treasure. He speaks with a West Country accent, and is easily recognisable by his eye patch and enormous black beard. Pugwashisms Captain Pugwash is renowned for his exclamations, owing something to the style of Captain Haddock in The Adventures of Tintin: • "Dolloping doubloons/dolphins!" • "Coddling catfish!" • "Lolloping landlubbers!" • "Suffering seagulls!" • "Staggering stalactites!" • "Nautical nitwits!" • "Plundering porpoises!" • "Kipper me capstans!" • "Tottering turtles!" • "Dithering dogfish!" • "Scuttling cuttlefish!" • "Stuttering starfish!" • "Blistering barnacles!" • "Shuddering sharks!" Cut-Throat Jake has occasionally been known to utter the similar exclamation, "Scupper me skull-and-crossbones!" Theme The signature tune was the "Trumpet Hornpipe", a folk dance that dates to at least the early nineteenth century. The original black and white episodes of Captain Pugwash used a solo rendition by accordionist Tom Edmondson, who had learned the tune from watching Jimmy Shand's band in Northumberland as a teenager. Edmondson's version was recorded in the front room of his home in Harbottle, Northumberland, on 12 July 1954. The recording was made by folklorist Peter Kennedy as part of the BBC's 'Folk Music and Dialect Recording Scheme and Edmondson was paid £1.50 (30s) for his efforts. For the colour Captain Pugwash episodes, a new recording of the "Trumpet Hornpipe" was commissioned from Johnny Pearson in 1973. This version utilised accordion, bass and acoustic guitar, and the finished piece was retitled "Shipshape" . Stay in touch Peter gsseditor@gmail.com