Freda Lingstrom

Freda Violet Lingstrom OBE (23 July 1893 – 15 April 1989) was a BBC Television producer and executive, responsible for pioneering children's programmes in the early 1950s. With her friend Maria Bird, she co-created Andy Pandy and The Flower Pot Men.

She was born in Chelsea, London, the daughter of George Lingstrom, a copperplate engraver, and Alice Clarey Anniss; her paternal grandparents were Swedish. She attended the Central School of Arts and Crafts and became an artist.

She gained her first job at Alf Cooke's London works, where she worked fifteen months as designer. Following periods at Carlton Studios and Norfolk, Lingstrom decided to work on her own. Beginning in 1922, her first clients were various railway companies like London & North Eastern Railway, the Underground Group and the Norwegian state railway. The Norwegian and Swedish government commissioned her to design Scandinavian travel propaganda for the English market. She also wrote two novels, and a book, This is Norway, about the culture and history of that country. Her skills as an artist, illustrator and author led to her joining the editorial staff of a children's magazine, Junior, where she worked from 1945 until 1949.

In 1940, she was hired by the BBC. In 1947, she became Assistant Head of BBC Schools Broadcasting, in which role she created the lunchtime programme Listen with Mother. She was asked by Head of Television Talks, Mary Adams, if she could create a new programme for a new experimental slot that was to be aimed at very young children, to be called For The Very Young. Eventually, Lingstrom and Maria Bird set up Westerham Arts (named after the village Westerham, where they lived) to produce the first pre-filmed version of their creation, Andy Pandy. Lingstrom and Bird wrote the scripts, whilst Bird composed the music. A chance meeting on a train introduced Lingstrom to Audrey Atterbury who was persuaded to study under puppeteer, John Wright, of the Little Angel Theatre in London. In June 1950, production began on Andy Pandy which began a trial broadcast of four live episodes on 11 July. After several episodes, Andy was joined by Teddy and Looby Loo (at the same time, Molly Gibson joined the small team to help Audrey perform with the puppets). The show was narrated by Vera McKechnie, a continuity announcer and presenter, and the songs were performed by Gladys Whitred, accompanied on the piano by Maria Bird (who also narrated a number of episodes).

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