Gordon Murray (puppeteer)
| Gordon Murray | |
|---|---|
| Born |
3 May 1921 London |
| Died | 30 June 2016 (aged 95) London |
| Education | Emanuel School, London |
| Occupation | Television producer, puppeteer |
| Years active | 1950–89 |
| Notable work |
Camberwick Green Trumpton Chigley |
| Spouse(s) | Enid Martin |
| Children | 2 |
Gordon Murray (3 May 1921 – 30 June 2016) was a British television producer and puppeteer. He created and wrote some of the most popular children's television programmes ever seen in Britain. Camberwick Green, Trumpton, and Chigley, collectively known as the Trumptonshire Trilogy, were all made by the company he set up.
Murray was educated at Emanuel School, Battersea, London. Murray was always interested in puppets, as a child he made puppets and used to give little shows to friends and family at home. Speaking in 1999 he said, "I have been interested in puppets ever since I was a child. My enthusiasm was greatly stimulated, I remember, by a visit to the Victoria Palace when I was about eight to see Delvain's Marionettes on the variety bill. Later, of course, I avidly read the Whanslaw books." On leaving school, he worked as a journalist and also joined the Territorial Army. He enlisted in the London Scottish Regiment in 1939 and was later commissioned into the Royal Corps of Signals. He saw action at the D-Day landings, landing on Gold Beach.
After being demobbed at the end of the Second World War, he worked in repertory theatre, where he met ballet dancer Enid Martin, whom he later married. They had two daughters. In 1950, Murray set up his own puppet company, Murray's Marionettes. Following an invitation to BBC producer Freda Lingstrom to one of his shows he was offered work, operating Spotty Dog in The Woodentops. Murray then became a producer in the BBC children's department, producing Sketch Club and Captain Pugwash. Initially the shows he worked on went out live but frustrated by the hit and miss approach of live work, he developed his own film studio and shot his own films. In 1958 he created the series A Rubovian Legend, which ran until 1963, with fellow puppeteers John Hardwick and Bob Bura who he would work with over the following twenty years.
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