PINKY AND PERKY ANNUAL 1963

Seriously, whose childhood daze weren’t enhanced by a weekly visit from this lovable pair of anthropomorphic puppet pigs? Not in real life, of course – that would be weird – I’m talking about television.

When I was about 5 years old I was presented with my first record player, a Fisher-Price affair in bright sturdy plastic, modelled on an old-fashioned gramophone and not entirely unlike the one pictured below.

 Various family members rallied around and gifted me a number of 45s to play on it – The Beatles were well represented, I remember, starting a lifelong love of the Fab Four, as well as various recordings by the likes of Cliff Richard, Andy Williams, ragtime piano greats and a single or two by Pinky and Perky. I particularly remember their poignant re-telling of the tale of ‘The Ugly Duckling’ in the medium of song, which I must have played all day every day if the memory of my mum’s dependence on Valium is anything to go by. It was made all the more tantalising by the ability to play it 33rpm and hear a proper human voice singing it, or speeding it up to 78rpm, in which case it sounded like it was being sung by mice on helium. The record, of course, was created by re-playing the original voice recordings at twice the original recorded speed while the backing track was played at half normal speed, a process that has never ceased to fascinate me and probably led, in its own way, to Mind De-Coder.

Pinky and Perky were created for television by Czechoslovakian immigrants Jan and Vlasta Dalibor who chose the character of pigs for their creation because the pig is apparently seen as a symbol of good luck in their native country (although you might want to ask any friends you may have from what is now the Czech Republic, of course, about that, but it may be true I suppose). The puppets looked very much alike but keen-eyed fans of the show would have noticed that Pinky wore red clothes while Perky wore blue, a rather pointless distinction in the days of black and white telly, so Perky often wore a hat too (now you know).

They were produced for television in 1957 by Roger Hill, who went on to produce Jackanory and Sooty. I seem to remember they had their own fictional television station, but given the limitations of their movements, all the could really do was bob up and down a bit and sing. So popular was the show it wasn’t too long before they were also the proud recipients of their own Christmas annuals. This particular annual was published by that great publisher of Children’s annuals, Purnell, in 1963. And look! I seem to have inherited Tony Blair’s copy! He would have been 10 at the time. Rather like the Labour party, it doesn’t look like he took very good care of it (not like that nice Mr. Corbyn is going to). I wonder if he wants it back?