Creator of TV favourites Bagpuss and Ivor dies

THE creator of some of TV's best-loved children's shows such as Bagpuss and the Clangers has died aged 83.

Oliver Postgate, the veteran animator and writer, died in Kent after a long illness. In a prolific career, Mr Postgate's work was screened on the BBC from the Fifties to the Eighties, often in collaboration with the artist and puppeteer Peter Firmin.

His most famous creations include Ivor the Engine, the Clangers, Noggin the Nog and Bagpuss - the pink cloth cat which was voted the best TV animal of all time in a poll this year.

Mr Postgate's maternal grandfather was the prominent Thirties Labour leader George Lansbury and his cousin was Murder She Wrote star Angela Lansbury. His father, Ray, founded The Good Food Guide.

In his 2001 autobiography, Seeing Things, Mr Postgate detailed his education at Dartington Hall, a stint in prison as a conscientious objector in the Second World War, and his work as one of the trailblazers of children's television.

He often worked alongside Mr Firmin in a disused cow byre in Canterbury, creating several timeless "worlds" which also included The Pogles and Pingwings. In later years Mr Postgate wrote for the New Statesmen about nuclear disarmament and global warming.