Dark Teletubbies secrets children won t know - Sacking, death and banned episode Mirror 4 hrs ago Claire Murphy Over the hills and far away, Teletubbies come out to play… the four cuddly, brightly coloured characters – Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po – first burst onto our screens in 1997, and have delighted generations of pre-schoolers ever since.
Their theme tune shot to Number One in the singles charts in 1997 and stayed in the Top 75 for more than six months. Merchandising sales have been in the billions of pounds for the past 20 years.
The series was first created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport nearly a quarter of a century ago. They named the quartet after the TV screens on their tummies. Anne and Andrew sold their company, Ragdoll to a Canadian media company for £17.4 million in 2013.
Our readers photos of their prize animals for International Pets Day WE asked our readers to send in their top photographs of their prize animals to celebrate International Pets Day and we have been amazed by the response. We were inundated with entries both on social media and people posting their dogs and cats to the website. Here are a selection of them. Keep your eyes peeled for more throughout the day.. Carole Jacoby, 59, took this shot of Bobby Alan from Samlesbury, age 7 Kerryn Yarwood from Darwen submitted this shot of Simba (right) and Nala (left) - they are brother and sister from the same litter.
The cleaner who comforts the dying, and the porter who s a friend to the lonely - the ordinary heroes of the Royal Bolton Hospital s pandemic
ON THE COVID FRONTLINE: as part of our series looking at healthcare in Greater Manchester during the pandemic, the Manchester Evening News meets the cleaners, porters, caterers and student nurses who ve helped keep the Royal Bolton Hospital ticking throughout the pandemic
Taylor, the New Zealand junior pentathlon champion, is attending Massey University and is a welcome addition to the club scene. The men’s long jump was a close competition, with Forbes Kennedy winning with his 6.77m effort, 2cm better than Angus Lyver’s 6.75m. Kennedy was unfortunate the fluctuating wind meant his best effort recorded a following wind reading of 2.6m per second, so was not eligible to be recognised in the national rankings. Lyver’s best had a following wind of 1.9m per second, which is below the 2m limit, so will appear in the rankings. Lyver also won the javelin with a throw of 50.19m.
Dipsy was always the maverick of the Teletubbies, the one who refused to go along with the others. In many ways, he reflected John Simmit, the man inside the three-stone lime green suit, who proudly brought his heritage to the role.
“Being a Cuban-Jamaican-Brummie and coming from a comedy and music background, I used that to my advantage and there were a lot of cultural references,” Simmit tells HuffPost UK.
“Dipsy would say, ‘Papa Come Papa Come To Po’, which was actually my take on a classic reggae rhythm track called The Whip. And I’d slip in Jamaican dance moves, a Bogle there and a Tatty here. People spotted my little wink to my culture and I’m proud of that.”