Oliver Postgate

Oliver Postgate (born 1925) is the creator of the children's programmes Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine, Clangers and Bagpuss on the BBC in the 1950s to 1970s, some of the most popular children's programmes ever shown in Britain. (In a 1999 poll, Bagpuss was voted most popular children's programme of all time.)

Postgate is the grandson of Labour politician, George Lansbury, some of whose principles he inherited, to the extent that he was prepared to go to prison as a conscientious objector during World War II. Subsequently he did a number of different jobs, never really finding his niche until he entered into a collaboration with Peter Firmin, who built most of the models used in the various animations. Setting up their business in a disused cowshed, Postgate and Firmin worked on children's programmes based on concepts and scripts which mostly originated with Postgate. He was also the narrator for all the Smallfilms productions, and his distinctive voice became familiar to generations of children.

His autobiography, Seeing Things, was published in 2000.