Portrait of Oliver Postgate

Birthday profile

Oliver Postgate

Oliver Postgate, English animator, puppeteer, and screenwriter (died 2008)

Born
April 12, 1925
Died
December 8, 2008
Zodiac sign
Aries
Birth year
1925

About Oliver Postgate

Richard Oliver Postgate was an English animator, puppeteer, and writer. He was the creator and writer of several popular British children's television programmes. Bagpuss, Pingwings, Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine, Clangers and Pogles' Wood, were all made by Smallfilms, the company he set up with collaborator, artist and puppet maker Peter Firmin. The programmes were originally broadcast by the BBC from the 1950s to the 1980s. In a 1999 BBC poll Bagpuss was voted the most popular children's television programme of all time. In 1987 the University of Kent at Canterbury awarded an honorary degree to Postgate, who stated that the degree was really intended for Bagpuss, who was subsequently displayed in academic dress.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Oliver Postgate was born

Oliver Postgate was born in 1925. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1925

  • #1 song"Sweet Georgia Brown"
  • Top movieThe Gold Rush (Charlie Chaplin)
  • Best-selling bookThe Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentRed Grange signs with the Chicago Bears
  • Top headlineThe Scopes Trial captivates America
  • Technology milestoneTelevision demonstrated by John Logie Baird
  • Defining fadCharleston dance craze
  • Notable inventionMasking tape
  • World population1.98 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderCalvin Coolidge
  • Sports championPittsburgh Pirates (World Series)
  • U.S. population115.8M

1925 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Oliver Postgate's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19252026
Gas$0.22$3.45/gal
Average home$5,900$435,000
Average income$3,600$67,500
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population115.8M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.