Goodbye Bristol Zoo - Animal Magic - Johnny Morris - BBCTV & BBC1 1962-83
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- Опубликовано: 15 фев 2022
- Some Animal Magic snippets dedicated to Bristol Zoo (which closed its doors for the final time on 3rd September 2022), as well as to the brilliant TV presenter Johnny Morris (1916 - 1999).
It's over 60 years since the children's television programme Animal Magic first graced our screens, initially in 1962 on the only BBC television channel that there was, then from 1964 to 1983 on BBC1. For the first seven years it was broadcast in glorious black and white.
Johnny Morris was the genial and avuncular presenter. He also played the part of Keeper Morris of Bristol Zoo and will be remembered by hordes of fans as the comic genius who provided the voices of the animals (something he had done a couple of years previously with Tales Of The Riverbank).
It took Rex Harrison until 1967 to perfect talking to the animals, but Johnny beat him to it by five years!
There's no way I would have shared an enclosure with the gorilla and her baby shown on the final snippet! Yet, despite Morris's amazing bravery in getting up close and personal with the animals, he was afraid of spiders and always tried to avoid working with them. Who can blame him?
If Blue Peter famously didn't pay danger money to its presenters, or to insure them, then presumably neither did BBC Bristol when producing Animal Magic.
The scene with the elephant shows that the public were sometimes placed in harm's way too. Did anyone think of doing a risk assessment in those days?
Bristol Zoological Gardens opened next to Clifton Down in 1836 and whilst it slightly pre-dated Queen Victoria's reign it became every bit a Victorian walled zoo and pleasure gardens. Although it was only 12 acres in size it definitely felt larger. Successful as Bristol zoo was, modern animal conservation methods require large spaces for welfare and hence a zoo of this kind is limited in terms of the numbers of species it can house. Sadly the famous zoo closed its doors for the last time on 3rd September 2022. The zoo has found a new larger site in Gloucestershire just to the north of Bristol and will reopen in 2024.
My mother used to travel from Gloucester to Paddington on the Cheltenham Flyer train in the 1950s and Johnny Morris regularly used to join the train at Kemble Station. Thirty years later I was flying from Heathrow to Leeds-Bradford Airport on British Midland one morning and there was Johnny Morris on board wearing a rather smart olive green suit. To my surprise he had a human companion travelling with him rather than a gorilla.
The famous Animal Magic theme tune is Las Vegas by prolific composer Laurie Johnson (7th February 1927 - 16th January 2024).
I was only a child when this series aired. The music transports me back. I feel teary😢😂❤
What happy memories , I get emotional also ...
Loved this. I met Johnny Morris before he died. Lovely gentle man
Wonderful!!
What wonderful times, Jonny Morris has a well deserved and loved home in some of my fondest childhood memories...
Brilliant; an important part of my childhood (I was born in 1958). I had almost forgotten the theme tune and th joy of listening to Johnny voicing the animals, although I must admit that in my teens playing the mimic in a slightly less awestruck way became more a humorous activity - and I will leave the nature of that to your imagination..................
That clip with the gorilla mum and baby is so famous
Rather him than me!
Very happy memories.x
loved it and when i used to go the Bristol Zoo as a kid in the 60s and early 70s i thought Johnny would be there --- never was but i did meet him once at Cranmore
Finally I find it what I was searching for 10 years now 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉One of My best memory from my childhood!!!!!!!! 🙏🙏🙏❤️❤️❤️❤️
Wonderful memories, aren't they?
@@LostsTVandRadio Indeed they are.
Love it! ❤