British musician MIKE BATT has written an online essay to pay tribute to the creator of the beloved U.K. children’s stories, which helped him achieve fame and fortune.
The Wombles creator Elisabeth Beresford, who was also a broadcaster, died on Christmas Eve (24Dec10), aged 84.
Batt helped put music to her litter-collecting Wombles stories when they became a TV staple in the mid-1970s.
Calling her "a lady who changed my life" in a post on his website, Batt writes, "Elisabeth changed my life dramatically and irrevocably when in the late sixties, long before I knew her - she dreamed up the Wombles while walking on Wimbledon Common with her children Marcus and Kate.
"They were just…Wombles. They lived underground and came up at times when they were unlikely to be spotted by humans, and would convert all the old rubbish left behind by us, into useful items to use in their daily life.
"The first book The Wombles that appeared caused quite a ripple of interest… After that the BBC commissioned a series of five minutes Wombles episodes which were aimed at a pre-school audience but which had the good fortune to be narrated by Bernard Cribbins…
"I was brought in to write the music. I was asked… if I could come up with a signature tune. I suggested that a song might be better, because I could sprinkle it with Womble names and make it sound intriguing. So I came up with The Wombling Song.
"Even though the Wombles took up only two years of my 42 year career to date, even to this day I am still referred to as ‘The Man Behind The Wombles’ - a fact which I would imagine must have irritated Liza (Beresford) as much or more than it irritated me (although she never showed it)." Batt reveals he kept in contact with Beresford long after The Wombles’ TV time ended, and once visited her on the island of Alderney, where she lived out her years.
He recalls, "She was her usual charming, maternal self and we had a very pleasant couple of days thinking about the impending remake of some Wombles material." Spurred on my Beresford’s death, Batt is now planning a major Wombles revival - as a tribute to the late writer.
"Recently, I’ve been talking to the even more grown up Marcus and Kate - the two children who had been walking on the Common with Liza on that fateful day - the day that changed their lives, their mother’s life, and mine. We’ve been talking about the possibility of a Wombles revival… Something Liza would be proud of.
"Liza has been ill for some time, but aware of our discussions. I know Marcus would particularly have liked his mum to have seen the new, high quality incarnation of the Wombles, and to have shared in the fun.
"Alas, that is not, now, to be. But I do think Marcus and Kate will have kept Elisabeth up to date with our progress, and now, all the more, I feel a duty to help to bring about a new awakening for the Wombles - in memory of the very special woman who created them."
Movie & Entertainment News provided by World Entertainment News Network (www.wenn.com)
