Noggin the Nog is a popular British children's character appearing in his own TV series and series of illustrated books, created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. The TV series is considered a cult classic from the golden age of British children's television. Noggin himself is a simple, kind and unassuming King of the Northmen in a roughly Viking-age setting, with various fantastic elements such as dragons, flying machines and talking birds. Peter Firmin is said to have come up with the name of Noggin after travelling on the London Underground and seeing Neasden station, which made him think "Noggin". Some of the original artwork for the series is on display at the Rupert Bear Museum. The appearance of the characters was influenced by Firmin's seeing the Lewis chessmen in the British Museum.
Plot and characters
The stories were based around the central character of Noggin, the rather simple but good-natured son of Knut, King of the Nogs, and his queen Grunhilda. When King Knut dies, Noggin must find a queen to rule beside him or else forfeit the crown to his uncle, Nogbad the Bad. Noggin meets and marries Nooka of the Nooks, and becomes the new king. Noggin and Nooka have a son, Knut, who comes to the fore in later storylines. Other regular characters include:
Thor Nogson – Noggin's closest friend and Captain of the Royal Guard. Nogson portrays himself as "fierce", but is actually anything but fierce. Nevertheless, he is unfailingly loyal, and never hesitates to defend the honour of his king.
Olaf the Lofty – An eccentric and occasionally arrogant, but well-meaning, inventor. Olaf's inventions rarely work out exactly as he intends them to, although his most notable success is the Flying Machine.
Graculus – A big green bird who arrives as Nooka's messenger in the first episode. Later by chance they return to the place of his birth and meet his family, who unlike him are incapable of human speech.
Grolliffe – A friendly ice dragon whom Noggin befriends, and who helps Noggin and his friends in a later episode.
Although the individual stories vary, any trouble encountered by the heroes is usually caused by Nogbad the Bad, who never gives up trying to claim Noggin's throne for himself. Nogbad always loses in the end, though not always through the intervention of Noggin himself.
Television series
The original television series was first broadcast, beginning on 11 September 1959, by the BBC in the United Kingdom, and continued until 1965. Twenty-one programmes were made in black and white, and six in colour, each with a running time of ten minutes, by a company called Smallfilms. When the programme made a comeback in 1982 it ran for just six episodes and was made in colour. The new series comprised one new two-part story and a colour remake of the second saga, originally a six-parter, "Noggin and the Ice Dragon". The level of stop-motionanimation was basic, but did not detract from the popularity of the series. The on-screen title is "The Saga of Noggin the Nog", since the stories were based on the principle of a Norse saga, and episodes began with the words, "Listen to me and I will tell you the story of Noggin the Nog, as it was told in the days of old", or "In the lands of the North, where the Black Rocks stand guard against the cold sea, in the dark night that is very long, the Men of the Northlands sit by their great log fires and they tell a tale ... and those tales they tell are the stories of a kind and wise king and his people; they are the Sagas of Noggin the Nog. Welcome to Northlands, a tribute to Noggin, King of the Nogs and the People of the Northlands." These opening lines were accompanied by Vernon Elliott's bassoon score. Visually, the series was primarily inspired by the Lewis chessmen ; one of the stories is about Noggin playing chess with Nogbad the Bad. A new series was rumoured in the late 1990s, but nothing came of it. The complete series was released on DVD in 2005, in a package that also included DVD versions of the short story books.
6. Noggin and the Ice Dragon 7. Noggin and the Pie Narrated by Oliver Postgate. Character voices by Oliver Postgate and Ronnie Stevens. Stories by Oliver Postgate, Pictures by Peter Firmin. Music by Vernon Elliott.
Books
Various Noggin short stories were also published, and a visitor in one of them, Noggin and the Moon Mouse, provided the basis for the characters in the popular Clangers TV series. All the books were written by Oliver Postgate, illustrated in full colour by Peter Firmin, and published by Kaye & Ward. Edmund Ward Starting to Read books:
Noggin The King
Noggin and The Whale
Noggin and The Dragon
Nogbad Comes Back!
Noggin and The Moon Mouse
Nogbad and The Elephants
Noggin and The Money
Noggin and The Storks
There was also a standard book series published in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of 12 illustrated hardback books:
A large book about Nog's life, illustrated in black and white, was also published:
Nogmania
Two omnibus books were published to tie in with the colour TV series:
Three Tales of Noggin Volume 1
Three Tales of Noggin Volume 2
In 1992 a fully illustrated 96-page colour book, The Sagas of Noggin the Nog, was published by HarperCollins. This volume contains four tales: King of the Nogs, The Ice Dragon, The Flying Machine, and The Omruds.
VHS and DVD releases
Between 8 May 1990 and 5 August 1991. Two Noggin the Nog videos were released by the BBC.
The Saga of Noggin the Nog: Tales of the Northlands. Released: 8 May 1990.
Two episodes: "Noggin and the Ice Dragon", Noggin and The Flying Machine.
The Saga of Noggin the Nog: The Omruds/The Firecake. Released: 5 August 1991
Two episodes: "Noggin and the Omruds", "Noggin and the Firecake".
Recognition
Noggin has received an accolade achieved by very few Norse characters – he appeared with the Ice Dragon reading him a note from Nogbad, on a British commemorative postage stamp in January 1994. The art work for the stamp was drawn by Peter Firmin, who also produced a series of illustrations for the advertising campaign to publicize the new stamps. The stamp was one of a set of ten on the theme of "messages", featuring characters from British children's literature. All the characters were pictured holding a letter, note or message. Noggin's note reads: "I, Nogbad 'the Bad' do hereby promise to be 'the Good'."
