✎ Puppets and muppets 

14 February 2018 tbs.pm/64973

Wolverhampton isn’t always first to mind for great moments. Sure, it’s the northern-most reach of the Brunel broad gauge railway and had a tram system powered by ground based studs that made walking in the wet with hobnail boots interesting, but that’s about all most people can remember… if that.

But it is home to a great pop art collection and (for 6 weeks) a trip down Amnesia Avenue into the childhood viewing of our pasts. The Wolverhampton Art Gallery on Lichfield Street in the city has an exhibition until 29 April 2018 displaying some actual and facsimile puppets from television’s past, from one used by Baird in the thirties to millennium scheduling regular The Hoobs, via Tracy Island, Muppet theatre, Rupert and Rainbow.

Part of the exhibit is a touring element from the V&A childhood collection and shows some of the Small Films artefacts from the Oliver Postgate collection. Light on detail in places, the exhibit doesn’t aim to contextualise the impact or previous importance of childhood television (catch ’em when they’re young, keep ’em till they’re old) but was very much a nostalgia fest of ‘I remember…’ from all ages.

The art gallery is free to visit and it’s well worth popping in.






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