Sunday 18 January 2009

The Gallery/R.I.P.

At the risk of this becoming some sort of Death Notice Blog, I've just found out that Tony Hart has died.

Another childhood staple - on his official site, it says that he influenced several generations of children into becoming artists. I don't know how true that is for me - I think it was rare, if indeed at all, that I used to try things out that I'd seen on his programme - but I do remember sitting in front of the tv to watch the first few series of Take Hart week after week, and being utterly absorbed. In a small way, it was like being transported into another world, the sheer fascination of watching drawings and paintings being created as I watched - and the value in that for my childhood self is pretty significant, I think.

So, once again, rest in peace.

9 comments:

Janette said...

I too loved Take Hart and was pretty sad to hear this news. It feels like a part of my childhood has gone forever. Hope Morph hasn't taken the news too badly..

nmj said...

I don't remember Take Hart, but I remember Vision On clearly. I bet if you had sent something, Trews, it would have been put up in the gallery. My butterfly was rejected.

Fire Byrd said...

Oh yes Take Hart, great programme. I suppose more and more of our heros will die sooner rather than later. Mortality takes us all.
xx

trousers said...

There's been a lot of it recently, janette, such that my blog has taken a bit of a morbid turn (not that I need much of an excuse). It's sad news of course, another part of childhood gone, but on the other hand he lived to a ripe old age - 83 - (and according to what I've read, only stopped working a few years ago) so although it has it's keen poignancy for those who used to watch his programmes, he had a good innings all the same.

I remember Vision On, nmj, but not quite so well as Take Hart, which followed in its wake (though I think there was some overlap during which point Vision On went all modern and a bit rubbish if I remember).

Well, it's a nice thought that maybe I would have had something up in the gallery. I'm sorry to hear about your butterfly, I'm sure it was great - but at least you actually sent something in, I never did anything like that. As absorbing as I found it, the prospect of sending something in seemed so much like it belonged to a different world.

trousers said...

fire byrd, that's it in pretty succinct terms. I think when I was much younger I used to have a mild sense of frustration when someone very famous/well respected had died and lots of grownups used to talk about it. The frustration being that I would know little or nothing of who they were and why they were significant.

As time wore - and wears - on, then that's progressively become less of an issue, for obvious reasons. x

Leigh Forbes said...

Oh, very sad about that.
I loved the Gallery, I really did, with that wonderful music they played. I never sent anything in, though of course I wish I had now, because now I can't.
Methinks there's a message in there somewhere.

trousers said...

Yes, leigh, I remember the music very well. I seem to remember in the gallery, would the camera glide in different directions from one picture to the next? I could easily be wrong of course.

I don't know whether I wish I'd sent anything in, given nmj's experience of checking week after week, but also because if I start down that road, there will no doubt be so many other things I wish I'd done that I didn't do!

J.J said...

I am humming the theme tune to Vision On right now. Big part of my childhood I guess.

trousers said...

That's it, J.J - succinct, but that says much to me.