Jackanory facts for kids

Jackanory is a long-running BBC children's television series. It was made to interest children in reading. The show began on 13 December 1965. The first story was the fairy-tale Cap-o'-Rushes read by Lee Montague. Jackanory continued to be broadcast until 1996. They made around 3,500 episodes in its 30-year run. The final story, The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne, was read by Alan Bennett. It was broadcast on 24 March 1996. The show returned on 27 November 2006 for two stories.

The show's format had an actor read from children's novels or folk tales, usually while seated in an armchair. From time to time the scene being read would be illustrated by a specially made still drawing. They were often done by Quentin Blake. Usually a single book would take five daily fifteen-minute episodes, from Monday to Friday.

A few Jackanory stories took the form of a play rather than stories being read. These were made in a series of fully cast and dressed for costume dramas. These were named Jackanory Playhouse and were thirty minutes in length. These included a dramatisation by Philip Glassborow of the comical A. A. Milne story "The Princess Who Couldn't Laugh."

Title

The show's title comes from an old English nursery rhyme:

I'll tell you a story

About Jack a Nory;

And now my story's begun;

I'll tell you another

Of Jack and his brother,

And now my story is done.

List of readers