Magpie (TV series) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Magpie |
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The Magpie logo.
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| Genre | Children's Entertainment |
| Created by | Lewis Rudd Sue Turner |
| Presented by | Tony Bastable Tommy Boyd Pete Brady Jenny Hanley Douglas Rae Mick Robertson Susan Stranks |
| Theme music composer | Eddie Hardin, Ray Fenwick & Spencer Davis |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Lewis Rudd Sue Turner |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Thames Television |
| Distributor | Fremantle |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Audio format | Monaural sound |
| Original release | 30 July 1968 – 6 June 1980 |
Magpie was a British children's television programme shown on ITV from 30 July 1968 to 6 June 1980. It was a magazine format show, intended to compete with the BBC's Blue Peter, but it attempted to be more "hip", focusing more on popular culture. The show's creators, Lewis Rudd and Sue Turner, named the programme Magpie, as a reference to the magpie's habit of collecting small items and also because of "mag" being evocative of "magazine" and "pie" being evocative of a collection of ingredients.
Theme song
The theme tune was played by the Spencer Davis Group under the alias of The Murgatroyd Band, and composed by Eddie Hardin (lead voc., keyb.), Ray Fenwick (harm. voc., guit.) and Spencer Davis (harm. voc.guit.). The main lyric is an old children's nursery rhyme One for Sorrow:
- One for sorrow
- Two for joy
- Three for a girl
- Four for a boy
- Five for silver
- Six for gold
- Seven for a secret never to be told
- Eight's a wish and
- Nine a kiss
- Ten is a bird you must not miss.
The rhyme refers to an old English superstition concerning the portent of the number of magpies seen together in a flock, and an older version of the ending runs:
- Eight for Heaven
- Nine for Hell
- Ten for the Devil himself
Steam engine and boat
In 1973, Magpie adopted a steam railway locomotive, "Black 5" 44806, which was given the name "Magpie" (Blue Peter already had a locomotive with the same name as that show). After an eventful history, it is still being used today on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, although now with a different name.
Magpie also adopted a boat, originally called "Mankadu" and renamed "Thames Magpie". Its current whereabouts are unknown.
