The co-creator of several children’s programmes including Basil Brush, Ivor the Engine, and Noggin the Nog has died at his home in Blean after a short illness.
Peter Firmin was given the Freedom of the City of Canterbury in 2011 and received a Bafta Lifetime Achievement award in 2014.
A statement from his production company Coolabi said: “During a career spanning over six decades Peter worked with great skill in a remarkably wide variety of creative disciplines as a fine artist, craftsman and author.
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“Of all his work he will probably be most fondly remembered for the characters he co-created and made.”
In 1999 Bagpuss was voted the most popular BBC children’s programme ever made.
Many of Firmin’s creations, made with collaborator Oliver Postgate, were produced in a farmyard barn at his home just outside Canterbury.
He married his wife Joan in 1952 – it was Joan who knitted the Clangers from vibrant pink wool – and they have six daughters. One of their children, Emily, appeared in the opening sequence of Bagpuss.
Beside his wife and daughters, Peter Firmin leaves behind numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.
one their children, Emily, appeared in the opening sequence of Bagpuss.