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Charley – Falling in the Water

Thursday 10 May 1973 | | Social history, Social history video, Video | Comments Off on Charley – Falling in the Water

Release date: 1973 | Sponsor: Central Office of Information for Home Office

In 1973 the incomprehensible pronouncements from a ginger cat named Charley warned children against strangers, matches, water safety and other everyday perils.

The quirky Charley Says animated series, with the warning growls ‘voiced’ by the late Kenny Everett, delivered often-stark messages in a darkly comic way. Created by Richard Taylor Cartoons, the garbled meows of the ginger cat were later sampled by UK dance act The Prodigy for the 1991 Top 10 hit Charly.

Further credence was given to the Charley series in 2005 when it was voted 95th on the Channel 4 TV special 100 Greatest Cartoons.

In recent poll conducted by the BBC News Website in association with The National Archives and The Central Office of Information (COI), the Charley cartoons were voted The Nation’s Favourite Public Information Film.

Transcription

One day, when my dad went fishing, he took Charley and me along. While he was fishing we started having fun with the puddles. Dad shouted, ‘Come back here!’ but just then Charley tried to do an extra big jump and he was over the edge and into the water. Charley nearly drowned. It was lucky for him he caught on the line. Charley says, ‘Next time we go fishing we should stay very close to Dad, where he can look after us’, and he hopes that when you go to the water you’ll stay close to a grown-up too.

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