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Charley – Mummy Should Know

Thursday 10 May 1973 | | Social history, Social history video, Video | Comments Off on Charley – Mummy Should Know

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

Charley and I were at the back when Vera and Dave came along and said come along for a picnic, and I was going when Charley said, [miaowing noises]

He said I’d better tell mum where I’m going. So he told them to wait while we went and asked. But mum was talking to the milkman and she talked for such a long time that when I had asked her and she’d said yes, the others had gone.

Mummy saw we hadn’t gone and when I told her she said we’d been good for not going and would you like a day out with her instead.

Charley says always tell your mummy before you go off somewhere so she knows who you are with.

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