Vision On Digger

Digger cartoon from the BBC program Vision On with Tony Hart, created by Bill Mather. Rostrum Bob Baker, Laurie Booth

Grandfather of TV art programmes Tony Hart has died at the age of 83.
Tony, who had two strokes over the last year, died in the early hours of
this morning.18-01-2009

Tony rose to fame on the TV programme 'Vision On' - a programme
principally designed for hearing impaired children but which reached out
to children around the world through a mixture of mime, animation and
art, giving children a unique perspective on shape and form.

Born in Maidstone, Kent, Tony impressed TV bosses in the 1950s by
drawing a fish on a napkin and was hired as resident quick-draw artist
on the BBC children's tv programme, 'Saturday Special' which also
starred Peter Butterworth and Janet Brown. He then went on to appear in
various programmes including 'Playbox' (1954-59), 'Ask Your Dad' (1959
onwards) and 'Disney Wonderland' (1960-63).

In 1963, he appeared alongside Ray Allen in the long-running "Titch and
Quackers" show, in which Tony operated Quackers, but the show that was
to make Tony a household name was undoubtedly 'Vision On' which boasted
an early appearance (mime) by Sylvester McCoy of Dr Who fame and
surrealist artist Wilf Makepeace Lunn.

Wilf said of Tony:

"His legacy was the fact he really started all these children's
programmes, Art Attack and all that, and he was the guy, right at the
beginning, the guy who had all these little tricks that teachers used to
use because they make things look easy, and we got people into doing it.
And he was such a nice man."

In later years, Tony hosted 'Smart Hart' and 'Hartbeat' which spawned
series like 'Art Attack' and 'Smart'. Neil Buchanan, host of 'Art
Attack' was a huge fan of Tony and said:

"When I was a child, right up until I had my own children, I was
constantly amazed and entertained by this wonderful exponent of the art
of communication. I still remember where I learned one or two of my all
time favourite tricks from. Tony had that wonderful ability to make you
believe you could do it as easily as counting up to 10.

"In recent years I have met Tony almost on a yearly basis in Westminster
Abbey at the Children of Courage Awards and was absolutely flabbergasted
when he very kindly admitted to being one of Art Attack's greatest fans.
How cool is that! The highest praise from the Grand Master! he said.

Clive Doig, a director on 'Vision On' said:

"Tony Hart's giant pictures - first of all drawn with white-lining
machines on tarmac (usually filmed at Bound's Green Fire Station from
the dizzy heights of the escape tower), then with massive sand drawings
filmed from cliffs in the Isle of White or cherry-pickers in Weston
Super Mare, drawn with rakes or motorbikes pulling ploughshares and also
1 mile wide immense drawings rolled out across the hills of Devil's Dyke
in Surrey with roller towels. All added to the mesmera of new surreal
television experiences.

"Tony's amazing ability to project himself above his mammoth drawings on
the ground, to actually see in his mind's eye the change of perspective
from a high oblique camera angle, when drawing a perfect circle or an
elephant, was awe-inspiring.

"Then there were Tony's own paintings and drawings, collages of seeds or
beans, bits of toilet paper, sand, rocks, gliteer and paint splashes
which came to immediate life so quickly as recognizable animals,
landscapes, portraits, industrial scenes, etc..

"Vision On" was the starting block for many very talented people and I
am proud to have worked for so long on the series, and especially with
Tony Hart, one of the greatest TV talents of them all." said Clive.

Tony once said of his work:

"We showed them many things, man-made and natural, and linked together
some of their similarities and contrasts. There was always something
there to inspire. They used their eyes and their imagination did the rest".

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• vision
• on
• tony
• hart
• bob
• baker
• dave
• martin
• laurie
• booth
• ralph
• morris
• Bill
• Mather

[lauriebooth]

Here is a good web site about Vision On

tonyhart.co.uk/vision_on_keyse­ll.asp

[brianartillery]

Surrealism for beginners. I loved Vision On as a kid as it was a bit, okay more than a bit bloody weird, sometimes to the point of being frightening. The digger always reminded me of a mole. Tony Hart was a bona fide genius, no arguing about that. The show was originally made so that deaf kids could enjoy it too, which is why Pat Keysell 'signed' all the dialogue, and why most, if not all the inserts were 'silent'. Just thought you'd like to know.

[lauriebooth]

@brianartillery Hi, Glad you liked Vision On, the program was made for deaf children but all children (even adults) enjoyed it.

:)

[rabbithog]

where was the building site??? lol

[lauriebooth]

Hi rabbithog ,

Bristol

:)

[tichenor]

That has a nightmarish quality to it

[lauriebooth]

I agree

[Dristarg]

The soundtrack is 'Elephant Dance' (for bass harmonica) by Harry Pitch.

[TK42138]

@tichenor

I thought it was just me. As a kid this sequence freaked me out as did the weird spring creature animation. Still one of my fave programs though.

[Cool2BCeltic]

I agree. Monty Python used to freak me out and so did Vision On. There is something Pythonesque about this film.