Robert (Bob) Pelham was born on 28th February 1919 in Ripon, Yorkshire, Son of the local vicar the Reverend Walter Pelham

In 1939 before starting up the company Bob Pelham was called up to serve in the Armed Forces to serve in the second world war where he was involved in active service on several fronts. After being called up he was based in Portland, Dorset on Coastal Defence Duties, He was on full alert waiting for the German war machine that was thought to be ready to invade. Later in the war he fought with the 8th Army in the Western desert of North Africa. He saw action at the famous Anzio Beachhead and took part in the invasion of Italy.

During his time in the Army, Bob gained the nickname of "The Wonky Donkey Officer" as he made small animated donkeys that moved when the spring at the bottom was compressed. The picture to the right is one of Bobs own "Wonkey Donkeys" that was photographed in the cupboard in his office. The total contents of his office cupboard were tragically lost in a serious fire at the Pelham Puppets factory in 1961. At the end of the war Bob Pelham was stationed In Germany serving with the Occupation Forces and it was during this time he became very interested in traditional animated musical toys.

In May 1946 at the age of 27 Bob finally arrived home to Marlborough, Wiltshire and rather going back to his prewar training as an Architect he decided to use his considerable carpentry skill going into business making his donkeys.

It was not long before the new one man operation was producing not just Donkeys but Giraffes, Elephants, Horses and Ostriches. During the war years toys were virtually unknown and these new novelty items sold well.

In a rented workshop behind a solicitors office in Silverless Street, Marlborough, Bob and his first employees started turning out his designs. The employees were local ex-servicemen and this theme was very important in the early years.

Click here to read Bob's version of how it all began

Bob patented his design in the UK but a legal problem with another company forced him to look for another product he could make that still had the magnetism of the "wonky donkey". It was then he thought of a stringed marionette and made the first one, a black "nigger" girl called Chloe. With great enthusiasm Bob approached Jan Bussell of Hogarth Puppets who also lived locally with his idea of making puppets. Jan work alongside Bob giving him support for several years.

With no capital it was Bobs Father, The Reverend Walter Pelham who came to the rescue. He sold one of his two cars for £130 and gave the money to Bob, even though he though that the venture would not succeed.

The new venture named "Wonkey Toys Ltd" was set up in rooms of Victoria House, Kingsbury Street, Marlborough. The company was incorporated on the 20th May 1947. It was here on the 22nd June 1947 that the first "Sandy McBoozle" was made.

The earliest puppets came in Brown Boxes such as the one pictured here. Each had Wonky Toys Ltd printed on the label along with the flying pig logo. Bobs father had at one time said that "Pigs will fly before bob makes a go of it".

As the real early puppet heads were turned by hand on a lathe they could be almost any shape from oval to sort of square round.

It was not until 1948 that Bob hit on the idea of using Coconut shy balls did the puppets get their truly round heads. The very early puppets have the neck joined to the body extending into the bottom of the head.

The picture to the left shows a 1947 "Wonky Cowboy" and you can just see how the neck goes into the underside of the head. These very early puppets also had wooden hands and the leg joints were also carved in wood.

During 1947 Bob and McBoozle were filmed for television at the British Industries Fair. They were also written about in several national newspapers including The Mirror on 30th December 1947.

On the 14th of October 1948 at an extraordinary board meeting a resolution was passed to change the name Wonky Toys Limited to Pelham Puppets Limited.

In October 1948 after a visit to the Marlborough Mop fair where Bob found a ready made supply of wooden puppet heads. After convincing people that he was not going to start a coconut shy with the balls he started using them as the heads on SS type puppets. These were made by a company called Hoopers in Stroud, Gloucester who also made the balls used to throw on the Mop fair coconut shy.

In 1949 master wood carver, Gill Leeper joined the company.

December 1949 saw the production of Pelpup News No 1

1949 saw the introduction of metal knee joints. For more information on types of knee joints Click Here

By the end of 1950 over 40 Thousand puppets had been sold in the UK. The brown box still proudly displayed the flying pig logo however the colour of the label changed several times.

In September 1950 the first Pelpup Club News was printed. With every puppet sold there was an invitation to join and almost overnight the club became a success. It claimed members from all over the world ranging in ages from seven months to seventy years. From the Pelpup news Bob Pelham became known to all the members as Pelpop.

Each of the early Pelpup News was first handwritten and then printed on a very secondhand Gestetner duplicating machine. Pelpup news was very important to Bob being his way of keeping in touch with his ever growing family of Puppeteers. Many members would write to "Pelpop" as he like to be called, and even though this was a huge task Bob in turn wrote back.

The picture shows the cover of No 7 & 8 produced for July/August 1951, the Summer edition.

In October 1951 Harrods of London opened their Toy Fair with Ron and Joan Field of the Field Puppet Company putting on plays using Pelham puppets.

Pelham Puppets Ltd were chosen to display in the official exhibitions at the Festival of Britain.

Bob and Anne Pelham were married in Abinger Common, near Dorking, Surrey. View Bob Pelhams wedding photograph.

Frank Lawton joined the company.

In 1952 the film "Pulling Strings was released.

August 1953 saw the introduction of the first Skeleton

October 1952 saw the introduction of Wuff, Tuff and Snuff by Tim, single and three on one control.

November 1952 saw Pelpup writing paper for sale

Click here for more details of TV and film appearances of Pelham Puppets including the Avengers.

February 1953 saw the introduction of Ceasar by Tim

In the March 1953 edition of Peplup News Bob Pelham announced that they had acquired the rights to manufacture Walt Disney characters.

Several new characters were also introduced in 1953, View the Pelham Puppets price list containing these new characters.

May saw Pelham Puppets exhibiting at The British Industries Fair at Olympia, London. On the stand was the first 7 foot tall Bimbo.

In the June 1953 edition of Peplup News Bob Pelham announced the introduction of the Minipup rages. These puppets were packed in simple cellophane bags with a card header, however production records did not start until 15th May the following year.

July 1953 saw the introduction of Bengo by Tim

August 1953 saw the introduction of the first versions of Noddy and Big Ears.

Carrot Top, Golo the Giant, Margaret and Renaldo the Fox appeared in the film "Lili". These hand operated puppets which have moving eyes and mouths are very difficult to find. The Pelham versions were introduced in November 1953

Click here for more details of TV and film appearances of Pelham Puppets including the Avengers.

December 1953 saw the introduction of Hank

Over 2500 Minipups were produced each month during the year after production started on the 15th May.

During the summer of this year a display which contain a large display Bimbo delighted visitors to seaside town of Bournemouth, Dorset. During the time the display was in Beales shop window the crowds spread across the pavement causing an obstruction. The local Police were called and Beales were asked that the display was switched off until the crowd dispersed.

The 10th May 1955 was a very important date in the life of Pelham Puppets. At this time the company was exhibiting at the British Industries Fair at Olympia. Several members of the British Royal family visited the stand.

Click Here for details about Royalty and Pelham Puppets

In the September 1955 edition of Pelpup news Bob Pelham wrote for Pelpups the story of "How it all began".

During 1955 anti-tangle coloured strings were introduced, however, many early puppets were returned to the factory for re-stringing and these were almost always re-strung using coloured strings. So its not surprising that so many early puppets can be found with coloured strings.

In 1956 the first of the famous yellow boxes was used. Refereed to as the solid yellow box this first version featured the "Mad Hatter" on one side.

Noddy and Big Ears with moulded heads were introduced.

Baby Bimbo was introduced at the Industries Fair at Olympia

27th February 1956, Bob Pelham appeared on the BBC TV news programme "Panorama" and following this program an order for 100 display Clowns was gained from a US buyer. The order was received in July and shipped in September.

In July 1957 Gill Leeper was tragically killed in a road accident on his way to work at the Pelham Puppets factory.

Saw the introduction of the Enid Blyton's "Bom"

February 1960 saw the last Pelpup News to be produced on the old duplicator.

In the second half of 1960 almost the entire factory production was exported to the United States, at the time this was a new company export record.

In 1960 the first string through plastic legs were introduced. This design replaced many of the wooden legged types

January 1961 saw the introduction of the first glossy printed Pelpup News, being renamed to the Puppet post. 6000 to 7000 copies were printed.

After just 2 issues it was renamed Pelpup News.
For more details on the printed issues click here

18th October 1961 saw one of the biggest events in the companies history when it suffered a very serious factory fire. It started just after 9:00pm and within 2 hours 10 thousand puppets were destroyed.

Click here for the story of that fire.

On 26th October 1961 the Wiltshire Gazette and Hereld reported that production had restarted on an improvised production line housed in building at the rear of the burned out factory. Local business Garradds supplied Chairs, shelving while the local collage cadet force loaned squads of cadets to help.

In March 1962 The Sooty Show from the BBC featured Sooty and Sweep operating the Pelham Puppets versions of Pinky and Perky. The BBC no longer have this program so it may well be lost forever.

In 1962 the yellow box design was changed with the new box having a picture of the Snake Charmer on the side.

In the July 1962 issue of Pelpup News Bob Pelham explained to readers how many people were involved in puppet production. 202 with 101 (11 men, 90 women) working in the factory and 101 (all women) working from home.

In July 1962 the new version of Gepetto and Pinocchio was unvailed in the same issue.

The Harrods store Christmas window display featured a 6 foot animated display of the Supercar team landing on the moon.

In 1963 the first use of the large yellow box as seen below was introduced. This bigger box was needed to allow room for the larger puppets introduced that year.

White copyright tags started to appear sewn into puppets due to cheap copies from the far east.

The 1963 "Animal" range was introduced and the box displays some of these. This new range consisted of 31 brand new characters. The prototypes were carved by Peter Carter-Page a respected Canadian Artist who had worked for Disney in California before joining Pelham.

In the August edition of Pelpup News it was announced that the new 63 range would not be available until October due to large export orders.

In October 1963 a book of Twelve Plays was introduced written by Jan Bussell.

The December 1963 edition of Pelpup News featured a nativity scene on the cover in full colour. Click here to see the cover picture.

1963 saw Pelham Puppets have a record sales year with over 226 thousand puppets being made.

1964 saw the introduction of the "Woodenhead Range" of puppets. This range of puppets were the first puppets produced that were not hand painted. The features were printed onto the face of the puppet.

1st June 1964 Pelham Puppets were featured on BBC Televisions award winning children's program, Blue Peter. Viewers saw 5 SL Pop Singers perform Dave Clark's "Glad all over."

December 1964 saw the Pelpup Club with 16000 members

December 1965 saw the introduction of Iz and Ox the two comical Ostriches. The heads of these puppets were made from Table Tennis Balls.

1965 saw a massive downturn in sales when cheap copies from Japan flooded the market.

In 1966 Bob Pelham directed a black and white film called "The Pancake House"

Click here for more details of TV and film appearances of Pelham Puppets including the Avengers.

1966 saw the company gain world rights to produce characters from Magic Roundabout

July 1966 saw the Pelpup Club with 20000 members

21st October 1965 London saw the first UK Transmission of the Avengers episode called "Death At Bargain Prices" featuring Pelham Puppets

1966 saw the introduction of the Magic Roundabout puppets

21 April 1967 saw the first UK Transmission of the Avengers episode called "Something Nasty in the Nursery" featuring Pelham Puppets.

June and July 1967 saw Bob Pelham being awarded a certificate of merit for his Magic Roundabout puppets at the Harrogate Puppet Festival. Click here to see the certificate

In December 1967 Pelpup news reported a chance of buying puppets at half their normal price. The article said that the characters had been out of production for 3 to 4 years. The list was SL Bull, SL Cow, SL Tiger, Father Bear, Baby Bear, Mother Bear, Dachhund, Hedgehog, Scottie Dog, Mike Mercury, Jimmie Gibson, Doctor Beaker and Professor Popkiss.

1968 saw the first window box being used.

31st March 1969 saw the first US Transmission of the Avengers episode called "Requiem" featuring Pelham Puppets. The first UK Transmission was on16th April 1969.

In 1971 a purpose built puppet theatre was built at the factory so that staff could put on performances and demonstrate puppets to visitors.

In 1972 an animated display depicting the Makishi Dancers was built and exported to Zambia. It was featured on the cover of the August 1971 edition of Pelpup News

In the first 3 months of 1974, the drastic energy policy on the part of the British Government limited the working week to 3 days. Electricity was limited to conserve coal stocks so factory machines and lighting could not be used.

Legs were added to the vent puppets in September 1974

1976 saw the introduction of the other three Womble puppets in the range. These were Madame Cholet, Tomsk and Bungo

In December 1976 the Disney range were no longer exported to the USA

Lilian Ross, Frank Lawton and Michael Pelham were all elected as Directors at a Board meeting on 1st February 1977

In the summer the Pelham factory was expanded into a new building to cope with production, 65% of which was being exported.

In August 1977 Emu was introduced.

In December 1977 it was announced the Muppets were being developed. Also it was announced that MacBoozle was to have the normal SM size head and the Tramp and Monkey Vents were introduced

SS Swedish Boy and Girl introduced in a new sales leaflet

1982 saw the reintroduction of the Punch and Judy glove puppets

Collectors Series Jiminy Cricket and Pinocchio were introduced. Click here for more details.

Hokey and Cokey from the BBC Tv series were introduced in a new sales leaflet. These puppets came in a simple plastic bag with a printed header card stapled on. They were first introduced on 31st August. Just 1006 were produced. More Hokey's were made than Cokey's.

An article in the local evening news on January 14th 1986 reported that the 17 remaining staff were hoping someone would come forward to save the struggling puppet factory.

The last Hokey and Cokey were produced on 9th March

Production stopped on 4th April and after a huge amount of effort over a number of years Mrs Anne Pelham was forced to sell the company by the liquidator, the company was sold to Mr Charles Wrey

On the 13th May a new company called Pelham Puppets (Marlborough) Ltd was formed under the control of Charlie Wrey. The company being formed originally under the name Abberman Ltd on 11th March 1986.

Pelham Puppets (Marlborough) Ltd moved production to Collingbourne Ducis Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN83EH.

Candy stripe boxes were introduced

A new sales leaflet was introduced showing several new puppets.

The company reported a turnover of £220050 in its annual report, it also recorded a trading loss of -£77180. Mr Charlie Wrey worked very hard to get the company back on its feet but seemed to be unable to get the products to sell in the same numbers as it had in the companies hayday. Another setback was being undersold by stock coming from the German importer, a company called "Gundlach" who went dramatically bust with huge stocks of puppets before he had taken over.

The company reported a turnover of £263690 in its annual report, it also recorded a trading loss of -£63930

On the 31st May, William Timyn died, aged 87. Tim as he was known created Bengo, Bleep and Booster, Ceaser and Wuff, Tuff and Snuff.

On the 31st July Charlie Wrey sold the company the Anne Wilkinson of Anne Wilkinson Designs who made soft toys. Mr Wrey said "Although commercially a fairly disastrous 4 years I can not help looking back on them with some affection".

A new sales leaflet was introduced showing several new puppets.

The company name and address on this leaflet was Pelham Puppets (Marlborough) Ltd. Unit 3, Saxon Way, Battledown Industrial Estate, Cheltenham, Glos, GL52 6QX.

During the last 2 weeks of December 1992 redundancy notices were sent out to 18 staff with thier employment ending on 1st Jan 1993. The biggest selling puppets at this time were the Thunderbirds made for Toys-R-Us. This was rather strange as on 13th December 1992 the factory placed a advert selling the Thunderbirds collectors series in the Mail on Sunday

On the 1st February a new company was formed called Mastercrane Ltd later to change its name to Pelham Puppets (Licensing) Ltd.

to companies house.23rd February 1993 a new company called Powerware Ltd was formed later changing its names to Pelham Puppets and Toys Ltd.

On the 13th April 1993 The London gazette published that a winding up order against the Pelham Puppets Ltd. had been made dated 23rd March 1993.

On the 9th July Powerware Ltd changed its name to Pelham Puppets and Toys Ltd.

On the 24th September Mastercrane Ltd changed its name to Pelham Puppets (Licensing) Ltd. This company has never recorded any results

Pelham Puppets were in action at the centenary of Tower Bridge in London

On the 21st February 1995 Pelham Puppets and Toys Ltd changed its name to Pelham Puppets Ltd.

On the 18th April a meeting of creditors was held in Folkestone and a liquidator appointed. The company went into Creditors Liqidation on the same day.

At an extraordinary General Meeting was held and it was decided that the company be voluntarily wound up.

The Pelham Puppet Collectors Club was formed

Companies House struck the compnay of its register on the 4th November when the company was dissolved.

The Pelham Puppets Online website went live

The first book totally relating to Pelham Puppets "Collecting Pelham Puppets - An Illustrated Guide" was published by David Leech.

The book had several errors included.

The second edition of "Collecting Pelham Puppets - An Illustrated Guide" was re-published by David Leech. This book had the errors corrected.