Rag, Tag and Bobtail

Rag, Tag and Bobtail

Infobox British television
show_name = Rag, Tag and Bobtail


size =
caption =
format = Childrens
runtime = 13 min
creators = Freda Lingstrom & David Boisseau
starring =
channel = BBC One
first_aired = 1953-1965
last_aired =
num_episodes = 24
producer = BBC
related =

"Rag, Tag and Bobtail" was a BBC children's television programme that ran from 1953 to 1965 as the Thursday programme in the weekly cycle of "Watch with Mother".

* Produced by: Freda Lingstrom and David Boisseau
* Stories: Louise Cochrane
* Narrated by: Charles E. Stidwell, David Enders and James Urquhart
* Glove puppeteers: Sam Williams and Elizabeth Williams.

There were three main characters: Rag, a hedgehog; Tag, a mouse; and Bobtail, a rabbit. Occasionally five baby rabbits appeared. The stories were simple and there were no catch-phrases like the other programmes in the cycle, but the series is still remembered with affection. Twenty four episodes were made, plus two others that were untransmitted. Each episode was shot as a single 13 minute take.

In the dictionary, the term "rag-tag and bobtail" is a disparaging remark to describe people as just common country folk, riff-raff. An 1811 dictionary has it as tag-rag and bobtail.

In 1987, a Watch with Mother video was released by the BBC. The episode of Rag, Tag and Bobtail featured a scene where Bobtail discovered that the baby rabbits had been playing with mud-pies and they had turned black. He was unable to clean them, but in the end the mud was washed off.

External links

* [http://www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/children/watchwm/rtb.ram Video clip]
* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1045658/index.html British Film Institute article]
* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/464710/index.html Biography of Freda Lingstrom]


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Rag tag and bobtail — Bobtail Bob tail , n. [Bob + tail.] An animal (as a horse or dog) with a short tail. [1913 Webster] {Rag, tag, and bobtail}, the rabble. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • rag-tag and bobtail — Riff raff • • • Main Entry: ↑rag …   Useful english dictionary

  • rag, tag, and bobtail — noun or ragtag and bobtail : rabble, riffraff the rag, tag, and bobtail of the city Kenneth Roberts a ragtag and bobtail army F.V.W.Mason …   Useful english dictionary

  • tag rag and bobtail — Rag tag and bobtail • • • Main Entry: ↑tag …   Useful english dictionary

  • tag and rag — noun : rag, tag, and bobtail shout of tag and rag, and march of rank and file Robert Southey …   Useful english dictionary

  • tag, rag, and bobtail — noun or tagrag and bobtail : a motley group : rabble, canaille all the tagrag and bobtail of the town J.G.Frazer …   Useful english dictionary

  • tag, rag, and bobtail — or tagrag and bobtail noun Date: 1645 rabble …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • ragtag and bobtail — noun disparaging terms for the common people • Syn: ↑rabble, ↑riffraff, ↑ragtag • Hypernyms: ↑folk, ↑folks, ↑common people • Hyponyms: ↑trash …   Useful english dictionary

  • ragtag and bobtail — the riffraff; rabble: The ragtag and bobtail of every nation poured into the frontier in search of gold. Also, rag, tag, and bobtail; tagrag and bobtail. [1810 20] * * * …   Universalium

  • ragtag and bobtail — rag′tag and bob′tail n. the riffraff or rabble • Etymology: 1810–20 …   From formal English to slang

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