Toytown first transmitted

The radio programme Children's Hour was greatly loved by generations of children and adults alike, to the extent that when it eventually ended 60 MPs signed a parliamentary motion in protest. Most popular and enduring of all the sections of the programme was Toytown, which was first broadcast on 19 July 1929 and outlasted its host programme, continuing to 1963.

Toytown was narrated by Uncle Mac, Derek McCulloch, who also voiced Larry the Lamb. Larry's mischievous companion was Dennis the Dachsund, played by Ernest Jay. The other characters were The Mayor, Ernest the Policeman, Mr Growser, The Inventor, The Magician, Dennis the Artist, Captain Higgins, Mrs Goose and Letitia Lamb.

The inhabitants of Toytown were created by S.G. Hulme Beaman, inspired by wooden figures he modelled. Hulme Beaman wrote and illustrated 6 stories in the book Tales from Toytown, which were spotted by "Elizabeth" from Children's Hour, (the name given to presenter, May Jenkins). She it was who saw their potential as radio material.

Following their success the BBC asked for more, and over the next couple of years Hulme Beaman produced another 24 stories for Children's Hour. The supply ended when he died in February 1932, aged only 45. Toytown proved so popular that it was repeated many times over the next decades.