Maria Bird
Maria Bird was born Mary Edith Bird (pronounced Marie) on 24 August 1891 in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa and died in the village where she lived for most of her life, Westerham, Kent, England on 25 August 1979, aged 88.[1] She was a descendant of Francis Bird the sculptor and Colonel Christopher Bird who was Colonial Secretary at Cape Town Castle (where there is a landmark named after him in Kirstenbosch, South Africa – Colonel Bird's Bath).[2] Her mother brought her children from South Africa to the UK to be educated and Maria attended a Scottish convent. Following school, she studied the Dalcroze Eurhythmics music and dance method under Émile Jaques-Dalcroze in Dessau.[3]
Maria Bird helped found BBC Children's Television with her close friend Freda Lingstrom with whom she set up Westerham Arts, the production company commissioned by the BBC to produce TV pieces including The Woodentops (1955), Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men (1952) and Andy Pandy (1950).[4] Westerham Arts was based in Chartwell Cottage (owned by Bird and Lingstrom and subsequently bequeathed to the National Trust). It neighbours the Chartwell Estate. Maria and Freda built a shed in their garden where their puppet films were made.[3] In addition to TV production she was a writer,[5] narrator[6] and musician.[7]
References[]
- ^ "FreeBMD Entry Info". Freebmd.org.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
- ^ "Kirstenbosch NBG: Colonel Bird's Bath". SANBI.org. 2015-05-26. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
- ^ a b Transcript from interview with Maria Bird's nephew
- ^ Maria Bird narrated all the 1950s black and white original transmissions of 'Watch With Mother', much later, however, Vera Mc Kechnie narrated the colour remakes of Andy Pandy in 1970, Vera narrated 'Picture Book' after her predecessor Patricia Driscoll, she had no input into Watch With Mother. InAndy Pandy is almost deviant, The Daily Telegraph, 29 April 2013
- ^ "Andy Pandy series by Maria Bird". Goodreads.com. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
- ^ "Andy Pandy (Episode 1)". YouTube. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Woodentops, The (1955–57)". Screenonline.org.uk. 1955-09-09. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
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- 1891 births
- 1979 deaths
- British television producers
- Educational broadcasting in the United Kingdom
- People from Pietermaritzburg
- British television writers
- Women television writers
- British composers
- People from Westerham
- British women television producers
- 20th-century British screenwriters
- Screenwriter stubs
- South African people stubs