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But of course Ian Stirling was one of them; he was an absolute dear, and very funny, and I really enjoyed the times when he was on, but I had absolutely no idea that he was sending coded messages out to the gay locals! That was extraordinary and I'm still laughing about it." To support Hospiscare’s month of coffee mornings, invite Judi and Gus along, or to find out more, visit hospiscare.co.uk or call 01392 688020. Quote from: McDead on February 14, 2023, 09:18:46 PMThere's a song. Warning: it's both awful and catchy. In 1961, Westward Television opened and Roger (his name shortened to Roger Shaw) was amongst the first announcers and news readers as well as reading out children’s birthdays on occasion with studio mascot Gus Honeybun.
Gus Honeybun - 60 and still famous - The Box Plymouth
It's important to highlight our city's LGBT+ heritage and history - the people and places that have made Plymouth what it is.
The Wolfenden Report was published in 1957, and was commissioned in response to evidence that homosexuality could not be regarded as a disease. There’s no better place to start than with arguably our most famous of mascots - Augustus Jeremiah Honeybun, or Gus for short. You’d be hard-pressed to find a child (or adult!) of the 1960s, '70s or '80s that didn’t desperately want their card sent into Gus Honeybun’s Magic Birthdays to receive bunnyhops, a wink or a hit on the magic button. The scene of the vicious crime, a shelter in the park, was a well-known meeting place for homosexual men at the time. If you won't allow people to define themselves and use the words they'd use, you're denying them their own identity and opportunity for the LGBT community in Plymouth to start feeling like a community," Dr Butler said.
Rabbit presenter Gus Honeybun turns 50 | Falmouth Packet
When Westcountry Television took over from TSW on 1 January 1993, Stirling went freelance but did present a thrice-weekly Soap Review for the station's evening news magazine Westcountry Live and was involved in a number of regional programmes for the station. He presented a four-part series entitled 40 Years of ITV in 2001, celebrating 40 years of ITV regional broadcasting in the South-West of England. Whilst freelance, he also worked for Gemini Radio in Exeter during the mid-1990s. [4] He retired in 2003 and moved to northern France. After TSW lost its licence at the end of 1992 - and the appeal to the Lords that followed - the beginning of 1993 saw the start of Westcountry Television. Slightly further down towards the Barbican is a place called the Lion's Den. In the past this was a place for "male bathing" which Dr Butler says was a place for men to meet each other. Augustus Jeremiah Honeybun first hit the screens of Westward Television in 1961, and at such an age, who can blame him for being a little disgruntled when I asked how old he was.During the TSW era, Gus was broadcast twice a day on weekdays (before and after Children's ITV), and usually once a day at weekends. The show usually lasted about 2 or 3 minutes per episode. From 1987 to 1990, TSW used to often opt out of showing the first and last Children's ITV in-vision continuity links of the day so it could fit in Gus' birthday slot on weekday afternoons. Augustus Jeremiah Honeybun, or Gus Honeybun for short, was the station mascot for Westward Television and then Television South West (TSW) from 1961 until 1992. In the 1970s Paul was the vice president of the ACTT union and was part of the National Negotiating Team - he personally called and then helped organise, and win, the first national TV strike - he also called and helped organise,and win, the second national strike a few years later. A newspaper report at the time covers the opening of the store, but Dr Alan Butler explained that the journalist was uncomfortable reporting the two were a couple. But Dr Butler explains he was also iconic in other ways: "Gus became a means of LGBT people in Plymouth being able to communicate with each other.
Gus Honeybun - Do You Remember?
We used to have a lot of rubber bands that came in with the cards, and I would steal the sweets, and there would be little messages saying ‘this is for Gus, not you aunty Judi’, and we’d have a fight. Anyway, all the rubber bands that came in with the cards would get sorted out downstairs, and I would ask for the rubber bands. So what we did, like a baby bouncer, is to get Gus on the bands and I would come on and whoever was in the studio would let him go, and he’d fly through the air.Invite Gus Honeybun and Judi Spiers to your home for coffee and cake with month-long Hospiscare Coffee Morning extravaganza Don’t worry, this wasn’t childish imagination; it was prime time Westward Television. Gus Honeybun is a Plymothian superstar and the mere mention of his name, whether through the adorable plush teddy we sell in The Box Shop or the children’s train on Plymouth Hoe, makes the young and old curious about this bunny rabbit. But where did he come from? They celebrated their diamond wedding with friends and neighbours at home with their family. A beautiful cake and party food was catered for by their friends Tracey Jane and Chris from Home Sweet Home, Patisserie. Our ex-boss, David Sutherland, who was head of presentation, came up with the idea of getting a character and that was Gus,” Judi told me. The character was devised to fill unsold advertising slots during children's TV broadcasts. Several ITV franchise stations had at one time had a regional birthdays slot (often following Children's ITV or the predecessor children's television slot) with a continuity announcer and puppet announcing children's birthdays. With Gus, the announcer would read out a birthday card and the puppet would give a jump, known as a bunny hop, for each year of the child's life. Alternatives to bunny hops were ear waggles, head stands, winks and later "putting out the lights" and a colour-distorting "magic button". Gus appeared with virtually every Westward/TSW presenter, including the late Ian Stirling, Fern Britton, Judi Spiers, David Fitzgerald, Ruth Langsford and Sally Meen. The character was given the full name Augustus Jeremiah Honeybun by some continuity announcers, and was said to have been found under a gorse bush on Dartmoor in 1961 by the founders of Westward Television.
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