This Week In Weird: Wizadora, The Original Series.

If you grew up in the 90s, you’re in for a nostalgia trip in the first installment of ‘This Week In Weird.’ This is a segment where I write about the weirdest things I’ve come across in my daily internet browsing.

For those of you who watched CITV (ITV’s children’s slot) in the mid-90s, it’s likely you’ll remember the show: Wizadora, following the adventures of a young wizard in training. Her friends included: Hangle, a talking coat-hanger, Tatty Bogle – a cowardly scarecrow and Filbert – a talking vegetable who was also training to master magical power.

 

Anyone well acquainted with ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ or ‘WorzelGummidge’ might understand the suspension of disbelief required for the fantasy world of Wizadora, so this was ideal TV for anyone interested in the weird and wonderful before the dreadful onslaught of Harry Potter.

But what most people don’t remember is Wizadora was originally a schools’ programme, commissioned by Oxford University Press (OUP) in 1991 to teach basic English language and literacy. And this is where things get weird.

One of the show's minor characters was Phoebe, an anthropomorphic telephone fluent in nearly every language. The first episode of the OUP Wizadora covered her arrival at the young wizard’s house. Being such a low budget production, OUP had to use a real actress to play Phoebe. They obviously didn’t have a production team skilled in sewing to make convincing sock puppets either. Unlike the CITV version the ‘Drawer People’ in this series look like they were made from bits of old pyjamas found in a skip behind the television studios.

All in all, this version defines everything surreal about historical children’s television. Taking a nostalgia trip into this realm of childhood is certainly not recommended for the faint hearted. But if you did grow up with this version of the show and have many fond memories, enjoy.

I'm Back!

Hello planet earth! I have returned!

I know it’s been a very long time since my last blog post but I have been occupied with many educational or business ventures. Some of them have been paid, others have been voluntary – but the good side is, my scribbling has been seen around the world, some pieces by over 20,000 people as far and wide as New Zealand. But I am back on blogging soil once again and I have finally revived this old outlet, which I promise I’ll be updating regularly.

Where Have I Been?

Over the past few months I’ve been interning at Gay StarNews in London Bridge. They are the leading LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) news group and directed by the former editor of The Pink Paper, Tris Reid-Smith, who, incidentally, made it into the Independent’s Pink List this week – well done there.

At GSN I was writing articles focusing on LGBT news around the globe. If you’re interested, everything I scribbled for them can be found here.

Keep up the good work guys, you were the best job I’ve ever had.

And on the more artistic side of things, I’ve been writing album reviews for Metal-Rules.com. This is one of the most popular Heavy Metal news websites which I managed to secure an unpaid writer’s position with simply because I had the UK editor in my Facebook friends list.

Every month I post reviews of new albums. Just go to the homepage here, and select the month you are looking for. I’ll post as any links to these ASAP.

On the day job side: I’m still working as a shop assistant at Stansted Airport’s Duty Free shop. This isn’t my type of career venture but it pays well for a student job. Through it I’ve become well acquainted with the manufacturing, marketing and tasting of whisky. I have made it my goal to try as many different whiskies from around the world and review them – which you can find here if you stay tuned.

What’s New Around Here?

Well as you can see, the backdrop hasn’t changed nor has my blogger profile, but there will be plenty of new segments for this blog. Here are just a few titles to expect in the coming weeks:

-         This Week In Weird = Where I share the weirdest videos/pictures/stories I have come across in my weekly internet browsing.

-          Sci-Fi Time = Reviews of any science fiction films, games or novels I’ve read.

-         Comment = My opinion on any current affairs or news stories that are plaguing the general public’s interests.

-         Flash = Any improvised ‘flash fiction’ I have made up and written down on the spot as a creative exercise.

-        Whisky Rambles = Reviews and opinion of any new whiskies I have tried.

There will also be stand alone articles about anything that’s on my mind or has been happening lately. 

Thanks for reading and I’ll get the first post up soon.

Dimmu Wulfenhume