318:. These series chronicled not only the Rhine journey but other worldwide journeys and were broadcast between 1957 and 1976. Included in this series were tales based upon his visits to such places as Austria (a skiing misadventure!), Spain, Hong Kong, Japan, USA, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, South America, South Sea Islands, France; and even a cruise on the River Thames.
195:. He learned to play the violin as a child and toured the valleys of South Wales, performing with his cello-playing father. Morris attended Eveswell Junior School and then Hatherleigh School, Newport, and worked as a solicitor's clerk, a timekeeper on a building site, and a salesman before managing a 2,000-acre (810 ha; 8.1 km) farm in
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series of stories about Hammy the
Hamster, Roderick the Rat, GP the Guinea Pig, and their assorted animal friends along a riverbank. The show used slowed-down footage of real animals filmed doing humanised things such as driving a car or boat, and living in houses. In the 1960s Morris also narrated
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in Sussex from its early days in the 1960s until the late 1980s, attending several anniversaries and landmark events over the first few decades of the railway's existence. He also made two promotional LPs for the railway in the 1970s, one of which was released on the
Discourses Label (DCM1209),
433:; a large sum of cash to his housekeeper, Rita Offer; and smaller sums to his gardener and his builder but he left nothing to his stepsons, his step-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren – possibly because a failed business partnership had cost him £500,000.
326:'Johnny Morris on the Bluebell Railway‘. He released other recordings, too: 'Sights and Sounds of Britain', a 1975 Flexidisc (Lyntone 2881) and 'It's a Dog's Life’ (Lyntone 2462), a single promoting Winalot dog foods, which, oddly, played at 33⅓ rpm.
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Although latterly criticised in the 1990s for his anthropomorphic technique of introducing television viewers to animals, Morris was active in environmentalism, and in his eighties demonstrated against the building of the
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to be heard via the telephone. Children could dial 150 and hear a different story over the telephone each week; these included the Peter Pixie stories written by Olive Hyett. He was also a presenter on BBC Schools Radio's
295:. When the idea of imposing human qualities and voices upon animals fell out of favour the series was discontinued. Morris very rarely worked with spiders, having a phobia that he wished to keep from the public.
365:. These advertisements featured animated claymation animals speaking about their life and conditions in a way comparable to the dialogues that Morris had created in the earlier television show.
215:. Morris made his radio début in 1946, and featured in a number of regional series throughout the 1950s. He was often employed on light entertainment programmes as a storyteller, such as in
266:. The recordings of the first eight books were re-released in LP format in the 1970s but the other three sets of recordings were never reissued and in the end were rerecorded by
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Morris's ability to create a world which children could relate to through his mimicry led to his best-known television role, that of the presenter, narrator and '
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422:, Swindon, Wiltshire for tests, he was discharged to a nursing home in the Devizes and Marlborough district, where he died on 6 May 1999.
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travelogue which included a witty Morris commentary featuring his companion Tubby Foster – actually his producer Brian Patten.
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His wife, Eileen, had pre-deceased him by 10 years; he had two stepsons. He bequeathed his house to his co-host on
159:(20 June 1916 – 6 May 1999) was a Welsh television presenter. He was known for his children's programmes for the
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GRO Register of Deaths: MAY 1999 1d 263 DEV & MARL - Ernest John Morris, DoB = 20 June 1916, aged 82
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In the 1970s, Morris read children's bedtime stories for the
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Morris was discovered telling stories in a pub by the then
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Morris was awarded the OBE in 1984. His autobiography,
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In 1960, he narrated the imported, Canadian-produced
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361:series of electricity advertisements, created by
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441:Morris was also a writer. His books include:
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548:. No. 66508. 8 May 1999. p. 26.
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373:near his home. In June 2004, Morris and
16:British television presenter (1916–1999)
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575:"Friends mourn 'magic' Johnny Morris"
459:Around the World in Twenty Five Years
238:. He would tell a humorous yarn in a
191:, Monmouthshire, Wales, the son of a
617:"Johnny Morris cut family from will"
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187:Morris was born on 20 June 1916 in
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592:"TV naturalist Johnny Morris dies"
406:, Morris collapsed at his home in
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321:Morris was Vice President of the
515:"Johnny Morris - TV personality"
559:"Illness stops Morris comeback"
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23:Johnny Morris (disambiguation)
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310:was based on Morris' earlier
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658:BBC Obituary - Johnny Morris
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712:Welsh television presenters
623:(London). 17 November 1999.
203:Radio and television career
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351:In a nod to his role with
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133:Tales of the Riverbank
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342:A Service for Schools
446:Just Like you and Me
384:The Way We Went Wild
232:The Hot Chestnut Man
102:Television presenter
93:, Wiltshire, England
692:Audiobook narrators
289:Bristol Zoo Gardens
255:The Railway Stories
240:West Country accent
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363:Aardman Animations
272:Sylvanian Families
260:the Railway Series
154:Ernest John Morris
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542:"Johnny Morris".
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85:(1999-05-06)
68:20 June 1916
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687:1999 deaths
682:1916 births
331:Post Office
312:BBC Radio 4
144:(1962–1983)
676:Categories
474:References
412:Wild Thing
408:Hungerford
375:Bill Oddie
279:zoo keeper
222:A natural
193:postmaster
183:Early life
99:Occupation
83:6 May 1999
64:1916-06-20
602:30 August
545:The Times
236:chestnuts
197:Aldbourne
110:1946–1991
596:BBC News
579:BBC News
563:BBC News
502:BBC News
404:diabetic
381:series,
346:Together
115:Employer
667:Discogs
647:at the
524:7 April
379:BBC Two
314:series
189:Newport
165:zoology
91:Swindon
72:Newport
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281:' for
136:(1960)
398:Death
224:mimic
640:IMDb
604:2013
526:2021
463:ISBN
450:ISBN
304:BBC2
302:, a
226:and
80:Died
54:Born
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161:BBC
157:OBE
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