A Brief History of Pelham Puppets

Creating toys wasn’t something Bob Pelham even thought of before the war years, he had intended to return to college as his father would have wished. “I’m not sure when I had the idea for making puppets but while I was in Germany at the end of the war I became known as the ‘Wonky Donkey Officer’ because I used to make little donkeys using wooden beads that could be made to wriggle and dance by strings attached to a small spring base. When I returned home, I simply couldn’t go back to drawing dull old buildings. I wanted to create something that’s as near to being alive as makes no difference.”