A-Z Challenge: Z - Zebedee

Z is for Zebedee

Most of you are probably thinking "Who the hell is Zebedee?" Well, he was in a seemingly innocent children's TV programme in Britian in the 60s called The Magic Roundabout. He always bounced everywhere, just in the nick of time, to save the day. There was a famous saying at the end of every episode, when the narrator announced: "Time for bed, said Zebedee."

The original idea was created by Serge Danot in 1965 in France. His idea was then rewritten and narrated by Eric Thompson, and achieved cult status. It was very "sixties". There has been much debate about whether all the characters were off their heads on drugs. Below is a run-down of the most popular characters and what has been said:

Dylan, a hippy hashish bunny, who could have been accused of growing something considerably stronger than carrots in his vegetable patch.

Dougal, a shaggy dog with no legs, who lived on a strict diet of sugar - a speed addiction perhaps? He did use to rush around like a mad thing.

Ermintrude, the pink cow, who would constantly chew on flowers. They once made her triple her size and fly away, so goodness knows what they were. Maybe magic mushrooms as she always had a kind of goofy grin on her face.

Florence, the young girl, was a more butch version of Alice in Wonderland, and you all know what she was up to down the rabbit hole.

Brian, the snail, who was so laid back and slow that he could have been on almost anything.

And then Zebedee, who's main task seemed to be to boing in at the end and tell them all to go to bed. Not sure how appropriate that was for everyone.

My two sisters and I loved it. The 5 minute animation would be on just before the early evening news at around 6.15pm and as soon as Zebedee came at the end telling us to go to bed, off we would all go! Our Mum must've loved him.

So, the end has come. No more A-Z Challenge. I am very relieved I managed to make every letter and can now collapse in a wet puddle of exhaustion. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and loved meeting so many new and fantastic bloggers. Thank you everyone for reading my madness and commenting. I really appreciate it. Looking forward to a little break now.

So, in the immortal words of Zebedee:

"TIME FOR BED!!"