This film is part of Free
Polygamous Polonius Revisited
A cartoon character assassination of the Iron Lady with a healthy dollop of lunacy from Bob “Roobarb” Godfrey
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1985 8 mins
Overview
I think it’s fair to say that Bob Godfrey was not a big fan of Margaret Thatcher. Long before he brought Roobarb and Henry’s Cat to life, Bob made the independent short Polygamous Polonius that told a nonsense tale of the courtship of a matronly art lecturer. A quarter of a century later he lifted the soundtrack and remade the film almost shot for shot but with a very different message. The male suitor now becomes a “miner” nuisance in Thatcher’s lecture on Britain, bringing barbed reminders of the political battlegrounds of the 1980s.
Related
Animated Britain
Vote for Froglet
Children's 1974 7 mins
As the general election is held in the UK, it's polling day for the Clangers on a small blue planet far away.
The Mail Goes Through
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1947 10 mins
Witness the no-so-great train robbery in this post-war cartoon, produced "in glorious monochrome"
Dream Doll
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1979 12 mins Silent
A relationship liable to blow up at any moment is at the heart of this animated short about a man and an inflatable sex doll
Next
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1989 5 mins
Two virtuoso performances in one – Shakespeare's complete works presented in puppet form by a master of animation
The Professor
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1967 7 mins
A nutty professor meets a very hungry caterpillar in this animated chase cartoon brimming with swinging 60s backdrops.
Dear Margery Boobs
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1977 5 mins
Agony Aunt finds her romantic match in a man with increasingly complicated sex fantasies.
New
Brickmaking at Pycroft Brickworks
Amateur film 1974 11 mins Location: Hayling Island
You'll be up to your knees in clay when you meet the Pyecrofts in this delightful film about a family brick making business on Hayling Island -
Netley Marsh Steam Engine Rally 1976
Amateur film 1976 4 mins Silent Location: Netley Marsh
The hot summer of '76 is made even hotter by a line-up of working steam traction engines in this nostalgic film from R H Collins
Eastbourne College
Amateur film 1952 15 mins Silent Location: Eastbourne
Journey back to the 50s where the boys of Eastbourne College enjoy a jolly good time square bashing, parading, playing rugby and athletics, rowing on the River Ouse and touring.
Hove, Horsham and Horses
Amateur film 1966 7 mins Silent Location: Hove
Catch a glimpse of Hove's old town hall before the bull-dozers move in as well as leafy Horsham scenes and a local hunt at Patcham in this film from Doreen Combes
Ploughing at Fulking and views of Shipley Mill
Amateur film 1969 4 mins Silent Location: Fulking
Frank Gregory captures rural West Sussex in this charming film from 1969 - featuring Shire horses at a ploughing match and excellent views of a spinning Shipley Mill
A Family Holiday in Southend
Amateur film 1967 4 mins Silent Location: Southend Pier
Join this happy family on a jolly to Southend - visiting the mile long pier, the replica Golden Hind, a jellied eel stall and lured by posters promising medieval torture