Jeremy Geidt starred as the Caravan Showman to present this long-running BBC children’s series.
Geidt travelled around the British Isles in a gaily painted caravan that was, in fact, a portable travelling theatre. The show was then transmitted from village greens, school playgrounds, marketplaces and the like from anywhere in the country where a BBC outdoor broadcast unit was available.
The debut episode was broadcast from Hampstead Heath in London and locations visited over the next three summers included the Botanical Gardens, Glasgow; the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich; Holyrood Park, Edinburgh; Chipperfield Common, Hertfordshire; Choristers School Cricket Field, Salisbury; Baynton House, Cardiff; Bristol Zoo; Clevedon, Somerset; the Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate; Tiger Bay, Cardiff; Old Trafford; The New Forest; Woburn Abbey; Alnwick Castle; Coventry Civic Aerodrome; Ludlow Castle; Blackpool; Plymouth Hoe; Stratford-on-Avon; York; Weymouth; Northampton; and Eastbourne.
Clive Dunn appeared as the caretaker, Mr Crumpet, from 1957 to 1959. Cardew Robinson joined the show as Jeremy’s “Crazy Cousin” for the 1960 series.
Some of the entertainment each week was provided by local performers (magicians, jugglers, clowns and the like), and some by the children themselves, who were invited to climb up on stage to perform.
Music was provided by Elton Hayes and the Roundabout People, and The Caravan Quartet (later, The Caravan Four).
Guests included The Great Norberti, The Three Buffoons, Mister Joe and Partner (Wizards of the Diabolo), The Belltones, Peggy Ann Clifford, Gordon Rollings, Henry Cooper, Jack Brabham, Jack Douglas, Sooty with Harry Corbett, Russ Henderson and the Trinidad Steel Band, Jim Dale, Joe Baker, Gerald Campion, Shirley Eaton, Jimmy Edwards, The Pan Yue Yen Troupe and The Skating Meteors.
Episodes began with the children in the audience taking part in a “balloon race” and releasing gas-filled balloons into the sky, each with a card attached containing their name and address. The child whose balloon travelled farthest received a prize (a TV Caravan propelling pencil).
Many of the balloons apparently reached the Continent, and one was caught in the masts of the Barrow lightship.
The series originally aired as The Children’s Television Caravan. The concept for the show came from Freda Lingstrom (head of Children’s TV at the BBC), who had seen such a travelling theatre while on holiday in France.
Caravan Showman
Jeremy Geidt Mr Crumpet
Clive Dunn Crazy Cousin
Cardew Robinson
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Some of the entertainment each week was provided by local performers (magicians, jugglers, clowns and the like), and some by the children themselves, who were invited to climb up on stage to perform.
