Tony Hart
Television Artist Tony Hart
Born	15 October 1925 Maidstone, Kent
Occupation	Artist

Tony Hart (born 15 October 1925 in Maidstone, Kent) is an English artist and a former television presenter. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (600x799, 98 KB) Official biographical photo of Tony Hart from Signed Photo of Tony Hart that you can print. ... October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years). ... 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_England_(bordered). ... Maidstone (pronounced either mādstun or mādstone) is the county town of Kent, in South East England, United Kingdom. ... This article is about the county in England. ... Look up artist in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... October 15 is the 288th day of the year (289th in leap years). ... 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar). ... Maidstone (pronounced either mādstun or mādstone) is the county town of Kent, in South East England, United Kingdom. ... This article is about the county in England. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London (de facto) Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... The Bath, a painting by Mary Cassatt (1844-1926). ...

Biography

He was born in Maidstone, Kent, and began his TV career in 1952 as resident artist on the BBC children's show Saturday Special. Subsequent TV shows included Titch and Quackers, Playbox, Vision On, Take Hart, Hart Beat and Smart Hart. From the 1980s, he often appeared alongside the animated Plasticine stop-motion character Morph. Maidstone (pronounced either mādstun or mādstone) is the county town of Kent, in South East England, United Kingdom. ... This article is about the county in England. ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion... Tich and Quackers was a [British] childrens television show of the late sixties and early seventies. ... Vision On titles. ... Take Hart was a British childrens television show about art, fronted by Tony Hart. ... Plasticine is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. ... Wallace & Gromit is a good example of cartoons made with stop-motion animation. ... Morph is an animated Plasticine stop-motion character who appeared with Tony Hart starting from 1977 on several of his UK TV programmes, notably Take Hart and Hart Beat. ...

He studied art at Maidstone College of Art, which later became Kent Institute of Art and Design (and is now the University College for the Creative Arts at Maidstone). In World War II, he served as an officer in the 1st Gurkha rifles. Kent Institute of Art and Design - commonly referred to as KIAD (kai-ad) is an art school based across three campuses in the county of Kent, in the United Kingdom. ... The University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester (often abbreviated to the University College for the Creative Arts) is an art school based in South East England, with campuses in Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Gurkha, also spelt as Gorkha, are people from Nepal who take their name from the eighth century Hindu warrior-saint Guru Gorakhnath. ...

Career Highlights

As well as demonstrating small-scale projects (the type that viewers might be able to do), Hart also created large-scale artworks on the TV studio floor, and even used beaches and other open spaces as 'canvases' (to be viewed from a camera-crane).

A regular feature of Hart's TV shows was 'The Gallery', which displayed artworks sent in by young viewers. The easy-listening vibraphone music accompanying this feature – "Left Bank", composed by Wayne Hill – has passed into British TV theme lore.

Hart also created the original design for the Blue Peter badge. He originally asked for his fee to be paid as a royalty of 1d (one pre-decimalisation penny) for each badge made, but was offered a flat fee of £100 (equivalent to around £1,600 at 2006 rates). The badges are famous throughout the UK and have been coveted by three successive generations of Blue Peter viewers. The standard Blue badge A Blue Peter badge is a much coveted award for Blue Peter viewers, given to people on the childrens television programme for either being on the show or achieving something. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For other uses, see Blue Peter (disambiguation). ...

Hart has received two BAFTA awards. His first came in 1978, and he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organization that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, childrens film and television, and interactive media. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean [1]. // Coated in ice, power and telephone lines sag and often break, resulting in power outages. ...

Hart retired from regular TV work in 2002, but still makes occasional guest appearances on other shows. He also makes personal appearances at events.

It was announced on "It Started with Swap Shop" on December 28th that he is currently suffering from ill health.

Trivia

• In an interview Hart joked he could beat fellow artist Rolf Harris in a fight as "Rolf never stops talking".

Rolf Harris. ...

External links

• Official site
• Interview with Tony Hart
• Tony Hart article about Morph