Talk:The Wombles

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This page has been cited as a source by a notable professional or academic publication:
Boden, Rich (2017). "Editorial: Stewardship—in praise of thankless tasks and the respecting of Wombles". FEMS Microbiology Letters. 364 (5): fnx041. doi:10.1093/femsle/fnx041.

Untitled[edit]

Steeleye span were not always the band, perhaps that should be clearer. All sorts of people filled in including well known musicians from bands like 10cc. A TV history program actually revealed that the smell issue was a big one. They only had one set of womble costumes and at times they smelt so bad they had an extra hotel room booked to keep them in.

This (TV history program) is available (as of September 27, 2010) on YouTube as Roobarb's Look At 1974, part 6 of 6. I'm not aware of a 10CC connection with the Wombles, though I wouldn't put it past Godley and/or Creme. Chris Spedding and Clem Cattini were regulars (as Wellington and Bungo respectively). Tim and Andy Renton and Robin LeMesurier also donned the costumes, the former two most likely for the Wombles TV appearances in Germany and the 1974 US promotional tour - might even have appeared on Captain Kangaroo. LeMesurier was kicked out of the "band" after being arrested for possession of pot following a Wombles appearance on Clapham Common.

Wearing a Womble costume made out of fake fur would be hot enough on its own, but the chubbiness of the characters required the insertion of partially inflated beach balls which would have held in the heat, especially under TV studio lighting.

I think the Steeleye Span story probably happened in December 1975, as that seems to be the only time Steeleye Span and the Wombles would have both been appearing on TOTP (promoting "All Around My Hat" and "Let's Womble To The Party Tonight" respectively) but I'm not keen to put that in unless someone can confirm my suspicion first. Bonalaw 12:33, 28 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Steeleye Span appeared in costume only once to promote "Superwomble". Tim Hart had a Steeleye Span web site that mentioned this appearance in response to my asking him the question, but with his demise it may no longer be available.

Sightings[edit]

Have removed the rubbish about womble sightings in Eastbourne. Is this a wind-up, or was an actor in a suit seen? Not really relevant. Tpacw (talk) 16:12, 12 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

9/8?[edit]

I hate to admit this, but I've still got my old cassettes of Wombes music from when I was a kid... and there's no way Minuetto Allegretto is 9/8. 12/8 or 6/8, maybe, but not 9/8.[[User:Grutness|Grutness ^talk ]] 12:51, 23 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Picture?[edit]

Where is it?--Hraefen ^Talk 22:01, 18 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Number of books[edit]

Elizabeth's personal entry says "As well as writing 20 Wombles books," yet this section only lists a few.

Dimensions (size) of a Womble[edit]

Sadly not mentioned anywhere: how tall is a Womble?

In the old TV series, the Wombles had a door made of a car door. I seem to remeber that a Womble could comfortably use that door, indicating that a Womble should be around 1 meter tall. If the car door was a real car door, and not from a car model (toy car).

In the books it's mentioned that the Silver Womble (the Womble's car) is propelled by a clockwork. However, a typical clockwork which one might find in the junk might have a serious problem when used for automotive transport of a few Wombles (with the size of a small children).

Apart from the question of the size of the "real" Wombles, what was the size of the Womble stop motion puppets used in the TV series? Were they 1:1 scale models of real Wombles? --Klaws 09:02, 7 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In the movie they were described as "four feet tall, fat and furry". 59.167.55.160 (talk) 12:00, 9 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wombles were certainly shorter than humans, but I don't think they could have been diminutive for a number of reasons. For one thing Bulgaria is capable of holding up a copy of the Times (which was a broadsheet in those days). Also I'm pretty sure the Silver Womble was not clockwork. (As I remember it ran on alcohol, which Tobermory distilled from nettle juice.) Also in the Wandering Wombles Orinoco and Tomsk managed to get from London to Loch Ness in 2 days, which would have been very difficult if their motor schooter had been toy-sized. Also Tomsk was able to masquerade as one of the guards at Buckingham Palace, wearing a bearskin. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.12.62.183 (talk) 12:48, 24 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, it gets a brief mention in the article. In the books, wombles are bearlike creatures who stand between four and five feet high. (In the first book, Orinoco wears a long overcoat; other than being "strained around the middle buttons", it seems to fit him pretty well.) With the TV series, the wombles were made into smaller, rodent-like creatures who stood three to four feet high. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.118.253.101 (talk) 04:58, 28 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Recycling?[edit]

The Wombles didn't recycle, they reused. This is made clear from the lyrics to the Wombles Theme ...making good use of the things that they find. Timdownie 19:43, 1 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Fictional?[edit]

It' a bit much to say 'The Wombles are fictional characters' in the postmodern 21st Century, isn't it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dwlegg (talk • contribs) 16:04, 25 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Clarity is primary in an encyclopedia. Remember that some readers will come here based on an off-hand reference, unaware if wombles are fictional characters or a pack-rat-like rodent or an international environmentalism organization. --Tysto (talk) 20:03, 14 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Tomsk[edit]

I could have sworn there was a regular member of the Wimbledon Wombles called Tomsk. I think he was the handyman. Plutonium27 (talk) 20:54, 22 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The handyman womble is Tobermory, Tomsk is the athletic womble —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.176.157.69 (talk) 21:08, 5 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Also, in the first book (the first chapter of which is available from the official website... look for "Download Extract"), Tomsk is the burrow's gatekeeper, as he lets the newly-named Bungo out for work. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.118.253.101 (talk) 04:52, 28 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wombles Infobox[edit]

I have recently updated The Wombles (band) and created Wombling Free and Wombling Songs. Would there be any merit in a genetic Wombles infobox for the bottom of any article related to the Wombles? McWomble (talk) 08:41, 9 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Age[edit]

Would wombles really be the oldest animals? A quick search on google proves this wrong - a clam was found to be over 400 years old, and was classed as an animal according to the articles. Tpacw (talk) 16:12, 12 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Vicar of Dibley[edit]

Were the Wombles constantly mentioned by Alice in the Vicar of Dibley? I think so... but I'm not sure (I'm american!).

Any brits who can answer my question? Intothewoods29 (talk) 23:24, 23 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know about "constantly mentioned", but she does mention them more than once in the series. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.222.90.34 (talk) 18:46, 30 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Popular Culture Trimmed[edit]

Removed this from the In Popular Culture Section

In the works of author D.C. White, the character of Captain Doobie (who, much like Warren Ellis's The Captain, is not really the Captain of anything) estimates that one horsepower is equivalent to 1072.8 womblepower.

As far as I can tell via Google, Captain Doobie only exists in one person's blog entries (presumably the aforementioned Mr/Ms White), so is not really notable enough to include here, and the reference to Warren Ellis is completely off-topic.

If I'm wrong about the notability, perhaps someone would care to create a Captain Doobie or D. C. White page? Rojomoke (talk) 13:57, 31 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Daisy buns?[edit]

One fan site implies that Orinoco's favourite food was not actually cloud berries but daisy buns: see http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site%3Acerise.f2s.com+%22daisy+buns%22

Anyone (re)watched enough episodes to be able to comment definitively? Ozaru (talk) 22:01, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Rainbow Toys made an Orinoco Womble doll in the early 1980s which had a battery powered voice box inside activated by pressing the tummy of the doll. Several phrases spoken by Bernard Cribbins (who did the voices for the TV series) are recorded thereon. One of the phrases is "Daisy buns?!? My favourites!" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.255.204.14 (talk) 04:39, 27 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wellington[edit]

There appears to be some confusion over the origin of the name of the Womble named 'Wellington'. Is the origin Wellington in New Zealand or Wellington in Somerset? The previous link was to Wellington in NZ but I noticed the text claim that the origin was Wellington School in Somerset, so I changed the internal linking to route to Wellington School. Now it has been edited back to link to Wellington in NZ, but the editor has not removed the reference to Wellington School in Somerset. Dubmill (talk) 15:30, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Beresford named Wellington after the school a nephew of hers attended. But in "The Wombles Go Round The World" in the chapter where Wellington and Tomsk visit New Zealand one reads the following: ""It sounds awfully nice," said Wellington, who felt that, as he had chosen a New Zealand name for himself, he had to be extra-polite..."(Chapter 12 Ah-roo-ah-roo-ah-roo). So what she used from reality as inspiration for the name was adapted to fit the narrative of her story. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.255.204.14 (talk) 04:31, 27 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Rating[edit]

Re-rated as C-class. Cdhaptomos talk–contribs 10:43, 23 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Links[edit]

Removed overlinking, as well as "easter egg" links - ie when sentence talks about "Great Uncle Orinoco" then links from that should not go to "orinocco river".. however if it says "great uncle orinocco .... named after the river orinocco" then obviously a link to the geographic article is correct from the second use of the word.

Some of the origins of the names need to be shown.

Also please don't revert edits that attempt to correct errors such as these, when the reverts reintroduce the same errors eg this edit http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Wombles&action=historysubmit&diff=433917896&oldid=433909875 reintroduces overlinking as well as reintroducing "easter egg" links which could be original research. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lorelorn (talk • contribs) 20:57, 17 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Another point is that of the musical intruments the wombles play - this is not explained in the article - is this something to do with The Wombles (band) ? if so it should be in that article. ie see the section The_Wombles#Characters - I have marked the points as needing clarification and reference.Lorelorn (talk) 21:00, 17 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

1968?[edit]

The entry claims that Beresford had the inspiration for the Wombles on Boxing Day (26 December) 1968 - yet the first book was published in 1968. Turning the job round in under a week seems unlikely... CulturalSnow (talk) 23:15, 7 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, there is a conflict in the references here. The ref following the Boxing Day event from the Telegraph ([1] describes the trip to the Common, but does not say 1968 for the trip. It also conflicts with another reference in the article by saying the first book was published in 1970, while the BBC ref [2] says the first book was 1968. FlowerpotmaN·(t) 23:35, 7 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Had to check but 1968 is definitely the year for the first book and is multiply referenced in the Beresford article; as the Telegraph source doesn't say 1968 anyway - saying "In the mid-1960s" , it's just a matter of tweaking the sentence "In 1968, Elisabeth Beresford took her young children..." to remove the specific year. FlowerpotmaN·(t) 23:54, 7 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

And I have done just that FlowerpotmaN·(t) 23:59, 7 June 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Cousin Botany[edit]

Named after Botany Bay?

(Can't believe I'm typing on a talk page about a Wombles article.}

All best to all, Notreallydavid (talk) 16:56, 2 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Madame Cholet[edit]

This article describes Madame Cholet as "a very kind-hearted but short-tempered womble". It has been a long time since I last saw The Wombles, but I do not remember Madame Cholet being short-tempered. Vorbee (talk) 17:43, 12 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Origin of the name[edit]

The article refers to the charming mispronunciation of Wimbledon Common, but surely there's a connection with Dorset slang wamble, to wander? Hardy uses it in his The Dynasts. Shtove 20:22, 12 February 2020 (UTC)