Mother Comes Home as Childhood Thief Waits Lifetime to Drop a Clanger

So, is it true that one of the original Clanger puppets went missing for 50 years? It is indeed, and it makes quite a story.

A young chap stole it from an exhibition in the 1970s and, a lifetime later, confessed to the theft just before he died.

Josie, whose mother, Joan Firmin, made the original Clangers and who runs the brilliant Cosmo China in Bloomsbury told us a while ago that the original Mother Clanger had been found after half a century in an Irish loft and was on its way to join the rest of the original Clanger clan at The Beaney Museum in Canterbury, but Mother’s triumphant return was delayed for several weeks while they made sure that she wasn’t bringing a few unwelcome guests (ie. moths) into the museum cabinet with her. Now Mother has finally been reunited with the Soup Dragon, the Music Boat, Major, Granny, Tiny and Small, oh and Bagpuss, who’s in the same exhibit.

Our own Mother Clanger is an homage to Joan’s original, but with a few alterations to make it safe for children to play with. You can actually find our Clangers at Cosmo China and in the gift shop at The Beaney Museum, as well as on our website here.

And now, the big question: If you just happened to steal a national treasure as a child, would you:

a) Try to sell it on the black market?

a) Own up immediately?

b) Hide it and keep it a secret for ever?

c) Wait decades before making a deathbed confession?

Mr ChunkiChilli has to admit that he once found a book on our bookshelf that we had ‘borrowed’ from a library about 20 years before. He posted it back anonymously. Can he ever be forgiven??