Remember the Soup Dragon?

You know - lived with the Clangers inside a small blue planet with dustbin lids for doors; she gurgled and they whistled. Had occasional encounters with the Iron Chicken and Glow Buzzers? Not to mention astronauts who ran too fast and drifted into space...

Well for some reason, we all seem to have picked up Clanger names;

• The Iron Chicken - named as a result of being the first person to jump on the first trip we did (January'91, in the rain/sleet in Normandie), then chickening out several times over the next year before taking the plunge again in several strange guises and positions.

• The Soup Dragon - generally known as "Captain Chunder". Got his name after downing a few pints of Thatchers Scrumpy and eating some P&O chips before hitting a force 6 on the way to Cherbourg. Need I say more? [although if you pass a lay-by in France, we've probably stopped in it for him!]. Luckily he'd dried out by the time we jumped. A later trip resulted in a more spectacular, if short-lived, display by "Chunderstudy" which made us all thoroughly ashamed of the minibus whilst queuing for the ferry. Had fun with a jet wash though.

• Mother Clanger - Al "The Wife" Johnson is in fact male. This has not prevented him being mistaken for someone's wife or girlfriend on numerous occasions, and has caused a little embarrassment when being chatted up and having to explain that Al is not short for Alison or Alice, but Alastair. Could be something to do with all that hair.

• Tiny Clanger - She's not that Tiny, but definitely made the highest pitch noises on the way down. After helping invent the PTSH whilst playing with the ice-crusher, Tiny has now disappeared to Scotland somewhere and hasn't been heard of in some time. Just squeak and we'll find you!

Guest appearances by other Clangers, but the Glow Buzzers didn't make it through customs.

For more information, visit The Clangers on their Small Blue Planet

Last Updated, 12/2/97 by TIC INFO@aerial.org