The Tales of Olga Da Polga

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Olga’s garden audience rapt by her storytelling includes Noel the cat, Fangio the Argentine hedgehog, and Graham the tortoise. Her tall tales are gently shown to be distant from the truth by what humans say. Olga was named after the Bond family's real guinea pig: in 2014, Guardian journalist Michelle Pauli met Olga number six. [3] Television series [ edit ] They also carry subtle messages, with one story, “Olga Starts a Rumour”, encouraging questioning about science and the environment.

Where Paddington famously found a new home with the Brown family, Olga takes residence with Mr & Mrs Sawdust and their eight-year-old daughter Karen, who forms a special bond with the animal.The series began publication in the year 1971, when “The Tales of Olga da Polga” was released. The sixth and final chapter book, “Olga Follows Her Nose” was released in the year 2002. The last two chapter books were released after a rather long drought of chapter books, with none coming out after the release of “Olga Takes Charge” in the year 1982. Olga da Polga began life, as best can tell, in a pet shop with a muddle of guinea pigs. Olga da Polga is sure she will go places, no matter what Old Sale or Return might say about humans and the world beyond their pet shop door. One day, Olga da Polga does leave, with a small girl named Karen, in one of those motor cars Olga da Polga has seen through the pet shop window. From this day forward, a new family, new friends, and new experiences will fill Olga da Polga’s life—and she is happy.

So yeah, I was really looking forward to this one, because I love guinea pigs (and other rodents as well) and I just love it when books are about them. Sadly, this one was not meant to be. When Paddington first hit screens, the BBC dominated children’s viewing. But CBeebies is no longer the default choice for children aged six and under. Facing competition from streaming platforms and YouTube, its audience reach slipped from 6 to 5 per cent last year. Little Isla who play Karen was wonderful, and as we all love animals, working with guinea pigs, cats and tortoises was a dream job.” It was mostly the fault of Olga herself. The story was decent, the idea was fun, but Olga was just a terrible character. Starting rumours, making up tall tales (which I truly didn't like and I was dreading them when they popped up), thinking she is so much more superior to anyone (and bragging about it), and much much more. I was so terribly glad for the humans that they didn't have to hear Olga's stories, but I felt sorry for the animals.My own Olga lived to seven-and-a-half years old; not bad for a guinea pig. My father built a hutch for her as well as a run so that she could go out in the garden,” said Jankel, who ran Bond’s literary estate for 30 years until the company the family had formed was sold in 2016. The Tales of Olga da Polga is an utterly charming children's book from 1971 by Michael Bond, an award-winning author more famous for his stories about Paddington Bear, who first made his appearance in 1958. These stories, however, all feature Olga da Polga, a self-important, mischievous and imaginative guinea pig, who loves telling wildly exaggerated tales about her experiences to her friends.

But Bond would be amazed, she believes, by the close association his bear now has with royalty: “The timing with the platinum jubilee meant that the last time many people saw the Queen close up was in the lovely teatime film she made. But there are people who love Olga, rather than Paddington, because she really meant something to them as children.” Olga Takes Charge” is the third chapter book in the “Olga da Polga” series, which was released in the year 1982. Olga was in a jam. That day she was in quite a few jams, each one worse than the one before, until her mind was whirling so much and she did not know which way to go. Jankel said her father’s writing always included animals, from his books about Thursday the mouse, to his adult detective series about Monsieur Pamplemousse and his faithful bloodhound Pommes Frites: “Somehow he could see an animal’s character coming through.” Programme makers from Maramedia, a Glasgow-based production company which specialises in filming animals, approached Jankel with the idea of making a show based on the books. Some of the characters in the new 13-part series are drawn from her childhood, just as they were in her father’s original stories. With Jules and I both acting, I’ve spent a lot of time making the tea and looking after our boys when she was out working, so it wasn’t a great leap to portray Mr Sawdust.

If Olga proves a hit, the BBC could share in merchandise sales and spin-offs with the Michael Bond estate. Although Olga is more than 50 years old, CBeebies believes the character will entrance today’s pre-school audience. The character held a unique place in the writer’s affections. Bond would replace each Olga with a new guinea pig, given the same name. The “sixth” Olga would sit on the author’s lap as he watched television at his Maida Vale home in his final years. He had previously bought a bear from Selfridges, which he christened Paddington, as a present for his wife. lga is delighted when the Sawdust family move her inside their house for the winter. She has her own box in the corner of the dining room where she spends her days watching the comings and goings in the house. But when she decides to do a spot of decorating, things don't go according to plan . .