UK news This article is more than 22 years oldBungle, George and Zippy go under the hammer
This article is more than 22 years oldThe original puppets of Zippy, George and Bungle, aka the principle characters from classic children's television show Rainbow, today went under the hammer at Christie's South Kensington. The puppets were sold for £7,990, some three times higher than expected.
The costumes for Bungle the bear, George the hippopotamus and Zippy the alien with a zip for a mouth, were sold as part of Christies' third annual TV generation sale. Former Rainbow presenter Geoffrey Hayes made one final appearance with the items earlier this week before they go on sale.
Also included in the lot were costumes such as a turquoise and silver tutu and a layered net costume for Bungle and costumes for Zippy and George including aprons and a Sherlock Holmes style deer stalker and cape. The lot was estimated to fetch between £2,000 and £3,000, and was bought for display purposes by Pearson TV.
The Thames Television series was ran between 1972 until 1992. From those 20 years, only four or five sets of the characters are known to still exist. They were obviously worn out over the many years of pranking and custard pie throwing, as this set show signs of wear.
Related story
Somewhere, over a Rainbow: Hilary Osborne looks over the Rainbow gang and other dinky playthings to evaluate their potential as collectors' items.
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