Dick And Dodo

Published on Friday, December 13th, 2024

Dick had many, many dogs over the years.

Dodo, a female dachshund, was very special. She was small, sensible, and stubborn, and amazingly, she also became a star of television!

Already a successful writer, Dick launched a second career as a children’s television presenter in the early 1980’s. His first spot was presenting a section about animals on a Sunday morning programme called Rub-a-Dub-Tub.

The producer of Rub-a-Dub-Tub was looking for a very specific person – ‘someone who had been a teacher, who wrote books for children and who owned a small photogenic dog. I fitted that bill, along with our wire-haired miniature Dachshund, Dodo. Was I interested? I was!’

Dick and Dodo together made over fifty episodes of the show.

Later on, Dodo had another stint in the limelight, alongside her owner of course, in a series called Tumbledown Farm. The format of the show was that Dick, Dodo and his screen granddaughter, Georgina, would look at some animals together and he would then read her a story by the fire. Dick and Dodo recorded two 13-part series of Tumbledown Farm together.

Some say that Dodo was the real star of the show, with Dick as her sidekick! You can watch some of their television programmes here.

During many photo opportunities like the ones below, Dodo sat on Dick’s lap or was tucked under his arm, in pride of place.

In the photograph above, we see Dodo sat on Dick, and another of his lovely dachshunds, Poppy, by his feet.

Above is a photo of Dick and Dodo outside on a snowy day, along with Frank the gigantic French Lop rabbit!

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