Story Teller

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Issue 1 of Story Teller
Issue 1 of Story Teller

Story Teller was a magazine partwork published by Marshall Cavendish between 1982 and 1985. The original Story Teller was released in 1982 as a fortnightly (bi-weekly) partwork. Each magazine contained a selection of children's stories, some of which were traditional folk tales like Anansi the Spiderman, some classic children's tales such as Gobbolino, the Witch's Cat and some contemporary works written especially for the series like Timbertwig. Each issue usually contained a poem or two as well. Each story was accompanied by lavish colour artwork, and inside each issue was an offer to purchase custom made binders for each magazine as well as cases to hold the tapes.

Each issue also came with a cover mounted cassette tape containing a reading of the stories from the current issue, complete with music and sound effects. What set Story Teller apart from many similar partworks is that the stories were read by professional actors and celebrities of the time, including Derek Jacobi, Nigel Lambert, Sheila Hancock and Richard Briers. To encourage children to read along with the stories on tape, a characteristic ping was inserted into each story at the point the page was changed.

Longer stories were split over multiple issues to encourage parents to buy the next issue. As one multipart story came to end a second would start. Many of these would be simple 2 part stories but a selection of stories (usually classics such as Peter Pan and the Wizard of Oz) were spread over four or five issues.

The original collection was 26 issues long with each tape lasting up to 45 minutes, except for issue 26 which was 90 minutes long because of the special preview issue for Story Teller 2 which immmediately followed the original series. Story Teller 2 continued the tradition of the original by combining traditional, classic and contemporary children's stories.

Following the end of Story Teller 2 Marshall Cavendish followed it up with another 26 part series, Little Story Teller, which as its title suggests was aimed at a younger audience than the original series. Many of the stories in Little Story Teller covered the adventures of the inhabitants of the Magic Mountain, which included Leroy the Lion and Dotty the Dragon.

Completing the Story Teller family were 3 Christmas specials. Released annually along with each series the Christmas Story Tellers featured festive stories and even songs. The third Christmas Story Teller included stories suited to both the original series and Little Story Teller as well.

Christmas Story Teller 3 marked the end of Story Teller. For those who were children at the time of its release, Story Teller is one of the great childhood memories. Now largely forgotten, issues can still be found today in second hand and charity shops but finding a complete set can be very difficult. Digital copies can also be found on auction sites such as eBay, but these are of dubious legality.

Contents

[edit] Stories and Readers

[edit] Story Teller 1

Part 1Gobbolino, the Witch's Cat


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6

  • Beauty and the Beast: Hywel Bennett
  • Dodo: Patricia Broke
  • Timbertwig & the Caravan of Surprises: George Layton
  • The Flying Piggy-bank: Patricia Broke
  • The Land of the Bumbly Boo: Patricia Broke
  • The Moon and the Millpond: Dick Vosburgh
  • The Friendly Bear: Hywel Bennett


Part 7

  • The Billy Goats Gruff: Nigel Pegram
  • The Snow Queen: Liza Goddard
  • A Pocketful of Trouble: Nigel Pegram
  • Little Spook of Spook Hall: Liza Goddard
  • The Silly Tortoise: Nigel Pegram
  • Timbertwig Gets a New Hat: George Layton
  • Faster than Fairies: Liza Goddard


Part 8


Part 9


Part 10


Part 11


Part 12


Part 13


Part 14


Part 15


Part 16


Part 17


Part 18


Part 19


Part 20

  • Rumplestiltskin: Hayley Mills
  • Heidi (3): Denise Bryer
  • The Green Maiden of the Lake: Hayley Mills
  • The Book of Beasts (2): John Baddeley
  • It Makes a Change: Denise Bryer
  • Lutra the Otter: Michael Tudor Barnes


Part 21


Part 22


Part 23


Part 24


Part 25


Part 26


Part 26 Story Teller 2 Special Preview Issue

[edit] Story Teller 2

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6


Part 7


Part 8


Part 9

  • Diggersaurs (1) : Steven Pacey
  • Molly Whuppie : Eve Karpf
  • Young Kate : Eve Karpf
  • Upside-Down Willie (1) : Steven Pacey
  • Gobbolino And The Little Wooden Horse (4) : Sheila Hancock
  • Meeting : Eve Karpf


Part 10


Part 11


Part 12


Part 13


Part 14


Part 15


Part 16


Part 17


Part 18


Part 19


Part 20

  • Arthur Gives Back His Sword : Mick Ford
  • Butterflies On the Moon : Geoffrey Matthews
  • Ginger's Secret Weapons : Cass Allen
  • Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (2) : Patricia Hodge
  • A Great Escape : Cass Allen
  • The Miller And His Donkey : Geoffrey Matthews
  • Sleep-Dog : Geoffrey Matthews


Part 21


Part 22


Part 23

  • Cyril Snorkel - The Performing Beast : Denise Bryer
  • Dorrie And The Witch's Visit : Denise Bryer
  • What the Smoke Said : George Layton
  • Alice's Adventures In Wonderland (5) : Patricia Hodge
  • The City Of Lost Submarines (2) : David Tate
  • Simon Rhymon : George Layton
  • The Sunlight Falls Upon The Grass : Denise Bryer


Part 24


Part 25


Part 26

[edit] Christmas Story Teller

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

Readers: Derek Griffiths, Carole Boyd, Denise Bryer, Nigel Lambert, Steven Pacey, Claire Hamill, Tom Newman.

  • Jingle Bells
  • A Carol for Gobbolino
  • Leroy Learns to Skate
  • Snow White
  • Snow Song
  • Mother Goose
  • Christmas Fun
  • Rudolph to the Rescue
  • Away in a Manger
  • I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing By
  • Dotty and the Teddy Bears
  • Clara and the Nutcracker Doll
  • O Little Town of Bethlehem
  • The Surprise Christmas
  • The Forgotten Toys
  • Minnie's Dinner Spell
  • Morris's Christmas Stocking
  • Hurray for Christmas!

[edit] In other languages

  • French "Raconte-moi des histoires"
  • Italian "I Racconta Storie"
  • Greek "Άμπρα Κατάμπρα" (Abracadabra)(reedited recently with CD's instead of cassette tapes)

[edit] See also

Information on Story Teller is sparse with only two dedicated websites:

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In other languages