George (Rainbow)

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George was a camp pink hippo and a character of the popular children's television programme Rainbow in the 1980s, voiced by Roy Skelton and operated by Malcolm Lord, Tony Holtham and later Craig Crane.

Sporting an impressive pair of eyelashes, the long-suffering and gentle George often appeared to be initially outwitted by the more extrovert and egotistical Zippy. However in the manner of The Tortoise and the Hare, George normally won through in the end.

George was noted for his fondness of stories from the rainbow book.

George's "catchphrase" was his own delayed and elongated goodbye at the end of the show. i.e. Geoffrey, Zippy, Bungle, Rod, Jane, Freddy would say "goodbye" normally, followed by a one second pause and then George's own "good by-eye".

In December 2007 Zippy and George appeared on a puppet special of the Weakest Link hosted by Anne Robinson which was originally broadcast on Friday, December 28th 2007 at 18:00GMT on BBC1.

George makes an appearance alongside Zippy in the BBC television series Ashes to Ashes