Sydney George Hulme Beaman, born in 1887 and who died 4 February 1932, was an author & illustrator best known as the creator of the Toytown stories and their characters including Larry the Lamb.
Toytown was first broadcast by the BBC on 19 July 1929 in the Children's Hour BBC radio programme.[1]
Beaman conceived the idea of Toytown in the mid- 1920s. As an artist, he had started to make toys in a first-floor room in a rented house in Golders Green, recognising that the German market, which had been dominant in the period leading up to The Great War, was all but dead. He decided to focus on the Victorian theme of 'Noah's Ark', and it was from there that the 'Toytown' concept arose. Squarish angular figures were carved from solid wood, and painted in bright colours. From this, sprang a strip cartoon for a local paper, but this brought in very little cash, although it aroused a lot of interest in the district's schools. During the early days of "the wireless", Beaman not only built his own set, but he also conducted classes showing youngsters how to do this, little realising that this new medium would make him everlastingly famous. It was not until 1928, however, that he produced his first book of 6 tales based upon the characters he had created. In the following year, May Jenkin, ("Elizabeth" in 'Children's Hour') discovered this, and dramatised 5 of the stories for radio. These were broadcast on 2LO as follows: 19.7.29 Proud Punch 1.8.29 The Tale of the Magician 16.8.29 The Tale of the Inventor 26.8.29 Captain Brass, the Pirate 11.9.29 The Giles Barn Gang & the Baby Brother
The Golders Green Gazette noted that his studio at home had a model city peopled by Toytown characters, beautifully carved in wood.[3]