The Wombles celebrate 50 years with surprise TV performance of 'The Wombling Song'

24 June 2024, 10:50

Remember!

Mike Batt is one of the all-time great British songwriters, having written 'Bright Eyes' for Art Garfunkel and 'Nine Million Bicycles' for Katie Melua, among many, many others.

But to millions on these shores, he'll always be known as the man behind the musical phenomenon that is The Wombles.

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His musical spin on the furry characters by Elisabeth Beresford was no flash in the pan, but has lasted half a century and counting, taking in hit singles, TOTP spots and even a massive performance at the Glastonbury Festival in 2011.

Mike Batt last week took the time to look back on the story and legacy of The Wombles on ITV's This Morning.

It's a great interview touching on how Batt turned down £200 upfront and instead negotiated for the UK musical rights to the Wombles characters, before we got what we tuned in for – a top-notch performance of 'The Wombling Song'

The Wombles Celebrate 50 Years With a Performance of Their Biggest Hit! | This Morning

"It was so much fun that I can't not remember it," said Batt, revealing that he gets "Remember you're a Womble!" shouted at him in the street.

"My mum made the costumes.. the amount of joy that we just got as people for just doing this... it was just such a lot of fun."

He added of their landmark anniversary: "To have three records in the chart at the same time which happened at June, n50 years ago... we knew at the time it was special because it was the first time since The Beatles had done it."