53-514: Flowerpot Men may refer to: Bill and Ben, the Flower Pot Men , a BBC TV children's TV series The Flower Pot Men , a British pop group, 1960s The Flowerpot Men , a British music group, 1980s Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Flowerpot Men . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
106-544: A stroke and later maintained she did invent the characters used in the BBC series; this prompted lawyers, acting on behalf of the estate of the show's creator, Freda Lingstrom, to threaten Brabban with litigation if she appeared on television to propagate this claim. The show was the basis for a comic strip of the same name in the children's magazine Robin . The short lived one-hit wonder group, The Flower Pot Men , known for their 1967 song " Let's Go to San Francisco ", named
159-467: A "proudly liberal newspaper". The paper has highlighted what it refers to as war crimes being committed by pro-government forces in the Darfur region of Sudan. The paper has been a strong supporter of electoral reform . In 1997, The Independent on Sunday launched a campaign for the decriminalisation of cannabis. Ten years later, it reversed itself, arguing that skunk, the cannabis strain "smoked by
212-514: A "viewspaper", saying it "was started as an antidote to the idea of journalism as views not news. That was why it was called the Independent. Today it is avowedly a viewspaper not merely a newspaper". The Independent criticised Blair's comments the following day; it later changed format to include a "Viewspaper" insert in the centre of the regular newspaper, designed to feature most of the opinion columns and arts reviews. A leader published on
265-523: A Bill and Ben to the BBC in the 1950s; but other than their names, they bore no resemblance to the Flower Pot Men . Brabban's stories were broadcast on the radio programme Listen with Mother in 1951; the Bill and Ben of the Flower Pot Men were first seen on the television programme Watch with Mother in 1952. Both programmes were produced by Freda Lingstrom. During her later life Brabban suffered
318-416: A bloodless, value-free news-sheet. We have always been committed to social justice", but the paper recognised that it was up the readers to "make up [their] own mind about whether you agree with us or not". Rather than support a particular party, the paper urged all its reader to vote as "a responsibility of common citizenship". On 4 May 2015, the weekday version of The Independent said that a continuation of
371-565: A long-term partnership with the Saudi Research & Media Group, who operate under license the Independent Arabia, Independent Turkish, Independent Persian and Independent Urdu language editions. In September 2020, The Independent launched Independent en Espanol, a wholly owned and operated Spanish language edition. The Independent began publishing as a broadsheet, in a series of celebrated designs. The final version
424-588: A more European feel, similar to France's Libération . The redesign was carried out by a Barcelona-based design studio. The weekday second section was subsumed within the main paper, double-page feature articles became common in the main news sections, and there were revisions to the front and back covers. A new second section, "Extra", was introduced on 25 April 2006. It is similar to The Guardian ' s "G2" and The Times ' s "Times2", containing features, reportage and games, including sudoku . In June 2007, The Independent on Sunday consolidated its content into
477-448: A new look, better access to the blog service, priority on image and video content, and additional areas of the site including art, architecture, fashion, gadgets and health. The paper launched podcast programmes such as "The Independent Music Radio Show", "The Independent Travel Guides", "The Independent Sailing Podcasts", and "The Independent Video Travel Guides". Since 2009, the website has carried short video news bulletins provided by
530-522: A new pullout "Viewspaper" section, which contained the paper's comment and feature articles. Following the 2003 switch in format, The Independent became known for its unorthodox and campaigning front pages, which frequently relied on images, graphics or lists rather than traditional headlines and written news content. For example, following the Kashmir earthquake in 2005, it used its front page to urge its readers to donate to its appeal fund, and following
583-466: A news section which included sports and business, and a magazine focusing on life and culture. On 23 September 2008, the main newspaper became full-colour, and "Extra" was replaced by an "Independent Life Supplement" focusing on different themes each day. Three weeks after the acquisition of the paper by Alexander Lebedev and Evgeny Lebedev in 2010, the paper was relaunched with another redesign on 20 April. The new format featured smaller headlines and
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#1732801237117636-455: A quarter of a million. On 14 May 2004, The Independent produced its last weekday broadsheet, having stopped producing a Saturday broadsheet edition in January. The Independent on Sunday published its last simultaneous broadsheet on 9 October 2005, and thereafter followed a compact design until the print edition was discontinued. On 12 April 2005, The Independent redesigned its layout to
689-614: A result of a limited promotional budget. Marr admitted his changes had been a mistake in his book, My Trade . The newspaper was owned by Tony O'Reilly 's Irish Independent News & Media from 1997 until it was sold to Alexander Lebedev in 2010. Boycott left in April 1998 to join the Daily Express , and Marr left in May 1998, later becoming the BBC 's political editor. Simon Kelner
742-439: A result of controversy around Murdoch's move to Wapping, the plant was effectively having to function under siege from sacked print workers picketing outside. The Independent attracted some of the staff from the two Murdoch broadsheets who had chosen not to move to his company's new headquarters. Launched with the advertising slogan "It is. Are you?", and challenging both The Guardian for centre-left readers and The Times as
795-641: Is published under license, and owned and managed by Saudi Research and Media Group (SRMG), a major publishing organization with close ties to the Saudi royal family. In the 2024 United Kingdom general election , The Independent endorsed the Labour Party , although added what it termed as a warning that: “Labour must turn its promises into policies that benefit the hardworking and hopeful people of this country”. The Independent : The Independent on Sunday : There have also been various guest editors over
848-559: The Al Jazeera English news channel. From 2009, the website started carrying short video news bulletins provided by the al Jazeera English news channel. Over the years this developed to the point that the website regularly featured video content in its news reports. Some of this was syndicated and sourced from other news channels and providers, but The Independent gradually increased numbers in its own video team. In addition to putting together short-form video news reports,
901-519: The Brexit referendum . In March 2016, The Independent decided to close its print edition and become an online newspaper ; the last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016. The Independent on Sunday published its last print edition on 20 March 2016 and was closed following that. In 2017, Sultan Muhammad Abuljadayel bought a 30% stake in The Independent . Geordie Greig
954-527: The Flower Pot Men , including in the initial versions of two obituaries of Brabban, published in The Independent and BBC's in-house magazine Ariel respectively. The confusion also affected the BBC panel show QI , where host Stephen Fry in the 2004 episode Bills mistakenly claimed Brabban had named the Flower Pot Men characters after her younger brothers. All three sources later corrected their statements. Brabban sold three stories about
1007-609: The i , a compact sister newspaper, was launched. The i is a separate newspaper but uses some of the same material. It was later sold to regional newspaper company Johnston Press , becoming that publisher's flagship national newspaper. The online news site indy100 was announced by The Independent in February 2016, to be written by journalists but with stories selected by 'upvotes' from readers. The Independent supported U2 lead singer Bono's Product RED brand by creating The (RED) Independent , an occasional edition that gave half
1060-435: The "man who worked in the garden" would be away having his dinner, the two flower pot men, Bill and Ben, would emerge from their pots. After a minor adventure, a slight mishap would occur, for which someone would then take the blame: "Which of these two flowerpot men, was it Bill or was it Ben?" the narrator would trill in a quavering soprano; the culprit would then confess, before the gardener's footsteps would be heard coming up
1113-556: The British press was "unduly besotted" with the Royal Family and that a newspaper could "manage without" stories about the monarchy. In 2007, Alan Rusbridger , editor of The Guardian , said of The Independent : "The emphasis on views, not news, means that the reporting is rather thin, and it loses impact on the front page the more you do that". In a 12 June 2007 speech, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called The Independent
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#17328012371171166-584: The Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition after the general election would be a positive outcome. At the end of July 2018, The Independent led a campaign they called the "Final Say", a change.org petition by former editor Christian Broughton , for a binding referendum on the Brexit deal between the UK and the European Union. As of October 2018, Independent Arabia was launched. It
1219-557: The Sunday paper retained a largely distinct editorial staff. In the 1990s, The Independent was faced with price cutting by the Murdoch titles, and started an advertising campaign accusing The Times and The Daily Telegraph of reflecting the views of their proprietors, Rupert Murdoch and Conrad Black . It featured spoofs of the other papers' mastheads with the words The Rupert Murdoch or The Conrad Black , with The Independent below
1272-480: The app, and on Smart TV. In March 2023 The Independent released The Body in the Woods, a feature-length documentary by its Chief International Correspondent, Bel Trew. In 2014, The Independent launched a sister website, i100 , a "shareable" journalism site with similarities to Reddit and Upworthy . The Independent is generally described as centrist , centre-left , liberal , and liberal-left . When
1325-530: The board since 1995 and formerly a key figure at The Sunday Times , replaced Hopkins as head of Independent News & Media in July 2002. By mid-2004, the newspaper was losing £5 million per year. A gradual improvement meant that by 2006, circulation was at a nine-year high. In November 2008, following further staff cuts, production was moved to Northcliffe House, in Kensington High Street,
1378-473: The bottom of an English garden. A third character, Little Weed, of indeterminate species resembling either a sunflower or a dandelion with a smiling face, is shown growing between two large flowerpots. The three are also sometimes visited by a tortoise called Slowcoach and, in one particular episode, the trio meet a faintly mysterious character made out of potatoes, Dan the Potato Man. Typically, while
1431-629: The day of the 2008 London mayoral election compared the candidates and said that, if the newspaper had a vote, it would vote first for the Green Party candidate, Siân Berry , noting the similarity between her priorities and those of The Independent , and secondly, with "rather heavy heart", for the incumbent, Ken Livingstone . An Ipsos MORI poll estimated that in the 2010 United Kingdom general election , 44% of regular readers voted Liberal Democrat , 32% voted Labour , and 14% voted Conservative , compared to 23%, 29%, and 36%, respectively, of
1484-604: The garden path; the flower pot men then would vanish into their pots and the "Goodbye" screen would appear. The final punch-line was, "..and I think the little house knew something about it; don't you?". According to her adopted daughter Alison Gassier, Freda Lingstrom got the idea for the show after spending time in her woodshed with a flowerpot. She assembled the production crew, which consisted mainly of those who had worked on her previous show Andy Pandy : her associate Maria Bird , puppeteers Audrey Atterbury and Molly Gibson, and opera singer Gladys Whitred. The only new member
1537-495: The group after the show, although it caused controversies with people suggesting it may have had something to do with marijuana . The Independent The Independent is a British online newspaper . It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the Indy , it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only
1590-424: The headquarters of Associated Newspapers . The two newspaper groups' editorial, management and commercial operations remained separate, but they shared services including security, information technology, switchboard and payroll. On 25 March 2010, Independent News & Media sold the newspaper to a new company owned by the family of Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev for a nominal £1 fee and £9.25 million over
1643-463: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flowerpot_Men&oldid=1176275329 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Flower Pot Men Flower Pot Men is a British programme for young children produced by BBC Television . It
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1696-488: The main title. Newspaper Publishing had financial problems. A number of other media companies were interested in the paper. Tony O'Reilly 's media group and Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) had bought a stake of about a third each by mid-1994. In March 1995, Newspaper Publishing was restructured with a rights issue, splitting the shareholding into O'Reilly's Independent News & Media (43%), MGN (43%), and Prisa (publisher of El País ) (12%). In April 1996, there
1749-512: The majority of young Britons" in 2007, had become "25 times stronger than resin sold a decade ago". The paper's opinion on the British monarchy has sometimes been described as republican , though it officially identifies as reformist, wishing for a reformed monarchy that "reflects the nation over which it reigns and which is accountable to the people for its activities". Originally, it avoided royal stories, Whittam Smith later saying he thought
1802-475: The newspaper of record, The Independent reached a circulation of more than 400,000 by 1989. When The Independent launched The Independent on Sunday in 1990, sales were less than anticipated, partly due to the launch of the Sunday Correspondent four months prior, although this direct rival closed at the end of November 1990. Some aspects of production merged with the main paper, although
1855-555: The next 10 months, choosing this option over closing The Independent and The Independent on Sunday , which would have cost £28 million and £40 million respectively, due to long-term contracts. Alexander's son Evgeny became chairman of the new company, with Alexander becoming a board director. In 2009, Lebedev had bought a controlling stake in the Evening Standard . Two weeks later, editor Roger Alton resigned. In July 2011, The Independent ' s columnist Johann Hari
1908-754: The online edition. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards . The Independent won the Brand of the Year Award in The Drum Awards for Online Media 2023. Launched in 1986, the first issue of The Independent was published on 7 October in broadsheet format. It was produced by Newspaper Publishing plc and created by Andreas Whittam Smith , Stephen Glover and Matthew Symonds . All three partners were former journalists at The Daily Telegraph who had left
1961-625: The overall electorate. On the eve of the 2010 general election, The Independent supported the Liberal Democrats, arguing that "they are longstanding and convincing champions of civil liberties, sound economics, international co-operation on the great global challenges and, of course, fundamental electoral reform. These are all principles that this newspaper has long held dear." Before the 2015 United Kingdom general election , The Independent on Sunday desisted from advising its readers how to vote, writing that "this does not mean that we are
2014-539: The paper towards the end of Lord Hartwell 's ownership. Marcus Sieff was the first chairman of Newspaper Publishing, and Whittam Smith took control of the paper. The paper was created at a time of a fundamental change in British newspaper publishing. Rupert Murdoch was challenging long-accepted practices of the print unions and ultimately defeated them in the Wapping dispute . Consequently, production costs could be reduced which created openings for more competition. As
2067-497: The paper was established in 1986, the founders intended its political stance to reflect the centre of the British political spectrum and thought that it would attract readers primarily from The Times and The Daily Telegraph . It has been seen as leaning to the left-wing of the political spectrum, making it more a competitor to The Guardian ; however, The Independent tends to take a liberal, pro-market stance on economic issues. The Independent on Sunday referred to itself as
2120-555: The paper was produced in both broadsheet and tabloid-sized versions, with the same content in each. The tabloid edition was termed "compact" to distance itself from the more sensationalist reporting style usually associated with "tabloid" newspapers in the UK, preferring to remain focused on hard news (similarly to the tabloid-size edition of The Times . ) After launching in the London area and then in North West England ,
2173-608: The publication of the Hutton Report into the death of British government scientist David Kelly , its front page simply carried the word "Whitewash?" In 2003, the paper's editor, Simon Kelner, was named "Editor of the Year" at the What the Papers Say awards, partly in recognition of, according to the judges, his "often arresting and imaginative front-page designs". In 2008, as he was stepping down as editor, he stated that it
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2226-540: The scandal unfavourably with the reaction of American newspapers to similar incidents such as the Jayson Blair case, which led to resignations of editors, "deep soul-searching", and "new standards of exactitude being imposed". The historian Guy Walters suggested that Hari's fabrications had been an open secret among the newspaper's staff and that their internal inquiry was a "facesaving exercise". The Independent and The Independent on Sunday endorsed "Remain" in
2279-402: The smaller format appeared gradually throughout the UK. Soon afterwards, Rupert Murdoch's Times followed suit, introducing its own tabloid-sized version. Prior to these changes, The Independent had a daily circulation of around 217,500, the lowest of any major national British daily, a figure that climbed by 15% as of March 2004 (to 250,000). Throughout much of 2006, circulation stagnated at
2332-416: The website soon began producing its own video and podcast series, including explainers, short documentary ‘on the ground’ style reports, and lifestyle and culture videos, including since 2017 the award-nominated series Millennial Love, later rebranded Love Lives. In late 2020 The Independent launched Independent TV, which saw the title’s video offering provided on many formats including on the web browser, in
2385-462: The years, such as Elton John on 1 December 2010, The Body Shop 's Anita Roddick on 19 June 2003 and U2 's Bono in 2006. The Independent sponsors the Longford Prize , in memory of Lord Longford . The Independent on Sunday ( IoS ) was the Sunday sister newspaper of The Independent . It ceased to exist in 2016, the last edition being published on 20 March. In October 2010,
2438-768: Was Peter Hawkins , who voiced both Bill and Ben, inventing their gibberish language, named Oddle-Poddle. He based the language on select words such as "Slogalog" (Slowcoach the Tortoise) and "Haddap" (Hello). The puppets were made to look as if they were made from flowerpots. Cupcake holders were used for their hats, which sometimes caught onto their strings. Peter particularly praised Audrey's puppetry for being very precise. The scripts were written in English, with Peter translating them into Oddle-Poddle. Retired headteacher Hilda Brabban created an unrelated set of characters also named Bill and Ben. These have been confused with
2491-478: Was another refinancing, and in March 1998, O'Reilly bought the other shares of the company for £30 million, and assumed the company's debt. Brendan Hopkins headed Independent News, Andrew Marr was appointed editor of The Independent , and Rosie Boycott became editor of The Independent on Sunday . Marr introduced a dramatic if short-lived redesign which won critical favour but was a commercial failure, partly as
2544-462: Was appointed The Independent’s Editor-in-Chief in January 2023. He oversaw a period of editorial investment. Later in 2023, Chief Executive of IDNML Zach Leonard moved to the United States as Global COO and President (North AmericaUS), and former Editor Christian Broughton was appointed Chief Executive. In March 2024, Louise Thomas was appointed US Editor. In 2019, The Independent entered
2597-421: Was appointed as the editor. By this time, the circulation had fallen below 200,000. Independent News spent heavily to increase circulation, and the paper went through several redesigns. While circulation increased, it did not approach the level which had been achieved in 1989, or restore profitability. Job cuts and financial controls reduced the morale of journalists and the quality of the product. Ivan Fallon, on
2650-473: Was designed by Carroll, Dempsey and Thirkell following a commission by Nicholas Garland who, along with Alexander Chancellor , was unhappy with designs produced by Raymond Hawkey and Michael McGuiness – on seeing the proposed designs, Chancellor had said "I thought we were joining a serious paper". The first edition was designed and implemented by Michael Crozier, who was Executive Editor, Design and Picture, from pre-launch in 1986 to 1994. From September 2003,
2703-449: Was first transmitted in 1952, and repeated regularly for more than twenty years. A remake of the programme called Bill and Ben was aired in 2001. The original programme was part of a BBC children's television series titled Watch with Mother , featuring a different programme each weekday, most of them involving string puppets. Flower Pot Men features the story of Bill and Ben, two men made of terracotta flower pots who live at
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#17328012371172756-602: Was possible to "overdo the formula" and that the style of the paper's front pages perhaps needed "reinvention". Under the subsequent editorship of Chris Blackhurst , the campaigning, poster-style front pages were scaled back in favour of more conventional news stories. The weekday, Saturday and Sunday editions of The Independent all included supplements and pull-out subsections: Daily (Monday to Friday) The Independent : Saturday's The Independent : The Independent on Sunday : On 23 January 2008, The Independent relaunched its online edition. The relaunched site introduced
2809-638: Was stripped of the Orwell Prize he had won in 2008 after claims, to which Hari later admitted, of plagiarism and inaccuracy. In January 2012, Chris Blackhurst , editor of The Independent , told the Leveson inquiry that the scandal had "severely damaged" the newspaper's reputation. He nevertheless told the inquiry that Hari would return as a columnist in "four to five weeks". Hari later announced that he would not return to The Independent . Jonathan Foreman contrasted The Independent ' s reaction to
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