Morton, Lionel

Lionel was born Lionel Walmsley in Blackburn. He sang in the local cathedral choir.

He later became a musician and was the lead vocalist in the pop group The Four Pennies (1962 – 1966). The group had a number 1 record Juliet in May 1964. They appeared seven times on Top of the Pops. 

Lionel was formerly married to actress Julie Foster.

Lionel became the 32nd Play School presenter, making his debut appearance on the 15th April 1968. He remained with the programme until 1977.

Sadly his debut doesn’t exist in the BBC Archive. The earliest surviving Play School footage of Lionel is Tuesday 9th July 1968, from his third week.

He appeared in two of the earliest colour recordings of the programme:

• 11th June 1968 (recorded on 4th and 5th June) with Carole Ward, from Hamble in Hampshire.
• 9th July 1968 (recorded 3rd July), again with Carole Ward.

Paul R. Jackson viewed the 9th July edition – which survives in the BBC Archive.

Opening titles voiced by Eric Thompson. The programme began with the presenters and Humpty dressed up in space uniforms and hats with the Play School flower symbol on.

Carole: “Hello. We are getting ready to go on a journey.”

Lionel: “We are going on a journey into space. We are going to pretend to try to get to the moon.

Carole: “Of course people can’t really go the moon but we are going to pretend that we can.”

Little did they and viewers watching know that a year later, American astronaut Neil Armstrong would make the historic Apollo moon landing, on 20th July 1969.

Carole and Lionel were shown in two pretend aero car rockets with Humpty. Then Lionel showed the clock at four o’clock before Carole told the story of Grandpa’s Balloon.

Lionel sang Would You Like to Fly in My Beautiful Space Car. They then got off for a slow motion walk in space.

Lionel introduced a film through the arched windows of submarines underwater but said “Come and see” rather than the usual “Let’s look through the…window”.

The programme ended with both presenters eating a rocket ice-lolly that they had bought on their journey.

Lionel, who had been extremely popular in the late-1960s and 1970s, made occasional appearances on the programme from October 1983 to August 1985.

He appeared in the 4th March 1985 edition that included Peter Charlton’s story King of the Singdom of Song.

His last appearance (directed by Martin Fisher) saw him playing Mr Clipper the singing barber in The Barber Who Thought He Could Sing by Jean Watson. He also sang his classic Pony Trekking song, for the shapes sequence.

Television credits include:

• Ready, Steady, Go! (Associated-Rediffusion/ITV, 1964);
• 31 editions of Play Away – he wrote the iconic theme music (BBC Two, 1971 – 1977);
• If You Were Me – theme music (BBC One, 1971);
• Panellist Star Turn (BBC One, 1976).

On radio, he co-presented Playtime Machines with Joanne Zorian for BBC Schools on BBC Radio 4 (1988).

Theatre credits include:

• Lead role of the Owl in David Wood’s musical adaptation of The Owl and the Pussycat (1969);
• Lead role of Claude in the rock musical Hair at the Shaftesbury Theatre;
• Lead role of Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Palace Theatre (1974 – 1975);
• Lead role of Toni in West Side Story (1975 – 1976).

In 2011, Lionel was involved in a charity single called Peace Star. The track was available from shops in the Penzance area to raise money for the Cornwall Leukemia Trust.

Meeting

Paul R. Jackson met Lionel at his London home in 1989.

How did you get the presenting role on Play School?

“I remember being in Julie’s agents’ office and being told about forthcoming auditions. I contacted the programme and received a script and went for an audition in a small studio at Broadcasting House, with Molly Cox, Carole Ward and Ann Reay.

“I was the first presenter to have a pronounced English accent.”

Lionel remembered his second wife Troll visiting the set when he had trouble telling the correct time on the clock. He said it was ‘half past seven’, but when the camera showed the clock it said ‘quarter to…’ so he had to do another take, perhaps because he was put off seeing his wife out of the corner of his eye.

Beyond 1989, Lionel had largely disappeared from TV.

Now based in Cornwall, Lionel wasn’t able to make the long journey to attend either the Here’s a House – A Celebration of Play School book launch at BAFTA in 2010, or the 50th anniversary reunion of Play School’s first edition at Riverside Studios in May 2014.

Personal information

Clips of Lionel on The TV Room

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Online presence

Acknowledgements