Sooty

In time, his use of the puppet to entertain children with a variety of comedic routines and magic tricks earned him a place on the BBC's talent competition, Talent Night, being held at Belle Vue, Manchester in 1952.

Corbett proved popular with viewers and became the overall winner, whereupon he was offered 6 programmes, to be broadcast live on successive Saturdays.

The overall change involved the use of black dust (or 'soot') upon the ears and nose, which inspired Corbett to change the puppet's name from Teddy to Sooty.

One such product that was sold was a toy musical instrument – referred to as a "xylophone", but in reality a toy glockenspiel – based upon the same instrument used by Sooty up until the 1980s.

The creation of the franchise is traced back to 1948, when Corbett came across an all yellow bear glove puppet during a holiday in Blackpool.

Purchasing the item for 7s 6d (37.5p), he made use of it to entertain his children during that time, including his newborn son Peter (Matthew), naming the puppet Teddy.