Jackanory

***Jackanory*** is a long-running BBC children's television series. It was made to interest children in reading. The show began on 13 December 1965. The first story was the fairy-tale _Cap-o'-Rushes_ read by Lee Montague. _Jackanory_ continued to be broadcast until March 24, 1996. They made around 3,640 episodes and 2,330 missing in its 30-year run. The final story, _The House at Pooh Corner_ by A. A. Milne, was read by Alan Bennett. The show returned on 27 November 2006 for two stories.

The show's format had an actor read from children's novels or folk tales, usually while seated in an armchair. From time to time the scene being read would be illustrated by a specially made still drawing.  They were often done by Quentin Blake. Usually a single book would take five daily fifteen-minute episodes, from Monday to Friday.

A few _Jackanory_ stories took the form of a play rather than stories being read.  These were made in a series of fully cast and dressed for costume dramas. These were named _Jackanory Playhouse_ and were thirty minutes in length. These included a dramatisation by Philip Glassborow of the comical A. A. Milne story "The Princess Who Couldn't Laugh."

## Title

The show's title comes from an old English nursery rhyme:

- I'll tell you a story
- About Jack a Nory;
- And now my story's begun;
- I'll tell you another
- Of Jack and his brother,
- And now my story is done.

## List of readers

- Tom Baker
- Floella Benjamin
- Alan Bennett
- James Bolam
- Helena Bonham Carter (5 programmes reading the _Way to Sattin Shore_ stories)
- Kathy Burke
- Earl Cameron (5 programmes reading the _Brer Rabbit_ stories)
- Brian Cant
- Bernard Cribbins (114 programmes)
- Peter Davison
- Judi Dench
- Denholm Elliott
- Clement Freud
- Ann George
- John Grant (55 programmes reading his _Little Nose_ stories)
- Joyce Grenfell
- Sheila Hancock
- Susanne Hart
- Wendy Hiller
- Michael Hordern
- Jeremy Irons
- Martin Jarvis
- Stratford Johns
- James Robertson Justice
- Arthur Lowe
- Joanna Lumley
- Alfred Marks
- Trevor Martin
- Rik Mayall
- Sylvester McCoy
- Geraldine McEwan
- Paul McGann
- Ian McKellen
- George Melly
- Paul Merton
- Spike Milligan
- Hayley Mills
- Lee Montague
- Patrick Moore
- Jon Pertwee
- Ted Ray
- Miranda Richardson
- Bob Roberts
- Tony Robinson
- Gordon Rollings
- Patsy Rowlands
- Willie Rushton
- Margaret Rutherford
- Prunella Scales
- Peter Sellers
- Elaine Smith
- Maggie Smith
- Patrick Stewart
- Elaine Stritch
- Mollie Sugden
- H. E. Todd
- Patrick Troughton
- Ann Way
- Mary Webster
- Billie Whitelaw
- Kenneth Williams (69 programmes)
- Victoria Wood (reading the _Ten in a Bed_ story)
- Wendy Wood (_Auntie Gwen_) and even
- Prince Charles (reading his own book; _The Old Man of Lochnagar_).
- Ben Kingsley (_The Magician of Samarkand_)
- John Sessions (_Muddle Earth_)
- Matthew Corbett
- Rupert Everett
- John Hurt
- Alan Rickman

## Infobox (television)

- **genre**: Children's television series, Children's television
- **creator**: Joy Whitby
- **country**: United Kingdom
- **language**: English
- **num episodes**: 3,640 (2,330 missing)
- **runtime**: 15 minutes
- **channel**: BBC One, BBC1 (1965–1996)
CBBC (TV channel), CBBC (2006)
- **related**: Jackanory Playhouse
Jackanory Junior