1976: Jon Pertwee sings The Noodle Doodle Man

Tuesday, June 26th, 2007

The original sleeve for The Noodle Doodle Man

If you’re a fan of the late Jon Pertwee (Doctor Who, Wurzel Gummidge) you may already know about his short stint in the 1970s as the voice of the Heinz Noodle Doodles TV advertisements, which featured a very strange character called the Noodle Doodle Man.

The year was 1976. The single was a 7-inch flexi-disc promo. The A-Side was The Noodle Doodle Man, the B-Side The Noodle Doodle Man in the Moon. Both tracks remain as infuriatingly catchy and annoying as hell in 2007 as they were declared by my parents and older siblings back in the day, but to be fair the songs were aimed at kids and did the job of entertaining very well. They also led directly to my mother having to buy me Noodle Doodles for weeks until I grew sick of them.

I was nine years old. The disc was handed to me (I vaguely remember by someone in costume, but can’t remember what they were wearing) when I was stood outside Astley Park in my home town of Chorley watching the annual Walking Day parade—a weird mix of church bands, old soldiers and Sunday School attendees.

How did Noodle Doodles get in on the God-fearing walkabout? I’ve no idea!

It’s impossible to get hold of this flexi-disc now. It’s hardly referenced anywhere on the Internet, the one place you’d think everything there ever was gets at least one mention one time. But no. Indeed, I updated the Pertwee entry on Wikipedia a few hours ago to include information on this long-forgotten career milestone.

The Noodle Doodle Man 7-inch disc

Perhaps strangely, the flexi-disc has survived in near-excellent condition although the sleeve is a bit worse for wear. Still, it is thirty-one years old and not getting any younger! The disc has certainly fared a lot better when it comes to snap, crackle and pop than ‘proper’ vinyl purchased the same year.

I’ve long wondered how much I could get for this curiosity on eBay but I’ve stopped short of putting it up for auction because I’m rather fond of it. As a Doctor Who fan, and someone whose earliest memories of the show involve Jon Pertwee battling Sea Devils and Ogrons, the flexi-disc is a kind of associated treasure I’m loathe to ever part with. That said, it might be worth thousands (so maybe one day) or it might be worth three quid (in which case, no way).

categories: choons, telly