Gus Honeybun

[Secret lemonade drinker]

When they showed the pilot episodes in the eighties, they weren't all shown on all of the ITV regional channels, It was shown on TSW and not HTV. As my mothers house was in a cross over area, some people could receive TSW and some couldn't, so we'd all pile around to watch it at someone's house who could receive it.

I think when they released the series, a lot of people in the HTV region hadn't seen the pilot shows, so it was a bit strange and confusing.

Moderators edit- creating new thread :

Gus Honeybun :

So, you had to all crowd around to watch the glory of Gus Honeybun?

My sympathies!

[kazboot]

Re: Gus Honeybun

So, you had to all crowd around to watch the glory of Gus Honeybun?

My sympathies!

Gus Honeybun is a South West legend!
Do not diss the Bun.

[Secret lemonade drinker]

Re: Gus Honeybun

Au contrare, my friend!

I grew up in Devon, and was a child of the TSW era. I ever got on Gus Honeybun in 1985 when I was 9.

I am a paid up member of the Cult of Gus. I sing the atrocious Gus Honeybun song daily by way of homage. I even met him at the Devon County show in the late '80s, along with Ted Tuckerman. Tight lines!

Praise his furry name! (Gus, not Tuckerman of the blinding pullover...)

YouTube - TSW era Gus Honeybun
(Roger Shaw's expression at 1.25 -> is priceless)

[kazboot]

Re: Gus Honeybun

I really miss him. :cry:

Bring back Gus!

[Gothic]

Re: Gus Honeybun

Unfortunately we missed out on Gus in the HTV area. Always saw it listed in the TV pages on TSW and occasionally reception was good enough to make out a few bunny hops!

[sixtyten]

Re: Gus Honeybun

Didn't have him the ITV region either, but I was always intrigued when I can across the name as a kid in the Look-In regional TV guide in the 70's.
I assumed it was just a bloke

[toshiba]

Re: Gus Honeybun

Ahhhh Gus Honeybun, now that brings back some memories, sadly I was never one of the chosen children who had their birthday greetings read out on tv and have Gus do some bunny hops let alone his cartwheel move he did........Now I occasionally listen to Judy Spiers on Radio Devon and she normally makes some comment about her time on TSW and her slot with Gus Honeybun.

[Hooper68]

Re: Gus Honeybun

I remember going on holiday with three friends to Torquay and seeing Gus on the telly in my hotel room,for the rest of that holiday we had to be sat by a telly for when Gus came on

[kazboot]

Re: Gus Honeybun

Ahhhh Gus Honeybun, now that brings back some memories, sadly I was never one of the chosen children who had their birthday greetings read out on tv and have Gus do some bunny hops let alone his cartwheel move he did.......

Thats a shame. I wish I could do a magic button just for you!

[Paulos]

Re: Gus Honeybun

I used to watch Westward and loved Gus, I used to like Judi Spiers with him the best.
TSW took over Gus but I seem to remember a newer cleaner brighter Gus which was never the same.
Among the things you could ask Gus to do for your birthday was:
Bunnyhops - 1 for each year of your age
Stand on his head
Turn the lights off
And in the latter TSW period I seem to remember a big lever (the magic button mentioned above) which would I think change the colour of the backdrop.

I grew up with a person who in now a BBC radio Devon presenter and his facebook profile pic is himself with Gus so he his still around somewhere.

Also am I correct in thinking that one day he bounced so hard that one of his ears fell off?

[alisparkes]

Re: Gus Honeybun

Gus Honeybun's ear flying off! How i wish I could get a video of that- before the days... my brother and I have dissolved into fits of giggles every time we try to think about it. I almost remember the trajectory of the ear flying toward camera and then poor old Roger trying not to fall apart whilst Gus did the rest of the session in profile- classic!

[Cartimand]

Re: Gus Honeybun

Gus had a very good innings - 1961 to 1992!

Second only to Sooty in longevity terms!

[akb48fan]

Re: Gus Honeybun

Viewers in Wales didn't get to see Gus Honeybun but in 2005 I managed to get a fantastic old VHS tape for £25 (expensive I know) from somebody on Ebay full of Westward/TSW ads, continuity and stuff from the late 70's/early 80's and there was a load of Gus Honeybun with Judi Spiers in it. It was a lot of fun to watch those two and all the bunny hops Gus used to do for children's birthdays.

[George 1978]

Re: Gus Honeybun

Gus Honeybun's Magic Birthdays (nee the Gus Honeybun Show during the early days of Westward) always seemed to be the focal point of the ITV regional variations in the 1970s and 1980s (especially Look In), and no doubt that most youngsters always wanted to visit Devon or Cornwall to see him on Westward or TSW, only to find that it was a jazzed up birthday greetings slot with Ian Stirling, Judi Spiers, and south west continuity announcers. Puffin's Pla(i)ce was another one of those birthday clones which survived on Channel TV by a further decade. A lot of regions like Tyne Tees just had the continuity announcer announcing birthday greetings, along with the jumble sales and pensioners' tea dancers in the region.

To must people, Westward and TSW were always the ITV companies are associated with staying in hotel rooms or caravans, where the population increases from June to September with holidaymakers, and so this was how a lot of viewers would have seen Honeybun on air. Was he just a poor man's Bugs Bunny? A lot of viewers didn't think so. In the Midlands the closest we had was Tingha and Tucker, and they had such a huge fan base in their time! Even Zippy from Rainbow could have done that as well!

(I think that I seen a huge set of TSW adverts and continuity on YouTube - the same ones, perhaps?)

And it was Lennie Bennett on the New Year's Day Show 1982 who announced that TSW would be adopting Gus Honeybun (complete with Honeybun's TSW-alike colour outfit). And a decade later, Westcountry came along, and Gus Honeybun "retired" to a theme park in Devon or Cornwall - the Brinsworth House for former children's TV puppets?

By the way, speaking about the south west (or there about), is Bournemouth in the south or the south west region? I want to know whether Spotlight or South Today will appear on BBC 1 on my Premier Inn room TV set if I travel down there.

[zabadak]

Re: Gus Honeybun

Absolute legend!