Puppets take centre stage

Pulling Strings - The Art of the Marionette has been pride of place at Bantock House for the last few months, showcasing the best of string puppets to visitors of the museum.

The collection is pooled from the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild and the personal collection of Michael Dixon, who is the chair and archivist of the guild.

Michael has collected puppets for over 30 years and fell in love with them as a child.

He even interviewed the creator of The Muppets, Jim Henson, on breakfast TV when he was only seven years old.

Michael also got to go behind the scenes of the Christmas movie classic, The Muppet Christmas Carol.

Michael said: "String puppets aren't as common today, but they used to be on TV all the time in shows like Andy Pandy and Thunderbirds.

"Controlling puppets by strings is an ancient way of doing it and these are the most complex puppets today."

Marionettes, which refer to string puppets in Britain and all types of puppet in France, are one of the oldest forms of puppetry.

The word marionette derives from the French for "little Mary" because string puppets were used in the Middle Ages to depict biblical events.

Since that time marionettes have appeared on stage and on TV as well as becoming one of the post popular toys of all time.

The Pulling Strings exhibition looks at the craft and skill in creating marionettes, from those in Ancient Greece to the puppets still in use today.

Taking pride of place in the exhibition is a terracotta puppet from Ancient Greece, believed to be from the 4th or 5th century BC, which Michael acquired from an auction.

Another of Michael's favourites in the collection is a Geppetto, the character from the tale of Pinocchio, which consists of a puppet controlling another puppet.

Pulling Strings is at Bantock House until Sunday.