Ivor Wood

Directing • 1932-05-04 • Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK

Ivor Sydney Wood was a British-French animator, director, producer and writer. He was known for his work on children's television series. Born in Leeds to an English father and a French mother, his family moved to the mountains near Lyon, France, after the Second World War, where he was educated. He studied fine art in Paris, and later worked in an advertising agency in Paris, where he met Serge Danot. Together they made the acclaimed French series Le Manège enchanté (known in English as The Magic Roundabout), with Wood as the animator. Following the success of The Magic Roundabout in the UK, Wood partnered with the London-based animation company Film Fair. Wood became both animator and director for a number of FilmFair's animated children's programmes, starting with The Herbs in 1968. During the 1970s, he animated and directed Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings, Hattytown Tales, The Adventures of Parsley, The Wombles, and Paddington.