h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Parrferris
Can I congratulate you on the entry on Gus Honeybun; unlike another which I read yesterday on a non-BBC site, it is very accurate (and amusing).
I am writing because I was very involved with Gus between 1962 and 1966. I was the station's Continuity Scriptwriter, so I wrote his scripts (yes, I know he never said anything, but for the longer pieces he had a script just the same).
Rosemary (my secretary and later assistant) and I sorted all the birthdays, and if I needed him to do something a bit unusual I animated him. Over time I did that more and more, adding in things like him dancing the twist, and on special occasions swinging from a trapeze (the trapeze itself didn't exist, of course, but the effect was very popular)
He actually had a short-lived show on Sunday afternoons in about 1964 in which he appeared with Bugs Bunny! He linked the cartoons - but after a bit the makers of Bugs Bunny heard about it and didn't approve, so we had to take it off.
I believe he was originally named by station announcer Sheila Kennedy. As he always had delusions of granderur, in my time he started to refer to himself as Augustus J. Honeybun. If anyone wonders, the J didn't stand for anything at all.
Oh, and when the first puppet wore out the replacement looked nothing like the original (later replacements looked a lot better). So he went on holiday to the Channel Islands for two weeks, where he appeared in place of their Puffin.
We had the pleasure of a visit from Oscar Corbiere Claude Puffin (they even copied Gus's character and delusions of grandeur!)
As the replacement was brown instead of grey, we were able to pass this off as his suntan, so nobody seemed to mind.
Just to show how well he is remembered, I have now retired to a small village in SW France. The village has a restaurant where the chef happens to be English, married to a French girl. He comes from Plymouth, and got very excited the other day when he found out I had actually worked with his childhood TV Favourite.

Thanks for your kind comments, I'm delighted that someone who actually worked with Gus enjoyed my little tribute. I suppose, in a very odd sort of way, that I feel like I've just met one of my heroes! Thanks too for the wonderful behind-the-scenes information - I believe I once saw a photograph somewhere of that second puppet, so you've solved a mystery that puzzled me a little at the time.

You have also shown up a disgraceful omission in the entry. How can I possibly have failed to mention Sheila Kennedy? I'm sure I intended to include her!

It really is remarkable, as you say, how well-remembered and popular Gus remains (to illustrate the point, this short guide entry has triggered more response that everything else I've contributed to h2g2 put together). Did you realise that you were playing a part in the creation of a legend, I wonder?