After more than fifty years in the dark, the mystery of Mother Clanger’s disappearance has finally come to an end as the beloved character returns to her family at the Beaney House of Art and Knowledge in Canterbury.
The handcrafted star of the iconic series The Clangers, originally created by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate in their Blean studio, vanished in 1973 while on display at a London exhibition but the truth behind her absence began with two 15-year-old boys who, struck by the figure’s charm, decided to take her home.
One of those boys, Michael O’Connor, kept Mother Clanger hidden away in his attic in Ireland for decades, even as he grew up and started a family of his own. However, the secret only came to light when Michael confessed the theft to his son, Michael Burke, shortly before his passing. Following his father’s death, Michael discovered the figure and reached out to Canterbury City Council’s Museums and Galleries team to arrange a long-awaited homecoming.
A heartfelt reunion recently took place as Michael and his mother, Ellen Burke, met with Peter Firmin’s daughters, Emily, Charlotte, and Kate, to hand over the long-lost creature. Emily Firmin remarked that despite her years spent in a box and some minor wear to her wool and nose, Mother Clanger still radiates her unique charm. She noted that while her parents might have initially found the teenagers’ actions “naughty,” they would now be full of forgiveness given the family’s honesty in returning her.
Mother Clanger has now taken her rightful place in the Smallfilms Gallery at The Beaney, standing alongside her Clanger family and other legendary characters like Bagpuss. Celebrating the return, Cllr Charlotte Cornell, the council’s Cabinet member for culture and heritage, joked that the figure looks remarkably well for someone who hasn’t had a meal of Green Soup in fifty years. She described the return as the closing chapter of a story defined by curiosity, guilt, and a final, proper homecoming for a national treasure.