When Ronnie Met Zippy : The Utterly Splendid Biography of Ronnie Le Drew

As the man behind Zippy, master puppeteer Ronnie Le Drew has been closely involved with one of the most iconic British kids AZ TV programmes of all time.

Even now, decades after it first aired, Rainbow remains in the public consciousness and its marketing power is considerable.

The current eighties revival in fashion, music and popular culture has fed the nostalgia for classic children AZs TV shows, with Zippy recently featuring in advertising campaigns for brands such as Marmite, Virgin Money and guesting on hit BBC drama Ashes to Ashes.

Yet to this day none of the original creators of Rainbow has told the behindA(c)\theA(c)\scenes story of the show.

Ronnie Le Drew AZs account lifts the lid on what really went on behind the counter and beneath the suits A C the creative struggles, conflicts with the network, fights for control of the scripts and public scandals. Ronnie AZs work on Rainbow also provided him with a passport to hit feature films of the eighties and nineties, as puppeteer on Little Shop of Horrors, Labyrinth and the Muppet movies, working with people such as David Bowie and Frank Sinatra, as well as puppetry work as Sweep in Sooty and Sweep, and recently in Compare the Meerkat adverts. In 2008 he received the prestigious Harlequin Award, the Oscar of the puppetry world.

Rather like Zippy, Ronnie is a natural talker, and his insights and anecdotes make for a remarkable and highly entertaining personal narrative.