The Adventures of Rupert Bear - "Everyone sings his name"

The first episode of The Adventures of Rupert Bear, "Rupert and the Flying Machine", was broadcast on 28 October 1970 in an afternoon weekday slot; although the series would soon move to the equivalent lunchtime slot when ITV commenced daytime broadcasting, and would remain there for many years.

The initial set of episodes proved to be so popular that a further run of the series was immediately commissioned. In total, 156 11-minute episodes of The Adventures of Rupert Bear were made between 1970 and 1976, and they continued to be repeated in the lunchtime slot right up until ATV lost its licence to broadcast to the ITV.

Ron Roker was commissioned to write the theme tune for the TV puppet show, Rupert Bear. His song was recorded by Jackie Lee and went straight into the pop charts. Rupert Bear was seen in over 100 different countries and the song became a children's classic, appearing on countless compilations of children's music ever since.