Forgotten Archive

📺 Forgotten Television

The Witch appeared in The Pogles, a six-part stop-motion story created by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin and first broadcast in 1965.

The story followed Mr and Mrs Pogle as they protected an abandoned baby carrying the silver crown of the King of the Fairies. A sinister shape-changing Witch wanted the crown for herself.

After its original broadcast, the BBC considered the story too frightening for its intended young audience. The six episodes were not regularly repeated, and Smallfilms was asked to create something gentler.

The characters returned in 1966 as Pogles’ Wood. The Witch disappeared, while Pippin and Tog joined Mr and Mrs Pogle for quieter stories about woodland life.

The first image shows the surviving original Witch puppet created by Peter Firmin. The final colour photograph came from the glossy Pogles’ Wood storybooks—the television series itself was entirely black-and-white.

All six original episodes survive.

📱 Forgotten Apps

Bump was a mobile application released in 2009 that allowed users to transfer contacts, photos, and files by physically bumping their phones together. The app used smartphone sensors and internet connectivity to recognise the interaction between devices, creating a simple gesture-based sharing experience during the early smartphone era. Bump made wireless sharing feel physical at a moment when smartphones were still teaching people new interaction habits. Its bump gesture hid server-side matching of device location, time and motion behind a memorable action, helping popularise the idea that nearby phones could exchange information without cables or manual contact entry. Did you ever use Bump to share photos or contacts?

📺 Forgotten Television

The vegetarian vampire who wanted fame, travel and adventure—but had no interest in drinking blood. First broadcast in 1988, the Cosgrove Hall series followed Duckula, his gloomy butler Igor and the accident-prone Nanny. Together they travelled the world inside Castle Duckula, a Transylvanian castle capable of disappearing and reappearing in distant locations. Voiced by David Jason, Count Duckula became one of the most recognisable characters from British children’s television during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The original programme ran for four series and 65 episodes. Did you watch Count Duckula before or after Danger Mouse?

A digital archive preserving the things that disappeared, but were never truly forgotten.

From forgotten technology and television, to toys, internet culture, food, vehicles, and everyday memories — each entry documents a piece of history that shaped someone’s world.

This archive exists to preserve the objects, ideas, and moments that are no longer part of everyday life, but still hold meaning.

[1968] 🧠 Joe 90

Before smartphones, AI assistants, and instant downloads, Joe 90 imagined a future where a pair of glasses could transfer expert knowledge directly into a young secret agent’s mind.

Created by Gerry Anderson and Century 21 Productions, the Supermarionation series followed Joe McClaine as he used the BIG RAT (Brain Impulse Galvanic Response And Transfer) system to gain specialist skills for his missions.

A fascinating piece of 1960s British science fiction television that imagined digital knowledge transfer decades before it became reality.

Forgotten things are still part of history.