The Land of Grot

[Jamie123]

Isn't it strange that as you advance through middle age, the things of your early youth become more vivid to you than when you were younger?

I recently began thinking about something from my very earliest years at "infants school": what you would probably call "first and second grade". Our teacher's name was Mrs. Cook and she was very young and lovely. (She left the school the same year to have a baby, but I remember seeing her a couple of months later when she visited: she had a huge swollen pregnant belly - just like my mum had had when she had by younger brother - and I remember thinking "wow!" But anyway, I digress…)

Mrs. Cook used to bring in books to read to us, from a series called The Land of Grot. I totally loved the Land of Grot, and I was almost sick with excitement every time she brought a new book in. Part of the attraction was in the artwork: the pictures were all so vivid and colourful – the bright crazy-looking characters in a setting of gigantic psychedelic flowers and trees! (Carol Ann Rapley who wrote the books was, I believe, chiefly known as an illustrator.) Imagine my rapture when Mrs. Cook allowed us to decorate the classroom as the Land of Grot!

Each book focussed on a particular inhabitant of Grot and describes how he or she got there. That’s right: none of the main characters was native to Grot. Each one was a misfit in his or her original setting, but their adventures led them to Grot where everyone was so different that there was no normal against which anyone could be considered an “outlier”. Here’s a picture of them all:

That’s Prickle (a conker, who was nothing like the other conkers), Tully Grully Grumble (a sort of green goblin-thing), Huey Bluey (I suppose he was a sort of bear), Fluff (something between a sunflower and a baby chicken; she hatched out of an egg at any rate) and Dripple (a water drop – I suppose). There were some characters for whom a fatal character flaw sent them to Grot; Tully for example had to learn that friendship is much more important than stuffing your pockets with dishonestly-acquired money:

Anyway, don’t imagine that I remembered all of this unaided. I’ve been doing web research on the topic (the sort of research I can’t help engaging in whenever important work deadlines are in sight). The books were all published in 1969, so Mrs. Cook must have got them pretty much hot off the press. (And yes, I’m showing my age!) The series apparently never caught on (a shame, because it was totally brilliant!) though there was an animated TV series planned at one point.

You can even watch the pilot episode:

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-the-land-of-grot-1970-online

Edited June 16, 2020 by Jamie123