Thunderbirds’ Lady Penelope puppet up for auction

The 50cm tall puppet, which has a head full of electronics that enable the mouth to move, is expected to fetch up to £10,000 She was an aristocrat, a secret agent and, frankly, the subject of many a schoolboy crush in the late sixties and seventies. Now an original Lady Penelope puppet from the Thunderbirds television programmes is to be sold at auction and is expected to fetch up to £10,000. The marionette was one of the stand-out characters in Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s beloved adventure series. Always perfectly turned out, Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward was wont to travel in a pink six-wheeled Rolls Royce, usually driven by her chauffeur Parker. She lived in a splendid stately home in the British countryside and communicated with International Rescue, the secretive do-gooders based on the tropical hideaway of Tracy Island, via a device hidden in her teapot. Since the mid-60s the 50cm (20ins) high puppet, which has a head full of electronics allowing the mouth to move, has been in the care of her maker, Christine Glanville. Stephanie Connell of auctioneer Bonhams said: “This puppet came from the collection of Christine Glanville, who died in 1999. “She was the puppet maker for the series and this is super-rare and important. It was an important piece of TV history and although it was first shown in 1965 it has been repeated ever since and all generations are aware of it. “This is an original Lady Penelope and there can be few, if any, left. She is wearing a 60s-style A-line dress and a cardigan. She has pink lipstick on and blue eyes and her hair is in a bob style. “There are lots of genuine Thunderbirds fans and there will be lots of people who would love to have her.” The characters Lady Penelope and Parker were designed to play up to an American audience’s perception of the British upper class. Her face was based on the character from a shampoo advert of the day. As well as the puppet, Bonhams is selling Lady Penelope’s miniature writing desk, chair and bookcase from the original set. They are expected to fetch more than £5,000. The sale is on 29 June, appropriately in upmarket Knightsbridge, London. Lady Penelope would have approved. Television Television industry Television Art markets Steven Morris guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 15, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.