If you are a fan of happy animals, someone who likes to see smiley giraffes or grinning tigers, then you should look out for Zookies, a range of distinctive animals and birds that first appeared in 1956. At the time, many people collected ornaments, and homes had collections arranged on a sideboard or mantlepiece. Probably the most prolific maker of animal figures at the time was Wade, which specialised in miniature, dainty realistic pieces, the opposite of the large chunky caricature Zookies.
Zookies were made by JH Weatherby & Sons of Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. The company was founded by John Henry Weatherby, in 1891, often using the tradename Falcon Ware. Confusingly, there were three Falcon potteries in the Stoke-on-Trent area of Staffordshire, all separate concerns. At first, Weatherby concentrated on manufacturing domestic items such as basins, tableware and vases, before later producing china for the hotel and catering trade. Just as with similar factories, during World War Two, the company's decorated items, which required many people hours, were designated luxuries and were mainly sold abroad to earn foreign currency. However, undecorated china was produced for the British domestic market, and the restrictions were not fully lifted until 1952.
The Weatherby family had a long tradition of pottery connections, beginning as far back as 1726 when a potter named John Weatherby moved to London, and 24 years later became a part owner of the Bow Pottery. John Henry Weatherby, born in 1843, was a descendant who worked in several potteries before realising his dream of owning his own factory. He opened a concern at Tunstall, Stoke-onTrent. In 1892, after various problems with the business and the lease, he moved the business to premises in Hanley, which had been the site of a defunct Falcon Pottery.
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THE FEW ON SCREEN
Steven Taylor looks at the Battle of Britain across film and TV
Table Service
Rachel Toy looks at the history of Ridgway Homemaker tableware
Hever Forever
Claire Saul studies the newly refurbished Boleyn Apartment at Hever Castle & Gardens - a castle fit for a queen
Shining a Light
Tony O’Neil tunes into the history of the last manned lightvessel
The Man With the Goldeneye
Film stills photographer Keith Hamshere describes how he came to enter the world of James Bond
THE ORIGINAL GOLDEN BALLS
lan Wheeler looks back on 70 years of Tiger comic and Roy of the Rovers, and chats to the man who edited and oversaw both titles
To Play the Queen
Chris Hallam looks back on the life of one of the UK’s best known lookalikes
POOLING RESOURCES
Martin Handley looks at what life was like after the Vernons Girls
POSTCARD FROM= SUSSEX
Bob Barton indulges in pleasure piers and fairground delights, as well as fulfilling a long-held ambition to visit the home of Rudyard Kipling
Oh, Miss Jones
Chris Hallam looks back at the origins and legacy of Rising Damp, ITV's most successful sitcom