Wallace and Gromit creator talks clay and creativity – as he returns home to reopen museum
It’s hard to believe it’s 35 years since a plasticine man in a sweater and slippers, along with his voiceless, but hugely expressive dog, burst on to our screens and won the hearts of millions with their mix of humour, charm and nostalgia.
Wallace and Gromit managed to be both familiar and fresh, and their modest creator Nick Park couldn’t have foreseen how their handmade adventures would change the world of animation and make Wensleydale cheese internationally famous.
But three decades on and Preston-born Park is beginning to realise that his flair for feel-good filmmaking has made him a very big deal.
Nick Park picking up the special recognition award for Wallace and Gromit at this year’s National Television Awards. Pic: PA
Oscar wins and box office hits aside, his latest accolade, in the Lancashire city where he was born and bred, clearly means a lot.
A new Wallace and Gromit exhibition is being showcased at the Harris Museum, which Park visited frequently growing up.
A life-size replica of Wallace and Gromit’s living room
The historic landmark looms large over the city centre and is filled with artefacts and treasures that inspired him as a boy.
He was drawn to the library and devoured books on his favourite subject, you guessed it, animation.
The museum has been closed for four years as part of a £19m revamp. And who better to re-open it this weekend than Park.
The exhibition features a raft of items
As we meet at the exhibition, he tells me he was a quiet child who loved drawing. Visits to the museum helped shape his creativity and storytelling.
He said: “I used to love spending a day around here looking at all the artefacts, the paintings. I used to come to the library here, there was no internet, and so I would look for books on animation.
“I would scour the library for anything I could get my hands on.”
We chat in a life-size replica of Wallace and Gromit’s living room. The wallpaper, standing lamp and armchair are so familiar.
Park says it’s like sitting in one of his own sets.
The living room was actually based on his grandma’s house, which he describes as a cosy 1960s home. And as he sits in the chair with his cup of tea, he jokes that he’s now turned into Wallace.
He said: “I feel like I’m made of clay, sitting on a replica set, it’s just incredible.”
The Wrong Trousers, released in 1993, took home the Oscar for best animated short film
But that’s the joy of his films – the personal touch. And whilst they’re unmistakably Northern, inspired by Park’s family and upbringing, they’re also universally relatable.
He said: “I used to draw from my own childhood a lot, and that’s what inspired me. Because it feels true to do that.
“So, I went to memories of my granny, the lamp stand that my granny had and other objects, toasters, clocks, you name it.”
The exhibition opens on Sunday and will run until January
Park is now arguably as famous as his much-loved characters. Something he seems to be finally getting used to.
He says he’s honoured and a little overwhelmed that his hometown holds him and his clay creations so close to his heart.
He said: “I was a shy teenager, and just talking about this hobby, I never imagined they would become household names.
“So, to have statues of my characters in the centre of town and now to be opening this newly refurbished exhibition and my own exhibition. To be here with my own characters, it’s just crazy.”
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I ask what this stop motion supremo makes of the use of AI and technology in film.
He said: “We need to hang onto our values, there’s something about handmade quality that gives everything charm and appeal.
“It would probably be wrong to completely ignore that.”
The exhibition is immersive and emotive. Being up close and personal with the models, drawings, and characters evokes the same feelings as the films do. Warmth, humour and nostalgia.
A journey through the formative years of a young filmmaker and the birth of one of cinema’s unlikeliest heroes.
Park is now inspiring the next generation of storytellers and filmmakers at the museum, which played such an important part in his own success story.
Wallace and Gromit in A Case at the Museum Exhibition opens on Sunday and runs until January.
Jimmy Cliff, a musical artist who helped bring reggae to an international audience, has died aged 81.
Known for hits including You Can Get It If You Really Want, The Harder They Come, and Many Rivers To Cross, his career spanned six decades.
Cliff performing on the Pyramid Stage, at the Glastonbury Festival in 2003. Pic: PA
His wife, Latifa Chambers wrote on Instagram: “It’s with profound sadness that I share that my husband, Jimmy Cliff, has crossed over due to a seizure followed by pneumonia.
“I am thankful for his family, friends, fellow artists and coworkers who have shared his journey with him.
“To all his fans around the world, please know that your support was his strength throughout his whole career. He really appreciated each and every fan for their love.”
Thanking the medical staff who helped during his illness, she added: “Jimmy, my darling, may you rest in peace. I will follow your wishes.”
Signed by his wife, and two of his children, Latifa and Lilty, the statement concluded: “We see you Legend.”
Tributes to the singer included those from Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness, calling him “a true cultural giant whose music carried the heart of our nation to the world… Jimmy Cliff told our story with honesty and soul. His music lifted people through hard times, inspired generations, and helped to shape the global respect that Jamaican culture enjoys today.”
UB40 star Ali Campbell, who covered Cliff’s song Many Rivers To Cross in 1983, also paid tribute, saying he was “absolutely heartbroken to hear about the passing of a Reggae forefather” in a post on X.
Campbell also called Cliff “a pillar of our music, and one of the first to carry reggae out into the world”.
Jimmy Cliff (L) stands with Wyclef Jean at his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2010. Pic: Reuters
A legend of music and screen
A two-time Grammy-winning artist, Cliff was awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit in 2003, the highest honour in the arts and sciences, from the Jamaican government.
Over the years, he would work with stars including the Rolling Stones, Sting, Elvis Costello, Annie Lennox, Paul Simon and Wyclef Jean.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.
A prolific writer, frequently expressing his humanitarian views through his work, his 1969 track Vietnam was reportedly described by Bob Dylan as “the best protest song” he had ever heard.
Cliff was also well known for cover versions of songs, including Johnny Nash’s I Can See Clearly Now, which appeared on the soundtrack of the 1993 movie Cool Runnings, and Cat Stevens’ Wild World.
He twice performed on high-profile US chat show Saturday Night Live.
An actor and a musician, as well as singing the title track of 1972 cult classic The Harder They Come, Cliff also starred in it.
One of the first major commercial releases to come out of Jamaica, the movie is credited with bringing reggae to the world, as well as showing a grittier and more realistic side to the country.
During this time, Cliff’s fame rivalled Bob Marley as the reggae’s most prominent artist.
The storyline, which revolved around Cliff’s character, Ivan, moving to Kingston, Jamaica, to make it as a musical superstar, had parallels with his own.
Cliff at the MOBO (Music of Black Origin) Awards at the London Arena in London’s Docklands in 2002. Pic: PA
‘Hurricane Hattie’
He was born James Chambers, during a hurricane, on 30 July 1944, in St James Parish, northwestern Jamaica.
In the 1950s, he moved with his father from the family farm to Kingston, determined to succeed in the music industry.
He began writing as Jamaica was gaining its independence from Britain, and as the early sounds of reggae – first called ska – were being developed.
At just 14, he became nationally famous for the song Hurricane Hattie, which he had written himself.
Cliff would go on to record over 30 albums and perform all over the world, including in Paris, in Brazil and at the World’s Fair, an international exhibition held in New York in 1964.
The following year, Island Records’ Chris Blackwell, the producer who launched Bob Marley And The Wailers, invited Cliff to work in the UK.
Jimmy Cliff during the Love Supreme Jazz Festival in 2019. Pic: Shutterstock
‘I still have many rivers to cross!’
Speaking about his burning passion for life during a 2019 interview, when the star had begun losing his sight, Cliff said: “When I’ve achieved all my ambitions, then I guess that I will have done it and I can just say ‘great’.
“But I’m still hungry. I want it. I’ve still got the burning fire that burns brightly inside of me – like I just said to you. I still have many rivers to cross!”
Cliff’s last studio album, Refugees, made with Wyclef Jean, was released in 2022, and the singer said he wrote the title track “due to emotional feelings towards freedom taken away from human beings”.
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