Margaret Ann Gildart Jackson (19 July 1910 – 9 April 1993) better known as Ann Hogarth (married name Margaret Ann Gildart Bussell) was a leading British puppeteer. She, her husband and "Hogarth Puppets" toured the world. She is best known for her puppet Muffin the Mule, which was one of the first stars of early BBC television in the 1940s and 1950s. She and her husband created a large collection of puppets Life Hogarth was born to Olive Mary (née Howle) and William Gildart Jackson who had been a school teacher. She was born the fourth of five children on 19 July 1910 at Hazelgrove, Shottermill, Frensham, Surrey. Her father remarried after her mother died when she was a small child. She was educated at St Catherine's School in Bramley where she discovered a talent for speaking and she resolved to go on the stage. To ensure she had a fallback career she trained as a secretary before studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her qualification got her the job of stage manager at the Players' Theatre in London where she met her future business partner and husband, Jan Bussell in 1932. He had a lifetime interest in model theatres and he had persuaded John Logie Baird to televise one of his puppet productions the year before he and Hogarth created "The Hogarth Puppetts". Hogarth married Bussell in 1933 as their puppet theatre promised "One and a half hours of scintillating entertainment" at each performance. The two of them commissioned plays and ballets for their puppets which they supplied with different voices. They had puppets made including a mule made by Fred Tickner who was known for his Punch and Judy puppets. Their repertoire included operetta, dance, poetry, Shakespeare and variety. They used marionettes and shadow puppets and a cast that included a complete orchestra. Despite their professional approach the company did not make much money and her husband had a day job directing Sheffield Repertory Theatre when he wasn't with Hogarth, collecting tickets, seeing the audience to their seats or being a puppeteer. Hogarth's daughter, Sally McNally, was born in 1936. During the war, Hogarth's partner was in the Navy but in 1946 he had returned to his pre-war job at BBC television in London. Muffin the Mule The BBC's first made star is said to be one of their early puppets. Annette Mills had chosen named