got it, I was never sure, until recently a friend of mine played me a series of public information films that were shown on television when we were young ... One of them was an animation in which a married couple sat on a cliff enjoying a picnic and watching a man drowning in the sea below ... The husband called his wife Petunia, and I suddenly wondered whether that wasn't where I had got this most unlikely name, because I have never met anybody called Petunia, or, to my knowledge, read about them. ... The cartoon Petunia was a fat, cheery character, so all I seem to have taken is her name." References External links 625's Introduction to PIF's - Contains video and transcripts to some of the films. Coastguard (original 1968 PIF) Public information films Public service announcement characters 1968 films 1960s educational films 1970s educational films British educational films