of the show's history was a dramatised series by Ruth Park, originally The Wideawake Bunyip, with "Joe" Albert Collins in the title role. When he died, in 1951, Ruth changed the title to The Muddle-Headed Wombat, with Leonard Teale the first to play the part. When Leonard left, John Ewart "Jimmy" made it his for the next 20 years. The part of his friend "Mouse" in both incarnations was played by the current female co-presenter. When John Appleton was made Supervisor of Children's Programs and keen to be involved, a part "Tabby Cat" was created for him. The popularity of the series led Ruth Park to write her series of Muddle-Headed Wombat books in the 1960s. Entertainment The remainder of the 'session' was given over to a variety of entertainments depending on the day of the week: "singos" (singalongs), stories or skits by the team in their studio personas, written by Atholl Fleming or G. K. Saunders involving perhaps a confrontation with the studio supervisor 'Stewed Soup' or discovery of a secret passage from the studio. On Tuesdays, "Orpheus" (baritone Harold Williams) would sing a segment from opera, a ballad like The Golden Vanity or Up from Somerset or fun song such as "One Fish Ball" or "The Green-eyed Dragon with Thirteen Tails" Harold had perfect diction and wide range of expression, so children clearly heard what he was singing about. The finale was a serialised book dramatisation, usually by an Australian author such as Ivan Southall. This included dramatised versions of Southall's early semi-autobiographical war novel Simon Black in Coastal Command, telling the exploits and hardships of the RAAF crews of Short 'Sunderland' flying boats, patrolling the Bay of Biscay and the Western Approaches, hunting German u-boats, and Southall's sequel science fiction novel Simon Black in Antarctica, in which Simon Black and his team flew a futuristic jet-rocket hybrid to a hidden valley in Antarctica, warmed by geothermal springs, where a remnant community of Neanderthal people was discovered. An early success was Budge (later and better known as Budge's Gang) with actors Ron Rousel (as "Budge"), Rodney Jacobs (as "Tubby"), Peter Dunstan or David Stout (as "Snick"), Patricia Crocker (as "Dolly") and Queenie Ashton (as Budge's mother). John Meillon was a later addition to the gang, and Morris Unicomb is also known to have taken part. The show, scripted by John MacLeod, was the basis of a series of