Tidy Bag

Wombles reference books

The Wombles’ Guide To Life

Words Of Wisdom From Wimbledon Common
As Told To Tess Read

Published by Arrow on 6 November 2003
Illustrations by Edgar Hodges
TV stills from Cinar
ISBN 0 09 946339 3

“Remember you’re a Womble. Learn the lessons of life from the Wombles of Wimbledon Common as you become re-acquainted with loveably greedy Orinoco, practical Tobermory, the bossy cook Madame Cholet, venerable Great Uncle Bulgaria, bookish but brilliant Wellington, the Bungo and Tomsk double act and fearless MacWomble the Terrible.

“Be taken back into the wonderful whimsical world of the Wombles and their charming adventures. From their burrow on Wimbledon Common, the Wombles set about making good use of bad rubbish. Ahead of their time they recycle all the things we human beings leave behind, fashioning weighing scales out of clocks, trains out of barrels, hammocks out of nets. And as they tidy up after us, they also remind us what’s important in life.”

  1. Author’s Note
  2. Acknowledgements
  3. Wombles’ Names From Around The World
  4. The Wombles
  5. Ten Things You Never Knew About The Wombles
  6. Great Uncle Bulgaria
  7. Orinoco
  8. Madame Cholet
  9. Wellington
  10. Tobermory
  11. Bungo
  12. Tomsk
  13. The Wombles’ Who’s Who
  14. Distant Relatives

Journeys From Wimbledon Common

Travels Inspired By The Wombles
by Neil Matthews

Published by Palace Park Press on 14 June 2012
ISBN 978-1-909121-00-3

“For Mao, a journey of 1,000 miles began with a single step. For me, a journey of 50,000 miles begins with a singing Womble.”

“Join Neil Matthews as he goes ‘underground, over ground’, with his wife Helen and a few furry friends as they visit the places which gave the Wombles their names. He time travels on the Trans-Siberian, tackles deep fried Mars bars in Scotland, dances with a French donkey, meets Dirk Bogarde in Shropshire and finds the entrance to Hell.

“He explores how much the places are like their Womble namesakes – is Cholet full of chefs? How fat and lazy are the people of the Orinoco? He encounters guerrilla gardeners, eco-activists and others whose lives were changed by the Wombles, finally meets the Wombles’ creator, Elisabeth Beresford, and discovers it’s a weird, wonderful Wombling world out there…”

  1. Introduction
  2. Wimbledon
  3. Orinoco
  4. Tobermory
  5. Bulgaria
  6. Children of Orinoco
  7. Tomsk
  8. Cholet
  9. A Pair of Wellingtons
  10. Shansi
  11. Bungo
  12. Alderney

The Creator Of The Wombles

The First Biography Of Elisabeth Beresford
by Kate Robertson

Published by White Owl on 6 March 2023
ISBN 9781526794666

“This is the extraordinary story of Elisabeth Beresford, creator of The Wombles, the furry, fun-loving recyclers of rubbish, which became a children’s publishing and television sensation in the 1970s. What drove this imaginative and prolific writer of children’s books to invent The Wombles?

“From her birth in Paris in 1926 to her death in the Channel Islands in 2010, Beresford’s working life was led to the full, driven by the fear of debt. Married to the TV and radio sports commentator Max Robertson, and with two children, Elisabeth’s life was never dull but always uncertain.

“In addition to writing over 140 children’s books, she wrote romantic fiction for women’s magazines, and became a regular contributor to the Today programme, Woman’s Hour (BBC) and Woman’s World (Central Office of Information). As a journalist she interviewed a fascinating range of people from politicians and film stars to children in the remote Australian Outback. With the publication of The Wombles, and subsequently the enchanting BBC films, Elisabeth found fame and for a very brief moment, fortune.

“This is the first biography of ‘Mrs Womble’ as Elisabeth was known by millions of fans. Written by her daughter with insider knowledge and access to private family archives - diaries, letters, photographs and family memories - this book relates the remarkable and often hilarious life of one of the 20th century’s most successful children’s authors.”

  1. Introduction
  2. JD’s Daughter
  3. War and Peace
  4. A Wordsmith is Forged
  5. The Frantic Fifties
  6. In Demand
  7. FilmFair and Fame
  8. Womble Mania
  9. The Alderney Burrow
  10. Wombles to the Rescue
  11. Afterword