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Peter Sallis - the link between Wallace & Gromit and a school science kit.
Added: (Sun Apr 28 2002)
Leicestershire’s answer to Nic Park is as shy, retiring and talented as the creator of Wallace and Gromit, and may soon become as famous as the Oscar winning animator, at least among school science classes.
Amateur illustrator Rick Jones, currently working as a retained fireman based in the small Leicestershire village of Moira is running late for his appointment with the couple that discovered him, Chemists Dr’s Carl Obern and Margit Haurenherm.
He arrives at their home and office, at the 200-year-old Moira Furnace, full of apologies after being held up attending a multiple smash on the nearby M42.
The 36-year-old father of two is highly excited. The cartoon he has turned into a short animation for the couple – featuring Professor Newton and his faithful sidekick Henry - to illustrate their groundbreaking science kit for schools, has just been given a voice.
Peter Sallis, the man behind Wallace and Gromit, has agreed to work on the script for Professor Newton, and from a London studio, has completed the voice-over for their interactive CD Rom The Adventures of Newton and Henry. The room at the top of the stairs, within the former iron-making furnace, is crackling with enthusiasm as Carl and Margit explain how they came to Moira, set up their Foundation, contacted Peter Sallis and discovered Rick.
Their project, Newton’s Apple – science, technology and nature, a learning experience for the 21st century, is the first in a series of interactive lessons, the first of which revolves around a natural soap making kit for use in schools and colleges. The kit contains all the ingredients needed to produce 45 bars of natural handmade soap, an interactive CD Rom and access to the associated web site.
As part of the development of Newton’s Apple, Margit and Carl ran trials at local schools, taking their Labrador dog Henry along with them.
The youngsters instantly fell in love with the large soppy dog and asked if he could be featured on the CD and web site.
So Carl and Margit set about developing the characters of Henry and Professor Newton, a rather scatterbrained elderly boffin, who have become an integral part of the lesson.
The company designing the web site and CD were at a loss and couldn’t help with the animations for Newton and Henry. It was just by chance that a neighbour of Carl and Margit’s said that he had a friend who was handy with a pencil and we should talk to him.
The couple took the recommendation with a pinch of salt until they met Rick, and saw some of the sketches he had done for family and friends.
Rick had always dreamed of but had never done any professional work and soon grasped Carl and Margit’s vision of Newton and Henry returning within days with the first set of drawings. The artwork was amazing.
The next step was to create a storyboard that would feature Henry and Newton on the CD and web site. It was a daunting task, as Rick had never done animation before.
Some of these animations entailed 22 separate drawings just for one action scene. It was a complex feat, which Rick completed by watching himself in action in a mirror and drawing the results. The dog walk he did by watching his fingers toddling across the table.
The complex cartoon sequences are incredibly smooth, with touches of real whimsy that have captivated both Carl and Margit.
Over the months, Rick dedicated all his spare time to the project and Newton and Henry slowly came to life. He had always liked the Marvel comics, and enjoyed drawing, but this was a new challenge. One in which he could observe people’s faces when they saw what he had drawn.
Rick’s artwork was sent to the web designers and word soon got around the industry, about the new, and exciting artist, which has led to many more commissions.
While in the local grocery, Carl found himself staring at a lump of Wensleydale cheese and churning over a few ideas for the voice of Professor Newton, the notion of Wallace and Gromit and Peter Sallis popped up.
Mr. Sallis enthusiastically agreed to work on the project when he saw the quality of illustrations and the educational concept behind the project. Before you could say ‘That’s a cracking idea Henry’ he was sitting behind a mike at Classic FM adding his distinctive tones to the four and a half minute cartoon sequence for the CD.
The project also attracted music by Patrick O’Hearn and a voice-over by Jane Jermyn. The couple feel the project has become a bit Hollywood with the beating drums and animal whoops of the music, but Newton’s Apple was set out to entertain as well as teach children.
Carl, 47, who was born in Leicester, and Margit, 46, born in Germany, met in Canada, where both scientists were working, bringing out what is an obvious family joke that ‘it was chemistry that brought us together.’
Their research led to them living and working in the Trois Pitons rainforest on the island of Dominica in the West Indies, where they studied local plants and learned about the wonders of the rainforest. Neighbours taught them how to make coconut oil, cocoa and mango butter and together they gathered nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla beans, which were in turn utilized to make natural soaps.
The people, especially the children, of these emerging communities are hungry for knowledge and during the couples 13 month stay on the island they witnessed first hand how the well intentioned aid supplied by countries like England were missing their target.
In 1997 the little village school was sent computers by the UK, not realizing there was no supply of electricity and nobody to operate the computers. This event triggered the idea for the Newton’s Apple project, to help children like those they met in their Dominican village.
The soap making kit will be produced in a workshop, providing real work opportunities for disabled and disadvantaged people and will be marketed directly to schools, and is set to be launched in September of this year.
The proceeds from the sale of these kits will be put back into further Newton’s Apple projects and out-reach programmes. The Foundations aims and objectives are to advance the education of students, particularly those who are disabled or disadvantaged by the provision of financial support for further and higher education, particularly in the UK and the West Indies.
Carl and Margit hope schools that take part in the Newton’s Apple project will take up the challenge to adopt sister schools in disadvantaged areas of the world, completing the full circle.
The couple is hoping Professor Newton and Henry will encourage children to enjoy science and help youngsters abroad.
Meanwhile, it looks as if Gromit will have to look to his laurels. Children everywhere have fallen for the cartoon hero Henry, who already gets more e-mails than Margit and Carl.
The Adventures of Henry & Newton have been produced as a weekly cartoon and are available for publication.
For more details of Newton’s Apple contact Carl Obern or Margit Haurenherm on 01283 222251 or contact info@newtonsapple.org.uk
Submitted by Carl Obern & Margit Haurenherm