‘Wallace and Gromit’ creator’s clay archive is destroyed by fire:
Thirty years of toil, including the creation of the premier couple of ” claymation”, Wallace and Gromit, were destroyed in the blaze at the archives of Aardman Animations, Britain’s largest and most successful animation studio.
News that the archive building had been destroyed came 30 minutes after the company heard that its latest film featuring Wallace and Gromit, Curse of the Were-Rabbit, had topped the US box office, taking $16.1m (£9m) during its opening two days.
Among the items lost:
- The Chicken Pie Machine from Chicken Run, built at a cost of £8,000 over six months.
- Figures of Shorn the Sheep, from A Close Shave, and the Evil Penguin from The Wrong Trousers, as well as storyboards, scripts and props.
- Characters from the British Gas Creature Comforts adverts.
- The “butter man” character made for the Lurpak adverts.
- An MTV award for Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” video.
Nick Park puts the incident into perspective:
But Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park, 46, was philosophical about the loss in comparison to the Pakistan earthquake. “Even though it’s precious stuff and nostalgic – and dreadful for the company, in light of other tragedies it’s not a big deal,” he said.