Calvin and Hobbes

Calvin and Hobbes Broadcast Tuesday 22 September 2009, 11:30 128/44; 26 MB; sound quality excellent Phill Jupitus celebrates Calvin and Hobbes, the comic strip about the little boy and his stuffed tiger named after eminent philosphers. Over the course of ten years, the strip became an international phenomenon, being syndicated in 2,500 newspapers worldwide. It tells the tale of a young boy whose stuffed tiger is as real to him as the people around him, and deals in the process with philosophical issues about free will and the meaning of life, via the perspective of a child with an extraordinary imagination. Its creator, the reclusive Bill Watterson, could have become a multi-millionaire through merchandising deals and film offers from some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Instead, he turned down all such offers without hesitation. "Why would I want to talk to Stephen Spielberg?" he asked his editor. Phill Jupitus has been a fan of Calvin And Hobbes for years, and now sets out to discover more about the characters and the man behind them, the hyper-reticent Watterson whose refusal to grant any interviews is as steadfast as JD Salinger's. In his absence, Jupitus heads to Oxford to speak with artists, merchandisers, booksellers and philosophers in his quest to find out what makes the strip so popular, a decade on from Watterson drawing the final frame. Producer: Geoffrey Bird

Jupitus 090922 Calvin and Hobbes.mp3

Documentary, Docudrama, History, Biography & Historical Fiction

Calvin and Hobbes

Replies