Mildred

A future Beatles director and former Goon script a beautifully designed comic cartoon for BP

Meet Mildred. A delightfully dotty older lady who’s carefree attitude means you need to be careful around her. Not the most obvious route into a sponsored film about BP’s air fuelling operation, but these are not the most obvious scriptwriters. Michael Bentine was embarking on “It’s a Square World” and Dick Lester would go on to direct features with The Beatles, and films in the Superman franchise.

Co-directors Nancy Hanna and Vera Linnecar already had a couple of decades in the animation industry under their belts. Their time at the innovative Larkins Studio under the liberating guidance of Art Director Peter Sachs had put them at the cutting edge of cartoon design in Britain.