As it was their follow up, a 55-minute version of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta ‘Ruddigore’ was a commercial and critical failure. “It’s rather good, actually,” says Vivien. “But it was a difficult length. The distributors didn’t know what to do with it and it was slated by the critics.” A rare failure. “My father could never stay doing one thing very long,” says Vivien. “He was always fascinated in progress, never happy until he had a new project on the go.” He wrote copiously about the animation process, experimented with puppet animation and with computer-generated animation, started making adverts again, and even made the first-ever animated pop video - in 1979, for Kraftwerk. He sold his company to Tyne Tees Television, then bought it back again several years later, at a deflated price. He carried on working, despite several strokes, until his death in 1995, four years after that of his wife.

Halas and Bachelor Cartoons still exists as a company. “I’ve turned it into a collection now,” says Vivien, “to try to keep the work my parents did alive.” The company base is in Southerham House, just outside the Cuilfail Tunnel; much of the material is stored in the BFI and at the animation research centre in Farnham. She lends me her book as I’m preparing to leave her house, to help me write this article. Once it’s in my bag I realise I’m never going to give it back. It costs £20, with a free DVD, and everywhere I go anyone who picks it up, can’t put it down. Her talk, illustrated with clips from Halas and Bachelor films, promises to be un-missable. AL