Oliver’s father was Raymond Postgate, founder of The Good Food Guide and, according to his son, “Public Stomach Number One”.Oliver does not appear to have been particularly close to either man, but he still took on the mantle of their radical politics Like them, he was a conscientious objector. In a series of events that he should have dramatised as “Percy the Pacifist Pig Does His Porridge”, he presented himself in December 1943 to the Household Cavalry, asserting that he had come not to join up. The Household Cavalry at first suggested he ride off into the sunset but eventually agreed to lock him up for a while.Much later, he was to face, and survive, real family tragedies. After his father died of cancer, his mother committed suicide His wife died in 1982, also from cancer.

The lady who is his companion at the end of the book has become seriously disabled from ME. His major abdominal operation led to what can only be called a near-life experience, which results in the only unsuccessful paragraphs of the book: “I am the process proceeding, the seeing and hearing of a time-river of perceptions which my mind-body is taking in…” Quick, Noggin, do something!That aside, this is as lively a book as you would expect from the man whose first character for television was Alexander: the Mouse Born to be King. (The state-of-the-art 1958 technology involved dragging cut-outs across a coloured background with magnets.) Even at adult times of his life, Postgate engaged in internal dialogues during which spokesmen for conflicting viewpoints would belabour each other with arguments, like glove puppets with rubber truncheons.Such aggression did not carry through to his children’s characters, and, after their huge success, his films were dropped from the schedules because they were not sufficiently violent. The happy ending is that Bagpuss now has the last laugh, or purr, having won the accolade of most popular BBC children’s film ever in 1999.Finally, for those who were out at work, I am pleased to pass on the information that Noggin the Nog is a Norseman, that the Pogles are forest folk, that Clangers are moon-mice and that Ivor the Engine fulfils his ambition to sing in a Welsh choir.

And young Oliver did notice that there were doors squeezed between the shops on the Finchley Road, so that the denizens of the first floor could join the real world.. Two weeks ago I drew attention to Availeon, one of many little stock market companies lacking significant achievement but overflowing with ambition. Today I offer Fastrack, another tiddler with a wretched record. Two weeks ago I drew attention to Availeon, one of many little stock market companies lacking significant achievement but overflowing with ambition. Today I offer Fastrack, another tiddler with a wretched record.
For any investor prepared to take a chance, it could turn out rewarding. But it is in an even more difficult position than Availeon, a butcher-turned-contract caterer that has still to make a profit after six years on the stock market.

It is still not clear whether Availeon has hit on the right recipe for overcoming its past and emerging as a successfullong-term investment.Fastrack, an overnight delivery service, actually produced a profit of £75,000 in 1998 That was a false dawn. It has chalked up severe cumulative losses over the past six years, more than £20m, including a £2.1m deficit last year. The delivery men were still in the red in the first four months of their current year.Not surprisingly, it is short of cash. To provide the necessary working capital it is tapping shareholders, hoping to raise £3.5m through a rights issue (offering 20 new shares for every 39 held) and a further £1m by granting options to its controlling shareholder, the Tufton funds, managed by the Bulldog Partners fund management group.Chairman Douglas Ash,ex-Ocean group, says bluntly that this is the “only available means of enabling the group to continue trading on the basis of its current plans”. If the money is not forthcoming, and the Tufton cash is dependent on business targets being met, prospects are bleak.Yet such a grim scenario masks what could be one of the best internet-related stories.

Certainly, Fastrack’s shares, 9.75p against an 8.5p rights price, look a better bet than many of the dot plays.Its next-day delivery service for parcels and freight operates from 55 locations (46 of them franchised) with more than 400 vehicles. Much of its activity is business-to-business delivery although it has a home delivery service for e-commerce and internet retailing.The business-to-business operation is adaptable for home delivery and should make Fastrack one of the best-placed companies to take advantage of the internet revolution. It must be in a stronger position than old economy operations such as Express Dairy which is banking on getting a share of the business through its army of milkmen. Fastrack’s home delivery side already has deals embracing computers, food and drink and fashion clothing. They are testing a same-day delivery service for one internet customer, LastOrders , an online off-licence business.It seems the desperate need to grow rapidly into a national player has stretched Fastrack’s resources, with cash ploughed into its network of depots and its fleet.