Norman Antony Hart was born in Maidstone, Kent, on 15th October 1925. He showed artistic talent from an early age, drawing on the back of envelopes saved by his mother. Educated at Clayesmore School, Iwerne Minster, he left school in 1943 but was unable to join the Royal Air Force as an Air Gunner due to his eyesight, so followed his father into the Army. Commissioned into the 1st Gurkha Rifles he served in India for the next four years.

Captivated by the vibrant colours of the sub-continent, Hart decided to become a professional artist and spent his off-duty periods studying at an art school in Madras. When India became independent in 1947 the lower ranking British officers were immediately replaced, so Hart resigned his commission and returned to the UK to train as a graphic designer at Maidstone College of Art. His studies were interrupted by the Korean War as he was re-conscripted and as a TA Artillery Officer as part of a scheme to release regular officers for the war.

Initially employed as a window artist for an Oxford Street department store, he struggled to make ends meet and painted murals in cafés for free meals. A chance meeting with a BBC producer at a party in 1952 led to an interview over lunch after which he was asked to draw a fish on the napkin. The deftness of his sketch led to him being offered jobs as resident artist in several children’s programmes. In 1958 he was asked to design the logo for a new programme, Blue Peter, and came up with the iconic blue ship. So convinced was he that the show would be a hit (it is now the longest running children’s TV show in the world) that he asked for a penny every time the logo was shown – but was given £100 by the parsimonious manager.

In 1964 he received his big break with a new show, Vision On. Originally aimed at deaf children, the programme allowed Hart to experiment with alternative art such as an enormous picture of a tractor made on a Sussex hillside from 144 roller towels. His insistence that art should reach out to all, rich and poor and of all levels of skill was manifested in the weekly gallery of pictures sent in by children of all ages. By the time the programme ended in 1977 it was shown all over the world and made a global star of the genial, cravat-wearing, Hart.

In 1978 Hart was given his own show, Take Hart, and, such was its success, that he was awarded a BAFTA in 1984. Hart’s wife was not invited so he sent a polite refusal and learned of the award from the comfort of his own sofa. A second show, Hart Beat, ran between 1985 and 1994 still featuring alternative art creations, the gallery of children’s pictures and the plasticine creation Morph. Indeed, Morph was created by Peter Lord and Dave Sproxton, young artists who later went on to found Aardman Animations responsible for Wallace and Gromet. In 1998 Tony Hart was awarded a second BAFTA for lifetime contribution to children’s television.

Active with many charities, he donated numerous paintings to the Gurkha Welfare Trust which were then sold for huge sums. Severely incapacitated following a stroke in 2001, he said that his inability to paint was ‘the greatest cross to bear’. Tony Hart died at Guildford on 18th January 2009.