Norman Hetherington, Australian cartoonist and television personality. died he was , 89

 Norman Frederick Hetherington OAM  was an Australian cartoonist, best known as creator of the long-running Australian children's television show Mr Squiggle died he was , 89.

(29 May 1921 – 6 December 2010)

Serving with the First Australian Army Entertainment Unit during World War II, Hetherington worked as a cartoonist (initially freelance, but full-time from 1946) for The Bulletin magazine until 1961, where he worked alongside such luminaries as Norman Lindsay, Ted Scorfield and Percy Lindsay. During the late 1950s, he pursued his interest in puppetry, which began in 1935 when his father gave him a copy of an American magazine called Popular Science Monthly, which contained instructions for making a puppet out of used bicycle inner tubes.
Hetherington began his television career in 1956, creating Nicky and Noodle for the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) and another series, Jolly Gene and His Fun Machine for Channel Seven in 1957. In 1959, he created Mr Squiggle, a moon-dwelling marionette with a pencil for a nose, who completed "squiggles" sent in by young viewers into full-realised drawings and cartoons. Initially intended as a temporary fill-in, the show ran on ABC for 40 years, ending its run in 1999.^[1]
An ex-student of Sydney's Fort Street High School, Hetherington lived in the Sydney suburb of Mosman from 1960 until his death.^[2] His wife Margaret, whom he married in 1958, wrote the scripts for Mr Squiggle during the show's entire run. The couple's children are Rebecca Hetherington, an actress, and Stephen Hetherington, an academic philosopher.
Hetherington and his wife received several honours and awards, including the Penguin Award in 1984, and again in 1989, from the Television Society of Australia 'for their outstanding contribution to children's television in Australia'.
He was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 1990 'for service to children's television programmes and puppetry'.^[3] In 2005, he was presented with the Dean's Award for Excellence in Art, Design and Education (College of Fine Arts, UNSW), for contribution to the media.
On 14 November 2009 the Australian Cartoonists' Association presented a surprised Hetherington with the coveted Jim Russell Award for his Outstanding Contribution to Australian Cartooning. It is generally acknowledged by many of his fellow cartoonists that they were encouraged to pick up a pencil by virtue of being able to watch Mr Squiggle's antics on television each week. The announcement, made at the annual Stanley Awards, was met with thunderous applause and a standing ovation.
After a long illness, Hetherington died on the morning of 6 December 2010 in Greenwich, Sydney.^[4][
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