The Wonderful Stories of Professor Kitzel (Worldvison Enterprises 1972-76) (aired on ITV) 1987-91

The Wonderful Stories of Professor Kitzel


During the late 1980's I was still watching the occasional kids TV programme (even though I was in my 20's), and being an early riser I never missed an episode of the probing and in-depth (5 minute) educational show called 'The Wonderful Stories of Professor Kitzel'. Who? What? When? Why??? I hear you ask! Well to answer some of those questions I should introduce the above mentioned Professor Kitzel.
Kitzel was an eccentric scientist / academic, who hosted these historic snippets.The program combined film clips, animation, and commentary to teach the viewers about so called important events (if you can still class subjects such as the Kon Tiki expedition or Fur trading in Canada as important!)
The series could have been quite an education, but sadly most of the subjects seem to be about forgotten white (and mostly French) explorers, or completely incorrect histories (such as the Easter Island episode). The rather staid stories were broken up by the Professor, who went through the same format in each of the 106 episodes (how many?). First he would walk on and tell a shit joke, pull the switch of his time machine monitor / TV set, and the story would be begin. Halfway through the story, the professor would interrupt the commentary to make some dumb ass remark, before returning to the narrative with an invitation to "Let's see what happened next."after which appearances by his grandfather or his parrot would finish the show with a fucking diabolical joke!
To my way of thinking the Professor is a must see, yeah I know history is a bit boring, but for Christsakes, these episodes lasted less time than it takes to wipe your arse! I loved the little tales punctuated by the very base humour (which did still somehow, raise a smile) and the stories could actually teach you something....which would be a bonus for most brain dead 12 year olds these days.
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Episodes

  1. Martin Frobisher
  2. The Crusades
  3. The Spartans
  4. Charlemagne and the Elephant
  5. Leonardo da Vinci
  6. Samuel F.B. Morse
  7. Profile of Japan
  8. Mayan Archaeology
  9. Charles Darwin (2)
  10. The Sahara Desert
  11. Charles Dickens
  12. Thomas Edison
  13. Buffalo Bill Cody
  14. Joan of Arc
  15. India (1)
  16. Pilgrims
  17. Montezuma and Cortez
  18. Perry at the Pole
  19. Hillary and Mount Everest
  20. The Mississippi Steamboat
  21. Reptiles
  22. The Rosetta Stone
  23. The South Pole
  24. August Picard
  25. Abba of Benin
  26. India (2)
  27. The Oracle of Delphi
  28. Northwest Indians
  29. Daniel Boone
  30. Jacques Cartier
  31. The Great London Fire
  32. The Masai Warriors
  33. Marco Polo
  34. The Wright Brothers
  35. New Amsterdam
  36. Athens and Sparta
  37. Beavers
  38. Romulus and Remus
  39. The Buffalo Herds
  40. Captain Bligh
  41. Peter the Great
  42. Fur Trading
  43. George Washington
  44. Robert Perry
  45. Egypt
  46. The Vikings
  47. The Phoenicians
  48. Frederick Douglass
  49. Al Rashid
  50. Pioneers in Early America
  51. The Early Boat Builders
  52. Anton Von Leewenhoek
  53. The African Gold Coast
  54. Gorillas
  55. The Picard Brothers
  56. The Whaling Ships
  57. Montgolfier
  58. The Treasure Ships
  59. The Eskimos
  60. Prehistoric Man
  61. Mount Olympus
  62. Vasco de Gama
  63. James Watt
  64. The Middle Ages
  65. California Gold Rush
  66. Captain Froebischer
  67. Christopher Columbus
  68. Louis Bleriot
  69. Peter the Hermit
  70. Pueblo Indians
  71. Kier and Drake
  72. Abraham Lincoln
  73. Guglielmo Marconi
  74. Ben Franklin
  75. Emperor Nero of Rome
  76. The Covered Wagons
  77. Easter Island
  78. The Cave Paintings of Alta Meara
  79. Louis Pasteur
  80. The Search for Ancient Troy
  81. Jacques Cousteau
  82. The Statue of Liberty
  83. John Cabot
  84. John Smith and Pocahontas
  85. The Middle Ages
  86. Thor Heyerdahl
  87. The Declaration of Independence
  88. Gutenberg
  89. The History of Rockets
  90. Galileo
  91. Early Man
  92. Ponce de Leon
  93. The Erie Canal
  94. Charles Darwin (1)
  95. The Duryea Brothers
  96. Samuel De Champlain
  97. The Customs of China
  98. Michelangelo
  99. Thomas Paine
  100. Charles Lindbergh
  101. Early Crete
  102. The Australian Aborigines
  103. Eskimo Life
  104. Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius
  105. Lewis Carroll
  106. The Mystery of Stonehenge

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