Maria Bird

{{Short description|British television producer (1891–1979)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Maria Bird

| birth_name = Maria Edith Bird

| birth_date = {{birth date|1891|8|24|df=y}}

| birth_place = Pietermaritzburg, Colony of Natal

| death_date = {{death date and age|1979|8|25|1891|8|24|df=y}}

| death_place = Westerham, Kent, England

| occupation = Producer

| notable_works = Watch with Mother

}}

Maria Edith Bird (pronounced Marie) (24 August 1891 – 25 August 1979) was a South African-born British producer.

She was born in Pietermaritzburg, Colony of Natal, and died in the village where she lived for most of her life, Westerham, aged 88.{{cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=%2BZgk1ES2LzmVWGvKhGthBg&scan=1 |title=FreeBMD Entry Info |website=Freebmd.org.uk |date= |accessdate=2016-03-02}}

She was a descendant of Francis Bird the sculptor and Colonel Christopher Bird who was Colonial Secretary at Cape Town Castle (where there is a landmark named after him in Kirstenbosch, South Africa – Colonel Bird's Bath).{{cite web|url=http://www.sanbi.org/gardens/kirstenbosch/virtualtour/kirstenbosch-nbg-colonel-birds-bath |title=Kirstenbosch NBG: Colonel Bird's Bath |website=SANBI.org |date=2015-05-26 |accessdate=2016-03-02}} Her mother brought her children from Natal Colony to the UK to be educated and Maria attended a Scottish convent. Following school, she studied the Dalcroze eurhythmics music and dance method under Émile Jaques-Dalcroze in Dessau.Transcript from interview with Maria Bird's nephew

Maria Bird helped found BBC Children's Television with her close friend Freda Lingstrom with whom she set up Westerham Arts, the production company commissioned by the BBC to produce TV pieces including The Woodentops (1955), Flower Pot Men (1952) and Andy Pandy (1950).Maria Bird narrated all the 1950s black and white original transmissions of 'Watch With Mother', much later, however, Vera Mc Kechnie narrated the colour remakes of Andy Pandy in 1970, Vera narrated 'Picture Book' after her predecessor Patricia Driscoll, she had no input into Watch With Mother. In [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10023798/Andy-Pandy-is-almost-deviant.html Andy Pandy is almost deviant], The Daily Telegraph, 29 April 2013 Westerham Arts was based in Chartwell Cottage (owned by Bird and Lingstrom and subsequently bequeathed to the National Trust). It neighbours the Chartwell Estate. Maria and Freda built a shed in their garden where their puppet films were made.

In addition to TV production she was a writer,{{cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/series/85481-andy-pandy |title=Andy Pandy series by Maria Bird |website=Goodreads.com |date= |accessdate=2016-03-02}} narrator{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEfnJBArxGg |title=Andy Pandy (Episode 1) |publisher=YouTube |date= |accessdate=2016-03-02}} and musician.{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/443746/index.html |title=BFI Screenonline: Woodentops, The (1955–57) |website=Screenonline.org.uk |date=1955-09-09 |accessdate=2016-03-02}}