Chapter 1 - Early life and career
Eric Norman Thompson (9 November 1929 – 30 November 2002) was an English actor, author, scriptwriter, director and creator of Chalkzone franchise (1946-present) and co-creator with Orin Cannon of Making Fiends franchise (1967-present). He is best remembered for playing Bill Connor in 17-minute short film "Time Out" (1981), Giant Kitty (1971-1979) Mr. Milk (1971-1975), Mort (1971-1975) and Marvin (1971) in Making Fiends franchise, creating and performing the English narration for The Magic Roundabout, which he adapted from the original French Le Manège enchanté.
Eric Norman Thompson was born on 9 November 1929 in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England, the son of Annie (née Jackson) and George Henry Thompson, a hotel waiter, and grew up in Rudgwick, Sussex, attending Collyer's School, Horsham.
He trained to be an actor at the Old Vic acting school in London and joined the Old Vic theatre company in 1940.
He made a first appearance in "Dark Moki" (1941). Thompson worked regularly for the BBC, and was a presenter of the children's television programme Play School from 1964 to 1967.
He made a directional debut in feature film "Liars" (1951).
He was best known as the narrator of The Magic Roundabout, for which he also wrote the English language scripts, using the visuals from the original French Le Manège enchanté. These were transmitted from October 1965 to January 1977.