BELOVED puppet Sooty is celebrating his 70th birthday today - but little known to many in Farnham is the town’s close ties with the much-loved children’s TV show.

Brenda Longman, a former actress at the Redgrave Theatre in East Street and latterly the artistic director of Farnham Rep, took over as the voice of Sooty’s glove puppet girlfriend Soo from Sooty creator Harry Corbett’s wife Marjorie Corbett in 1981.

She remained a key part of the show, starring alongside silent Sooty and squeaky Sweep, until 2001 when the then-new owners of Sooty Hit Entertainment overhauled the series.

Brenda was brought back to voice Soo in 2007 onwards, however, when Soo appeared on The Weakest Link and she remains the 'Voice of Soo' today.

The actress has appeared in the Herald pages frequently over the years, most notably when Sooty and Co won the Best Children’s Comedy prize at the star-studded British Comedy Awards in December 1998, televised live on ITV and hosted by Jonathan Ross.

Speaking to the Herald shortly after the ceremony from her home in Firgrove Road, Whitehill, Brenda said: “Sooty is so successful because it appeals to children and to their parents and grandparents who watch it.

“Some of the jokes may go above the children’s head, but they enjoy seeing their parents laugh at it - their parents also know that it is a ‘safe’ programme for their children to watch.

“Really, because it is such a family show, it should be going out on a Sunday tea-time, rather than during Children’s ITV.”

Redgrave Theatre fans saw Brenda in numerous productions. These included Under Milk Wood, My Fair Lady, Annie, She Stoops to Conquer and various Alan Ayckbourn plays.

She also appeared in a national tour of The Sound of Music as the Reverend Mother which reached the West End and in a production of Aspects of Love at the Haymarket Theatre in Basingstoke.

But one of Brenda’s strangest stage experiences was as Bea Smith in the British stage tour based on cult Australian soap Prisoner Cell Block H.

She found herself mobbed in Glasgow and Liverpool, despite not even being in the television version of the show.

Brenda also appeared on a ‘Famous Voices’ version of BBC quiz show Pointless Celebrities in October last year where she won £250 for her chosen charity, namely Farnham Rep, and set to appear on the show again on Saturday, July 28.