Cactus the Camel was made by the author, illustrator and puppeteer Harry Whanslaw (1883-1965) in about 1930. A photograph in the British Puppet and Model Theatre Archive of the 13th exhibition of the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild in 1938 shows Cactus being operated.

The puppet enthusiast and pioneering BBC television producer Cecil Madden (1902-1987) was the first to produce BBC programmes from Crystal Palace. He engaged 'Whanny' and Waldo Lanchester to perform with the London Marionette Theatre, and later with Ann Hogarth and the Hogarth Puppets. Cactus featured in the early children's television programme Telescope, an hour-long fortnightly programme that first aired on Saturday 21st April 1951, edited by Jill Allgood, devised by Cecil Madden and introduced by Cliff Michelmore. Camel appeared in the section enitled Ship Ahoy! with his best friend the sailor glove puppet Timothy Telescope and his wooden boat HMS Telescope. The programme included hobby demonstrations and stories, and a section entitled Your Puppy, with Elizabeth Cruft showing a popular breed..

The book of stories by Jill Allgood entitled Timothy Telescope Cactus the Camel & Valerie Hobson in Ship Ahoy, illustrated by Harry Whanslaw and published by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., in 1951, described how Timothy sailed to a desert island where he met a lonely camel who dreamed of meeting a little boy who became his friend. When this actually happend the camel was so excited that he nearly fell into a cactus bush - so Timothy called him Cactus.

In 1956 the British film The Adventures of Timothy Telescope saw Timothy and Camel falling asleep on board HMS Telescope and inadvertently sailing to the Antarctic with a family of crows keeping watch from the crows' nest. The film was produced by Bebe Daniels and written and directed by Jill Allgood. Harry Whanslaw and Harry Bigg operated Timothy and Cactus; Mary and Pat Turner operated the other puppets.