The author, illustrator and puppeteer Harry Whanslaw (1883-1965), affectionately known as Whanny, who made this puppet, was an important figure in the history of the 20th century revival of puppetry in Great Britain. His 1923 book Everybody's Theatre led directly to the formation in 1925 of The British Model Theatre Guild - later the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild, and a session of puppetry at a Guild meeting in 1926 with the puppeteer Waldo Lanchester (1897-1978) led to the foundation of The London Marionette Theatre where many new techniques of manipulation and construction of puppets were developed and the use of puppets in other fields such as advertising and television was pioneered.

In 1935 Whanslaw established the Studio Marionette Theatre in his house in Putney, where he presented regular performances with friends and students. He worked with the homeless and young people during World War ll creating puppets from bomb-damaged houses. He was the author of many books on various forms of puppetry including Everybody's Marionette Book (1935); Puppetry for School and Home (1936); Animal Puppetry (1948); Shadow Play(1950); and A Bench Book of Puppetry (1957).