Voice of ‘Postman Pat’, Ken Barrie, dies aged 83

Ken Barrie, the voice of children's TV show Postman Pat, has died at the age of 83. Barrie, who was born Leslie Hulme, provided the voice for Pat and many of the other characters in the animated series, as well as the famous jingle.

His daughter Lorraine Peterson told the Press Association he died peacefully at home in Denham, Buckinghamshire of liver cancer.

Barrie, who was born in Tunstall in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, voiced the famous postman from 1981.

He also had a successful singing career, performing on an album with Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby and on jingles for Smash and Martini.

Mrs Peterson said: “He was the master of different characters and voices. He was very reserved about what he did but he loved it and got to work with his heroes.”

The children’s series followed the adventures of a postman as he carried out his mail rounds in the fictional village of Greendale.

Barrie got the job after recording his voice on tape at the suggestion of the guitarist working on the show’s music and later said he never imagined it would be so popular.

Mrs Peterson said: "We are celebrating his life today. He was very proud of what he did for children but his legacy is not so much Postman Pat, he did a lot more and he loved singing after starting in the late 1950s."

She added: “When you ask me what dad was most proud of, it was his closest family, we were very close, and he provided for us really well, but particularly his son and my brother Paul.”

PA