Eric Thompson

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 1952.

Thompson worked regularly for the BBC, and was a presenter of the children's television programme Play School from 1964 to 1967. 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. Thompson rarely worked in television after his voice became well known, but occasionally appeared in programmes including Doctor Finlay's Casebook (episode: "Beware of the Dog"), Doctor Who in the serial The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve in 1966, and in two episodes of Coronation Street, in 1964 and 1969 (playing two different characters).

Thompson married Scottish actress Phyllida Law (1932−2026), whom he met while at the Old Vic in 1957. Their daughters Emma and Sophie Thompson followed their parents into acting.

In 1967, he had a heart attack, attributed to overwork and heavy smoking, and he therefore changed his focus to directing. He directed Kenneth Williams in My Fat Friend in 1972 and the conflicts between the two are extensively discussed in Williams' diaries.

Thompson died of a heart attack in London on 30 November 1982, aged 53.