The Wombles song creator shares tiny salary he got for writing iconic track

Mike Batt, the man behind iconic tracks like The Wombling Song and Remember You’re A Womble, has confirmed how much he got paid for penning the famous song to accompany the children’s TV show.

Mike was hired by the BBC in the 1970s to write songs that would later become hits in the UK music charts. He’s also the man behind the track that made so many of us sob when watching Watership Down.

But appearing on BBC Breakfast this week, he revealed he wasn’t paid as much as people think.

Mike admitted to hosts Jon Kay and Sally Nugent: “I’d been in the music business for five years, since I was 18, so I was 23. They said, ‘We’d like you to write a tune for The Wombles’. I didn’t know what they were so I went along and saw them – little tiny puppets.

“I thought, ‘Maybe I should write you a song, then I can write about Great Uncle Bulgaria and Tobermory’ and they said it sounded like a good idea.

“They offered me £200 to write it, which actually in those days wasn’t a bad fee. And I had a big hole in my jeans, so I thought it might be a good idea!"

But instead of accepting the £200, Mike revealed he actually didn't get paid at all for the gig. Instead, he asked for the rights to create a pop group centred around the characters from Wimbledon Common.

He revealed: "That’s how The Wombles came about. My mum made all the costumes!"

The Wombles began as characters in a series of children’s novels by Elisabeth Beresford, beginning in 1968, before they made their way onto TV screens.

Batt’s band launched their pop career, even performing at Glastonbury in 2011. Four singles reached the Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart, and the Wombles became the most successful UK music act of 1974.

But he admitted his legacy is a "combination of regret and delight" as he'll always be associated with the furry creatures.

Mike confessed his decision to go after the rights was “accidentally good”, confessing: “It wasn’t as if I went in there thinking, ‘Right, I know what the deal’s going to be’. It just happened. They were happy because they weren’t losing anything.

“It was good for them because eventually we became the biggest selling group in 1974, the biggest selling singles’ group, having three simultaneous singles in the charts for two weeks. First time it had ever been done since The Beatles!”