CAN he lick it? Thanks to a new set of stamps...yes he can.

Bob the Builder designer Curtis Jobling has been celebrating after the children’s TV character has been immortalised in a special collection from Royal Mail marking more than 60 years of children’s programmes.

But things could have been very different as with mum Kath, working as branch manager at the old Market Gate post office and then the post office in Golden Square, and dad Mel working as postmaster at Springfield Street, the former Penketh High pupil jokes he should have designed Postman Pat.

He added: “My folks worked for the Post Office all their working lives.

“I suspect that finally, now that Bob has his own stamp, they might acknowledge that I've made it!"

Bob, who used the famous catchphrase ‘Can we fix it?’, will be alongside old and new favourites including Andy Pandy, Dougal from The Magic Roundabout, Peppa Pig and Shaun the Sheep.

Curtis, who started work designing the show in 1997, added: "It's really quite an honour to see Bob immortalised on this set of stamps, especially when you consider the esteemed company he's in.

“Mr Benn is probably my personal favourite children's show of yesteryear - it fired my imagination as a nipper and I was with Mr Benn on his adventures, albeit from the safety of my living room in Great Sankey.

“Bob's a curious chap - for many years he was considered a 'new character' alongside the greats like Bagpuss and the Wombles, but things have shifted more recently.

“He's been around for so long now that he's now thought of as a 'classic' kids TV character.”

The connection between Bob and Warrington does not stop with Curtis however as award-winning puppet maker Ian Mackinnon is a fellow Penketh High School old boy and it was his company who produced the cast of stop-motion puppets that populate the show. Animator Jud Walton, from Newton-le-Willows, was also on the show from the beginning alongside Curtis.

The stamp collection marks the start of a busy year for the author as he works on a new series of novels following the completion of the successful Wereworld series and prepares for an impending US tour and school visits across the UK and overseas.