Nick Park(I)

He made international news when he lost the figures of Wallace and Gromit in New York City. The clay models were left in the back of a cab by mistake when Park visited New York on a promotion tour for the release of Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave (1995). The original motorcycle and sidecar with Wallace and Gromit on-board were priceless and it would cost at least US$20,000 to replace them. Park appealed through the New York media for their return and this soon became a national and international news story; in the UK it was front page news and covered extensively on radio and television. They were returned 36 hours later when the cab driver read the news in the New York Post and decided to check his trunk. He was offered a reward of US$500 but refused to take it.

Plasticine was available when I was a teenager and started doing animation. I wanted to be like Disney, trying to film with plastic cels, but it was all too expensive. I didn't have enough money to buy cels, at least not enough to make more than four-and-half seconds of animation. But Plasticine was around, user-friendly and available to the masses. It was great because all you needed was camera, an Anglepoise lamp and a table. And you would make whatever you like come out of a blob of Plasticine.