// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
'Gromit was nearly a cat!': Secrets from 50 years of Aardman
Wallace and his expressive but speechless dog Gromit first hit our screens in 1989
Gromit was almost a cat. Shaun the Sheep was nearly given a voice. And Chicken Run helped change the Oscars forever.
As Aardman Animations marks its 50th birthday, its creators have been sharing some of the surprising twists behind the rise of Bristol's best-known creative success story.
Founded by school friends Sir Peter Lord and Sir David Sproxton in 1976, Aardman has given us Morph, Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Chicken Run, the world's most successful stop-motion film.
But the journey from two teenagers "mucking about with plasticine" to an Oscar-winning animation powerhouse has often hinged on chance decisions, practical compromises and creative instinct.
"They make you laugh before they do anything", said Sir Peter Lord of the comic creations Wallace and Gromit
Wallace and Gromit became Aardman's most famous characters after animator Nick Park joined the studio in 1985.
"I had this idea of an English guy who builds a rocket, in the basement of his house," recalled Park.
"I was thinking he may have a pet, probably a cat."
"I started modelling the cat, and it was just very difficult, so I thought I'd do a dog instead!"