Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie, and a rather grumpy fellow living in a rubbish bin. Fifty-seven years ago today, a little television show began teaching children their ABCs, and millions of families fell in love with its characters.

Can you remember the first time you saw Big Bird wandering down Sesame Street? Or Cookie Monster making an enormous mess as he devoured another biscuit?

On November 10, 1969, Sesame Street made its American television debut, introducing a new approach to children’s entertainment.

Instead of simply showing cartoons, the programme combined puppets, music, comedy and everyday situations to help preschoolers learn.

The idea came from television producer Joan Ganz Cooney, who believed television could help prepare children for school.

She enlisted puppeteer Jim Henson, whose creations would become some of the most familiar faces on television.

The friends who grew up with our families

There was Big Bird, the enormous yellow bird with an equally enormous heart, and Oscar the Grouch, who seemed perfectly happy being miserable.

Bert and Ernie shared an apartment and regularly tested each other’s patience, while Cookie Monster had just one thing on his mind.

The programme also featured real people living and working on a fictional New York street, giving children a friendly neighbourhood they could visit every day.

Australian families first welcomed Sesame Street on ABC television on January 4, 1971.

For many parents, it became part of the morning routine. Years later, those same parents watched their grandchildren discover the characters they remembered so fondly.

And who could forget trying to sing along with the show’s famous theme tune?

The shipwreck remembered in song

On November 10, 1975, the American cargo ship SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a fierce storm on Lake Superior.

All 29 crew members lost their lives.

The tragedy became internationally known after Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot recorded The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald in 1976.

His haunting ballad told the story of the ship and the men who never came home, becoming one of his most memorable songs.

Born on this day

Downton Abbey favourite Hugh Bonneville, who played Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, turns 63 today.

Mackenzie Phillips, remembered as Julie Cooper in the sitcom One Day at a Time, celebrates her 67th birthday.

And Welsh acting legend Richard Burton, whose films included Cleopatra and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, was born on November 10, 1925. He died in 1984.

Do you remember?

Which Sesame Street character was your favourite? Were you a Big Bird fan, did Cookie Monster make you laugh, or did you have a soft spot for grumpy old Oscar?