Blue Peter book number 8

Blue Peter book number 8 was published in 1971 and featured Peter Purves and John Noakes on the front cover standing next to the magnificent 532 Blue Peter Locomotive which had been restored and re-launched in front of a crowd of 60,000 railway enthusiasts and Blue Peter fans on 22nd November that year - just in time for the front cover.

The 532 Blue Peter had been saved from the scrap heap in 1968. The Blue Peter was one of 14 locomotives built at the Doncaster Plant Works in the 1940s. All 14 were named after race horses and No.60532 was called Blue Peter after the famous horse that won the Derby in 1939. It went into service in 1948 but was withdrawn in 1966 and left in a siding with no protection from the weather or from vandals.

Railway enthusiasts Brian Hollingsworth and Geoffrey Drury discovered the Blue Peter and formed the Blue Peter Locomotive Society with the aim of restoring the loco to her former glory. The launch ceremony on 22nd November 1971 was to go down in Blue Peter history with unprecedented crowds converging on Doncaster to see Pete, John and Valerie perform the official renaming ceremony.

Witches out of plastic lemons

But if Valerie had not made it onto the front page of the BP book alongside the boys that year, she did of course have her own scoop in 1971 with the Blue Peter Royal Safari with Princess Anne (see previous post on this blog):

"And the most memorable day on the Safari" reported Val "was when we went riding and suddenly came across this African village. All the children rushed out to meet us and they proudly showed off their new litter of puppies. The African children were extremely interested in the horses, but they had no idea one of the riders was a Royal Princess!"

Apart from these two historic events for the BP team in 1971, the 8th book was as usual a veritable almanac of interesting fact and fun to delight and enthral the nation's children at Christmas time including:

John surviving a night in a snow hole on the Cairngorms
Reports from the summer expedition to Mexico
Peter visits a Dolphinarium
Peter attempts to swim the English Channel
Valerie meets a lion and a mouse
John is recued by Mrs McCarthy's radio dogs
The team stand in a giant kaleidoscope of mirrors - then make one out of old Christmas cards and handbag mirrors 
One hundred and three people break a world record by moving 5 metres in a Volkswagen car 
John drives the car of the future down Champs Elysees
The BP appeal for holiday homes and caravans
Life boat news flash
Peter finds out about Kathakali dancing from Kerala, India
John tries his feet at tap dancing

Car of the future? Perhaps we'll see more of them in 2015.

Factual items about:

The Aztecs
Juan, the assistant of the painter Velazquez 
Cadillac 1903 motorcar
Marie Antionette
The Eiffel Tower
Mary Anning - the dinosaur hunter
Tippoo's Tiger
 
Makes:

Valerie makes witches out of plastic lemons and dish-mops
Val makes picnic pasties
Val converts a washing-up bowl into a luxury basket for Jason the cat

Stories and fun items:

Bleep and Booster
Mystery Picture
Bengo
Paddington
Who-done-it story A Case of Double Treachery
    
The youth of today just don't know what they missed out on!