Sweet Sixteen - The 16th Book of Blue Peter

Having been omitted from the front cover of Book 15, Simon Groom became only the second Blue Peter presenter (Noakes enjoyed the accolade twice) to have the front cover all to himself, excepting of course his co-star, Goldie the new BP dog. 1979 had been a year of big change for the programme's team of presenters. Whilst the 1960's had been dominated by Christopher Trace, Valerie Singleton, John Noakes and a late appearance by Peter Purves, the 1970's saw a whole decade of Noakes and Purves with Lesley Judd replacing Valerie Singleton between 1972 and 1979.

With only brief appearances in the spotlight for Leila Williams and Anita West in a three year period between 1958 and 1962, Simon Groom became only the 8th presenter in a 20 year period and only the 6th with comparable longevity to Noakes, Purves, et al.

For those of us who had literally grown up watching the programme at 5 to 5 every Monday and Thursday early evening on black & white television sets (partly because we only had the choice of three flickering channels) this had become a very permanent part of our childhoods. Changes to the presenting team, let alone to the pets, was going to be a challenge and as symbolic a change as was watching the miracle of colour tv in your own living room. But a whole new generation of children were on the ascendancy, giving Groom and Goldie the front cover billing was therefore a strong statement, especially given the expectations on this humble farmer's lad from Dethick.  

 

World famous for 15 minutes - Blue Peter Book 15

A very flamboyant cover for Blue Peter book number 15, devised and written by Biddy Baxter, Edward Barnes and John Adcock. Published ahead of Christmas 1978, the cover featured the trusted team of John, Lesley and Peter, in high-flying trapeze outfits and achieving much more than a mere 15 minutes of world fame (to quote Andy Warhol). If anyone was earning a mere 15 minutes of fame it was new presenter Simon Groom who was only worthy of a name-check at the start of the book, a two page biography titled "How I Joined Blue Peter" and an introduction to Goldie.

Clearly Groom was yet to fully make his mark in 1978, unlike the enduring hero Noakes, voted favorite Children's Television Personality of the Year by viewers of Multicoloured Swap Shop (banned from voting for Noel?), climbing to the top plinth of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, receiving the honour of a wax model at Madame Tussaud's and performing in the Engardine 42 kilometre Swiss ski marathon. To name just a few of his high points in 1978 (literally).

Peter Purves wasn't without his own heroics this year, attending knight school (BP's clever pun) where he rode into battle on a fine steed with the unfortunate name of Pedro and also learnt the Flying Trapeze at Billy Smart's Circus alongside Lesley Judd.

Another momentous day for Purves was on 23 March 1978, not just his last day as a regular Blue Peter presenter, but the day that a large bronze statue of Petra (R.I.P) was uncovered at the front gates of BBC Television Centre. Petra (1962-1977) had died in the previous year and the BBC commissioned regular guest artist Tim to model the dog's head in bronze, erecting it on a block of blue pennant stone from Gelli in South Wales. A truly poignant moment for Peter who had long been identified as Petra's best friend.

By 1978, Lesley Judd was at her peak, evidenced by her central position on the front cover, a rose between two thorns perhaps. Queen of the costume-based history recreations, as well as both the makes and the shakes, the ex-Pans Person was giving Magpie a run for their buck by interviewing ABBA and Showaddywaddy.

Whilst book 15 kept true to its tried-and-tested format with features on science, history and current affairs, competitions,cartoons and stories, the departure of both Peter Purves and John Noakes in 1978, followed by the arrival of Simon Groom and two more new presenters in 1979, Tina Heath and Christopher Wenner, not forgetting a clutch of new pets, all was about to change... utterly. 

Drum roll please....

Go Metal Detecting with Val Singleton

 

 

Over the decades, many Blue Peter presenters have had literary careers independent of their direct association with the programme. Sometimes their works have been autobiographical, occasionally authoring children's fiction books, or sometimes non-fictional books in the style of Blue Peter publications.

This small softback book, Go Metal Detecting, published by EP Publishing Limited in 1981, was written by Val Singleton and Marguerite Fuke. There is no biographical introduction to Marguerite Fuke but reading between the lines she is the experienced expert of the two co-authors, even though the book's front cover only displays Val's name as the author.

Val does provide a well-written Part One to the book in the first person, describing how her interest in metal detecting started, connected to her love of history and fascination with classic treasure "gold, diamonds and sunken galleons". She describes her first go with a metal detector, unearthing a collection of cartridge case butts, bullets, tractor bolts and broken horseshoes. Her more exciting finds included a 1917 penny and several military buttons.

Part Two of the book is written in the first person by Margueritte Fuke and is a much more detailed and lengthy description of metal detector equipment, how to search a site, digging techniques and how to plot a find. Also some of the legal advice about where you may and may not dig and how not to run foul of the law and archaeologists. The book also includes many photos and drawings. 

Forty years later, without doubt this remains a really useful guide for people wishing to take up the hobby of metal detecting. Truly an interesting find! 

Animal Man - George Candsdale

Cansdale always with a surprise up his sleeves

Many, many years ago, long even before Sir David Attenburgh famously refused his pensioner's bus pass because it wasn't valid for off-peak travel in the  equatorial rainforest, there was an even older and equally loved television animal expert than Sir David, named George Cansdale.

Born in Brentwood, Essex in 1909, George Cansdale was a British zoologist, writer and television personality. He was Superintendent of the Zoological Society of London and in the 1950s became a BBC television presenter of wildlife programmes.

Cansdale's programmes reached both young and adult audiences. His 'Looking at Animals' series gained worldwide popularity and he became a regular contributor to Chidlren's Hour. Cansdale was a pioneer of natural history programming, inspiring a long list of tv naturalists (I'm hoping that's the correct word) who would follow in his paw-prints, er, foot-prints, each stamping their own personality on the fascinating pastime of wildlife watching. 

Let's see, there was twitching-Goodie Bill Oddie; fearless French shark-whisperer Jacques Cousteau; the exceptionally really-wild Michaela Strachan; the really-serious when it comes to suing for libel, Chris Packham (note to self - don't); crocodile-wrestling Aussie Steve Irwin; the venomous-snake grabbing Mark O'Shea; Manc monkey authority Karl Pilkington and of course the greatest of them all, Johnny Morris. Morris was to hold the highest accolade in being the only human apart from Dr Dolittle (who didn't even exist by the way) who could actually talk to the animals, even though most times it was along the lines of a grumpy hippo at Bristol Zoo moaning about the tedious buckets of makeral for dinner "oh come on Johnny, can't we have a few nice rump steaks of drowning-wildebeast for a change?"

In his role as head of London Zoo, Cansdale famously feuded with fellow naturalist Gerald Durrell, perhaps over a difference in the principles and methods of their two zoos or maybe something to do with the shooting of a chain smoking chimpanzee named Cholmondely. But now is probably not the time or place to go into that old chestnut. I don't need Chris Packham wading in on me, even though his critique would no doubt be the most valid of all. My word how times change don't they chidren.     

From the 1960s onwards, George Cansdale became the regular animal expert on Blue Peter, even naming the tortoise after him. Described by the Baxter General as "....television's zoo man - the large, avuncular studio guest who would show the presenters how to bath six-foot pythons, produce bush-babies from his trouser pockets and tarantulas out of his turn-ups....Children loved him because he was quirky, authoritative and uncondescending."

But for those of us too young to remember all that clearly,
the treat of George pulling bush- babies out of his trouser pockets, it may surprise us to learn that he was also author of many wildlife books including a couple of the famous mini Ladybird books, The Ladybird Book of Pets and the Ladybird book of British Wild Animals. 

I remember both of these lovely books very well and in the words of Sir David "thanks to Cansdale's bringing animals to the television studios, a great many people, young and old, acquired their first insights into taxonomy and comparative anatomy from what he said. He spoke good natural science."

Taxonomy huh? So that's what happened to the poor old tortoise. 

In 1988 George the tortoise escaped after someone left his cage door open. He was eventually found three miles away by a Jack Russel dog who 15 minutes later also found the World Cup in someone's front garden. George was allegedly returned home where he went into celebratory hibernation. In the meantime, Valerie had cheered everyone up by baking a crusty steak and kidney pie which her ever-ravenous Yorkshire co-presenter John Noakes and his dog Shep swiftly devoured. 

"Crust were a bit hard Val" said Noakes spitting out what resembled a reptillian claw, "but makes a change from a bowl of Spillers don't it our Shep?"

Special Blue Peteresque puzzle - can you find the hidden truths and the cheeky lies?

We're Record Breakers

1977 was not just the year of Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee celebrations, it was also the year that Blue Peter teamed up with The Record Breakers programme to smash the record for the largest number of tap dancers dancing in unison to the same tune.

The idea had come to Blue Peter editor Edward Barnes whilst having lunch with none other than the McWhirter twins, Ross and Norris, who were well known for adjudicating world record attempts on behalf of The Guinness Book of Records. One can only imagine that 'lunch' no doubt consisted of 600 live eels consumed in 10 minutes, followed by a 10 thousand pound pizza, 300 raspberry jellies whilst blindfolded, 30 meatballs and 45 Brussels sprouts consumed in one minute, all washed down by 1 litre of milk shake sucked up a straw in just 47 seconds.

Well, maybe not, but the idea was hatched all-the -same that lunchtime and in December 1977 Record Breakers presenter and former variety entertainer Roy Castle joined 501 girls in a huge roulette wheel shape outside of the BBC Television Centre, to tap dance their way into the Guinness Book of Records.

Other World Records broken live on Blue Peter

Breaking records has been a feature of Blue Peter since it's early days, here are a few of the many records broken on the programme: 

A window cleaner named Terry broke his own world record when he cleaned three panes of glass in just 15.59 seconds as Simon Thomas watched on.

In 2002, Matt Baker partnered hang-glider Judy Leden when she became the first person to pilot a tandem hang-glider at 11,000 feet.

In 2015 Blue Peter present Lindsey broke a world record for applying facial foam beards to 36 people for Red Nose Day 

In 1973 John Noakes set a record for the longest civilian free-fall parachute jump with the RAF at five miles high.

Blue Peter presenter Radzi broke the world record for sitting on 81 whoopee cushions in one minute.

In 2010 Helen Skelton kayaked 2010 miles down the Amazon river for Sport Relief, achieving two Guinness World records. 

In July 1987 Janet Ellis broke her pelvis in training to become the first European woman to achieve a 90-second 2,000 foot parachute jump.  

In September 2019 magician Martin Rees achieved his fourth Guinness World Record break in a live stream on Blue Peter by identifying the most cards out of a deck in one minute. His efforts also earned him a Blue Peter badge.

Andy Akinwolere set the world record for swimming 5 miles across the deepest stretch of water on the planet, the 8,000 metre deep Palau Trench in the Pacific Ocean. Just 10 weeks before his record he could not swim and was terrified of open water.

In 1967 Mr Hales drank 27 raw eggs in front of an amazed John Noakes.

In 1970 103 university students squeezed into a VW Beetle and it moved in order to beat the world record.

In 2009 Helen Skelton, Andy Akinwolere and 98 volunteers broke the world record for a tumbling mattress domino chain.

Strong man Iron Biby broke the world record of the most overhead presses of a human being, lifting Lindsey over his head 69 times.

In September 2020, BP presenter Adam Beales broke the record for the most table tennis balls bounced and caught in shaving foam on the head in 30 seconds. Total number 10.  

At 63 years old in 2021, the Blue Peter show itself holds the record of being the longest-running children's magazine TV programme.

In true Blue Peter style, Janet Ellis took the theatrical
idiom 'break a leg' a little too literally

 

 

 

Book 14 - Jubilee Year 1977

The cover of the 14th Blue Peter book featured John, Peter and Lesley up in the studio director's control room, behind them a bank of monitors featuring the show's pets which at that time featured Petra, Shep and the two cats who had replaced Jason, namely Jack and Jill.

The familiar Hello There! introduction at the start of the book celebrated the achievement of a book published every year since 1963. with half a million copies printed of every edition of books 4 to 14 - a record in the world of hard back books.

Of interest to collectors of Blue Peter books like myself, the article goes on to answer a common question from viewers back then "how can we get hold of books One, Two, Three, Four and Five?" The answer being:

"We just don't know. All the early editions are out of print and the only hope is to get one as a swap, or find one at a jumble sale. We keep one complete set in the Blue Peter office, and we'd very much like to hear from anyone else who's also got volumes one to fourteen. If you have, our advice is hang on to them - they look as though they're well on their way to becoming real collectors' items! In the end they may be very useful too, John Craven's set of Eagle annuals helped to raise funds for our Lifeline Lebanon Appeal."    

The author of this introductory piece was certainly right in predicting the demand for Blue Peter books as collectors' items, though with the advent of E:bay they became much easier to track down. Twenty five years ago I forked out the tidy sum of £100 for the first three Blue Peter books on the assumption they were extremely rare, though thankfully Oxfam benefitted from my contribution to their funds. A search of E:bay in 2021 however finds dozens of adverts for all the books, including the first five books rarely more than £10-£15 each and frequently the whole collection of books for around £60. So contrary to the prediction about rarity, there are still plenty of Blue Peter books out there and a lot of collectors still looking to part with them for a reasonable price.

Incidentally, the items that seem more sought after on E:Bay are genuine badges and autographed cast cards.

The 14th Blue Peter book lived up to all expectations and high standards, being packed once again with features, makes, stories, puzzles and competitions. A visit by John Noakes to the BBC Television film studios at Ealing, took viewers behind the scenes of the filming of an episode of the popular comedy series Porridge, with Richard Beckinsale as Godber, Fulton Mackay as Senior Prison Officer MacKay and the legendary Ronnie Barker as Fletcher.

Lesley tells the story of the six brave Burghers of Calais, with illustrations by Robert Broomfield, then visits Noel Edmunds on his Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, another hugely popular BBC kids programme.of that era. Proving every part Blue Peter's action woman, Lesley is then off on a return flight to America on Concorde, a feature she described as the biggest operation in the history of Blue Peter, flying the Atlantic in 3 hours, 49 minutes and 32 seconds, with crack film crews at both ends as John and Pete gave a live commentary from the studio. The cut-away diagramme in Book 14 quite naturally featured the world's most advanced airliner.

The Blue Peter appeal that year was in aid of the victims of civil war in Lebanon and a Clothes-horse Race collected postcards, stamps, badges, buckles, cotton and buttons to help raise money to fund a medical Mercy Mission. The Royal Air Force provided transport for the appeal and Ronnie Barker was in the book for the second time by donating his magnificent album of old postcards for auction.

Stories in Book 14 included a Jackanory favourite, a tale of Rock-A-Bye Littlenose by John Grant. Peter Purves joined Lesly Judd on a Blue Peter assignment, visiting some of Britain's twinned towns in Europe, which included Coventry twinned with Warsaw - two cities heavily destroyed during WW2.

Not be be forgotten as Blue Peter action hero, Noakes was at it again, this time taking part in the annual river race with the Lochaber Mountain Rescue team, surfing down the icy river that runs from Ben Nevis on a blow-up airbed. When a crash-helmet bedecked and wet suited John Noakes asked why one section of the course was named 'the gurgle' his guide and trainer Neil Ewell told him, because you'll spend time more under the water in this section than you will on-top of it. John is back in the water again when he takes a 'rugby bath' after playing for Castleford versus it's own Castleford opposition in an internal friendly Rugby League game commentated by the great Eddie Waring who nicknamed John's team Noakes Nomads, advising him to avoid the "up-and-unders", a famous Waring line.     

It was nice to see Bleep and Booster were also still having adventures in Book 14, with another stellarific story set in outer space.

1977 was the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee so the book featured news about the programme's competition to paint a commemorative picture for the Jubilee issue of the Radio Times. The winner was Nicola Griffin, aged 5 from Camberley (see image right)..

Peter Purves had only light mention in Book 14 and is very noticeably absent from features and activities, whereas Lesley and John are literally falling over each other to pull off dangerous stunts and get covered in mud. One wonders whether Pete's time was more committed to the Blue Peter Special Assignment Twin Town series during 1977. 

Another great book, fantastic to add to the collection but also well worth a retrospective read!

Remembering Percy Thrower - a gardening legend

Picture by Robert Broomfield

Percy Thrower was already a well known national gardening icon long before he joined Blue Peter in 1974, having presented the BBC's Gardening Club from 1956 before heading up Gardener's World from 1969 until 1976. He was also a star of radio and a newspaper writer on all things green and natural. 

Percy's first appearance on Blue Peter was when he helped the team to convert a patch of barren waste ground next to the restaurant block at Television Centre into the Blue Peter Garden. 

Lewis Bronze was to observe:

"It was a very lucky day for us when he agreed to pass on some of his secrets and techniques to Blue Peter viewers. Successions of Blue Peter presenters who'd hardly known one plant from another became keen gardeners when seeds they planted under Percy's eye actually sprouted and grew into plants! Perhaps the keenest of all was Peter Duncan, who Percy turned into an avid gardener".

Amongst Percy's most celebrated works on the programme was his design and supervision of the building of the Italian Sunken Garden, complete with an ornamental fishpond. He also designed a patio and built a greenhouse. Percy was respected by the Blue Peter film crew for his experience in front of camera "knowing when to show the leaf, seedling, or whatever to the right camera at the right time" according to Bronze.

Percy Thrower died in 1988 and shortly before his death was honoured with a Gold Blue Peter Badge to go with his M.B.E., his Victoria Medal of Honour from the Royal Horticultural Society and a waxwork statue at Madam Tussaud's. Following letters from viewers, a memorial plaque was put up within the Blue Peter Garden, in an area planted with two bushes of pink roses named after him and two of his favourite hardy fuchsias.

Percy was followed by Chris Crowder, Head Gardener at Levens Hall in Cumbria as the Blue Peter gardener from 1988 and then by Clare Bradley from Kew Gardens who joined Blue Peter in May 1991..