New book reveals how Gethin Jones nearly missed out on Blue Peter

He is the telly hunk who won Britain’s hearts on Strictly Come Dancing before getting his own broken by singer Katherine Jenkins.

But before Gethin Jones became a household name he was the try-anything action man on BBC kids show Blue Peter.

Now director Alex Leger has lifted the lid on life with the star in his book Blue Peter: Behind The Badge.

The Cardiff-born presenter joined the programme in 2005 – and took part in some death-defying stunts before leaving in 2008.

And when he left the programme, he made a short farewell speech in a crowded studio at Television Centre.

“His parting shot was that ‘Director Alex Leger wrote on the risk assessment for a shoot: ‘Gethin may die’, Alex said. “The assembled collection of BBC staff, freelancers and friends didn’t seem that surprised. Quite a few laughed out loud.”

Gethin was talking about the time he was filmed in a Royal Navy submarine escape training tank in Gosport.

The tank was a 30-metre column of water in which divers had to float to the surface breathing out.

Forgetting to exhale would mean certain death.

Read more: Wales Online

Blue Peter: Behind The Badge, by Alex Leger, is published by Lauren Productions, priced £20

How to get a Blue Peter badge on the official Blue Peter website

Find out how you can get a Blue Peter Badge at this lnk

Blue Peter - the Best and the Worst

Never work with children ...or elephants

View this gallery of photos from the best and worst of Blue Peter on Virgin's What To Watch website:

Blue Peter - The Best and the Worst

Celebrating 50 years of the most famous children's TV show in the world...

Janet Ellis talks viewers through the story of the virgin birth

 

Blue Peter Appeals

Honey the Guide Dog with Chris and Val

The first Blue Peter Appeal was in 1962 when the presenters asked children to donate toys for children otherwise get Christmas presents. Viewers were encouraged to aim for a total of ten sacks of toys but far surpassed this by donating literally hundreds of sacks.

The toy appeal was repeated in 1963, though in 1964 the appeal was for reclycleable silver paper and foil. Once again the Blue Peter audience went way over the target of three tons by donating 7.5 tons, enought to train two guide dogs, Honey and Cindy, with money over to maintain a brood bitch named Hannah.

The appeals of the 1960s and 1970s:

1962  Toys for children

1963  Toys for children

1964  Silver paper and foil for two Guide dogs

1965  Wool for a tractor for Africa

1966  Paperback books for four inshore lifeboats

1967  Used stamps for four houses converted to flats for eight homeless families

1968  Wool and cotton for three hospital trucks, six emergency doctor's cars and various other equipment and drugs to aid children in the Nigerian / Biafran civil war

1969  Scrap metal from old toy cars for four buses and other equipment for old people in the UK

1970  Spoons and forks for three eight berth caravans for holidays for poor children and an accessible log cabin for disabled children

1971  Woollen socks and cotton pillow cases for two dormitories for the Starehe Boys' Centre in Kenya

1972  Old watch straps, key-rings, thimbles and metal buttons for two old people's centres at Deptford and Wolverhampton 8 hot dinner vans and 100 holidays

1973  Used postage stamps for 400 oxen, 200 ploughs, 12 tons of seed and various farming equipment in the Danakil Desert

1974  Buttons, buckles and badges for 11 guide dogs, a new kennel block and various extensions at Guide dog training centres around the UK

1975  Old wool and cotton for 21 ponies, equipment for 300 indoor riding centres and 1 new indoor riding centre at Tyne and Wear

1976  Old stamps and postcards for medical accomodation, food, drugs and equipment for babies and children injured and made homeless by the civil war in Lebanon

1977  Old keys and toy cars for four Key-Note vans - mobile classrooms for deaf children living in remote country areas. Plus specialist equipment for deaf children in other areas of the UK.

1978  Postage stamps and pre-decimal coins for 1,000 Medi-Bikes and other medical aid for
health workers in Tanzania

1979  The Great Blue Peter Bring and Buy Sale for 57 eight-ton lorries, fuel, rice, fetiliser, vaccine and other equipment for starving babies, children and adult survivors of Pol Pot's regime in Cambodia

1980  The Great Blue Peter Bring and Buy Sale Appeal for the Disabled for six bungalows and other residences and services for disabled babies, children and adults.

1981  Postage stamps and pre-decimal and foriegn coins for Operation Pipeline which provided 150 Javanese villages with pre water systems and health care services.

1982  Treasure Hunt for Children and Babies suffering from kidney failure. Eight million parcels of treasure helped to equip a ward at Great Ormond Street Hospital as well as providing equipment for 20 other hospitals.

1983  A Great Blue Peter Bring and Buy Sale raised £1,610,000 to provide aid for 21 of the world's poorest countries.

1984  Double LifeSaver Appeal - stamps, buttons and postcards helped to replace all four of the Blue Peter lifeboatsas well as buying water tanks and pumps for Ethiopea.

1985  Lend An Ear Appeal - Radio hearing aid equipment for children and babies through the donation of keys, coins and scrap metal. 

1986  Sight Saver Appeal - mobile eye units for Mozambique, Nigeria , Malawi and Tanzania bought through the Great Blue Peter Bring and Buy Sale.

1987  The Rags Appeal collected 2,300 tonnes of rages which purchase 11 ponies for the Riding for the Disabled Association.

1988  The Great Blue Peter Bring and Buy Sale for Kampuchea paid for vital repairs to water systems and the building of new wells and pumps.  

1989  The Babylife Appeal - Collected over 40 million cans to buy vital equipment for 65 baby-care units around the UK.   

Watch this space for the full list of appeals covering every decade of Blue Peter.

See a history of the Blue Peter Appeals in photographs at The Guardian
 

Blue Peter Book Number 5

The Blue Peter book number 5 was published at the end of 1968 and was the first to feature the full 'dream team' Valerie Singleton, Peter Purves and John Noakes.

In book 5 the editorial team wrote "Since our last 'Blue Peter' Book, there have been 84 editions of 'Blue Peter' and Valerie, John and Peter have done 588 different things between them."

The book bore testimony to this, being packed once again with a rich variety of features and articles, from their winter ski-ing holiday in the Austrian Alps, to John Noakes undergoing waiter training, Valerie going showjumping and all three presenters receiving life saving lessons at the National Recreation Centre at Crystal Palace.

In fact this book appears to have more balance across the three presenters than was evident before, especially in terms of gender stereotyping. Valerie is no longer destined to spend her entire time between caring for the cat and making things out of sticky-backed plastic and there are more activites involving all three presenters. But then, perhaps this was a reflection of the time - being the late sixties when 'women's lib' was a major issue.

On the eve of 1969, Blue Peter go with the flow on Women's Lib...

Valerie does of course still tend to get more makes than the likely lads, with a minature  
garden made out of a cake board (featuring a handbag mirror for a pool - an act of genius) and some delicious looking chocolate apples, whilst Peter gets to make table top tanks out of large matchboxes and John an Alpine Rally route out of cardboard grocers boxes and sticky tape.

Stories from history always played a big part in Blue Peter books and in book 5 we learn about the Tower of London, Father David's deer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. There's also a science feature about the Gemini X spacecraft and the Apollo spacecraft for which Blue Peter were making the sensational claim:-

"Apollo - the spacecraft in which America will send explorers to the moon, and bring them safely back to earth."

...and prelude a historic year to come 

Sure enough, this happened within the next 7 or 8 months when Apollo 11 landed on the moon in July 1969 and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on its surface. Another first - Blue Peter recording the history of the time in one of its books?

Long standing favourites Bengo, Bleep & Booster and Paddington Bear were once again up to their respective adventures in book five and the Blue Peter pets also featured strongly, incudling a feauture about Joey the Brazilian Blue Fronted Parrot who was apparently given free range to fly about the Blue Peter Office.

The fifth Blue Peter book was another classic and costing just 10 shillings (which was two years away from becoming 50 pence with decimalisation) it was an absolute bargain!
 

Valerie Singleton remembers Petra and her Blue Peter puppies

The following interview with Valerie Singleton was by Richard Webber and appeared on The Telegraph website - August 2012

The animals were an important element of Blue Peter. Many children weren’t allowed pets, so having them on the programme was the next best thing, especially as we would ask viewers to suggest names and we showed them how to look after and train animals.

Petra, who is next to me in this picture, was the first Blue Peter dog. When she had puppies with Moss, the collie on the left, Christopher Trace and I showed them on the programme at 12 days old. They were called Patch, Rover, Rex, Peter, Candy, Kim, Prince and Bruce. We couldn’t keep all eight so got viewers to choose which one should become the programme’s second dog – they chose Patch. My favourite was Bruce, a chubby little fellow.

It seemed as if every child in Britain wrote to us, wanting one of the puppies. As well as having to check that they would be going to good homes, it seemed unfair to select seven children from the thousands who wrote in. Mainly, we gave them to organisations where they could give pleasure to many people. Three joined children’s homes, one became the mascot for the Junior Leaders’ Regiment, the quietest went to an old people’s home while two, Rex and Bruce, became farm dogs.

All the Blue Peter animals were well behaved on the programme. Jason, the cat, was amazing; he’d sit quietly on the seat, but as soon as the closing music stopped, he’d climb down – it’s as if he knew the show had ended.

I don’t mean to shatter an illusion but I wasn’t mad about any of the animals on Blue Peter. Fortunately, I didn’t have to look after any, either. Chris, who died in 1992, and was lovely to work with, looked after Petra. When he left Blue Peter, Peter Purves joined and took on Petra, while John Noakes had Patch. Mind you, I had grown up with all sorts of animals: dogs, mice, hedgehogs, cats and even a squirrel. My mother found two squirrels abandoned after their mother was killed on the road. She brought them home in a basket; it was winter and they were frozen. We put a hot-water bottle next to them, and although one died, the other recovered. We named him Percy and he became our pet. He would ride along on the cat’s back and dash up my father’s trouser leg.
 
Blue Peter was fun and is the programme people remember me for, although I preferred it when I moved on to Nationwide. I joined Blue Peter when I was 25 and working at the BBC as a continuity announcer. The programme was very minor back then, only 15 minutes once a week. When it went twice-weekly, I had to give up my announcing job. My parents questioned my decision to give up a good presenting job for what appeared to be an unimportant children’s programme – the rest is history.
 

 

Enter Peter Purves

Peter Purves joined Blue Peter on 16th November 1967.

Purves had already appeared on television prior to joining Blue Peter, playing Dr Who's companion Steven Taylor for 44 episodes alongside the original Dr Who, William Hartnell.

On his website Peter Purves recalls:

With William Hartnell in Dr Who

"Following a couple of leading roles in TV plays I heard that Doctor Who was looking for actors who could 'move' to play giant butterflies and other insects in one of the serials. I went along to meet the director, Richard Martin, who very kindly told me that with the work I had been doing previously it wasn't worth me playing one of the non-speaking roles. However, he told me that if ever he was casting proper acting parts, he would think of me.

A few months later Richard was true to his word when he cast me as Morton Dill in The Chase. I was thrilled to be playing the part, but even more thrilled when I was asked to go with the Producer, Verity Lambert, for a drink at Studio 3, the pub opposite the Riverside Studios. I was dumbfounded when she asked me if I would be interested in joining the cast on a regular basis. Naturally I said 'Yes' and Steven Taylor made his debut appearance three weeks later.

Of all the serials the historical ones were my favourites - particularly The Massacre and The Myth Makers - and I have quite an affection for The Celestial Toymaker.

I finally left the cast of the show in June 1966.

More recently it has been a delight to be involved again. The remastered CDs being launched required some new commentary to add continuity to the original sound tracks and it has been a privilege to have narrated all of the stories in which I took part."

Biddy Baxter chose Peter Purves to play the reliable straight man to action man John Noakes, a role which Purves came to resent as it created a perception that he was somehow less exciting than Noakes and in fairness Purves during ten years on the programme he did build up his own track-record of memorable stunts and challenges, such as driving a car through the side of a furniture van, joining the White Helmets motorbike display team and climbing Black Crag in the Lake District.

On his website Peter Purves gives a forthright though part humorous opinion about the longstanding belief that Noakes did all the stunts:

"This is an old chestnut. He didn't, though he did perform a lot of very high profile stunts that certainly impressed me. But I did my share. I made the Rock Climbing and Air Sea Rescue films. I also filmed Jousting, Stunt Cars, Speedway, Trials Riding and American Grid-Iron Football - there really is a long list of very exciting films. And if you weren't impressed with my walking the suspension cable of the Forth Road Bridge, then I give up!".

Like Valerie Singleton, Peter Purves was and remains the consummate professional though on occasion he joined the celebrated Blue Peter gallery of gaffs such as a piece about the little dog called Pickles who had discovered the stolen World Cup but later broke his own neck when he was chasing a cat and his lead got caught on a gate. "It serves him right for chasing cats" said Purves live on air, incurring the wrath of the formidable Biddy Baxter.

Valerie, Peter and John became known as the 'dream team' on the basis they are remembered as the archetypal team of Blue Peter presenters which generations of presenters afterwards have attempted to emulate. Noakes and Purves gained the additional title of 'the likely lads'.

Peter Purves is also the presenter who looked after Blue Peter's first dog Petra. As Biddy Baxter and Edward Barnes recalled:

"Peter's arrival was great news for Petra. Chris had never taken Petra on as his own dog. She was looked after by Angela Mulliner, who was the programme's dog advisor. But Peter took to Petra immediately and she went to live with him as a family pet, as Patch had done with John. This made all the difference to the happiness of the dogs and to the dogs' performances on the programme. Not only did they respond more readily to their masters in the doggy items, but they would follow them about the studio and trot alongside them on location, which made them truly members of the team."  

Peter Purves once said that announcing Petra's death to Blue Peter viewers was the hardest thing he ever had to do on television. 

Purves left Blue Peter on 23rd March 1978. He went on to make a name in sports commentating, becoming the voice of darts in the 1980s and also pursued his lifelong passion for dogs on television. Peter first started presenting at Crufts Dog Show for the BBC in 1976 and has been principal Presenter and Commentator since 1989. He has also presented and narrated many other animal programmes, including 65 editions of Pets Go Public for Channel 5, the Discovery Channel's Breed All About It, All About Dogs and Superdogs. He has been editor of the monthly magazine, Mad About Dogs, is Vice Patron of Dogs for the Disabled and President of The Canine Supporters Charity and the Rugby Animal Trust.  

References

Blue Peter 50th Anniversary - Richard Marson

Blue Peter The Inside Story - Biddy Baxter and Edward Barnes

Peter Purves Official Website