Petra A Dog For Everyone

This delightful book dedicated to Petra, the first Blue Peter dog, was authored by Biddy Baxter and Edward Barnes and published by Pelham Books with the BBC in 1978. The book tells the story of Petra's first appearance on the programme in Christmas 1962, presented to Christopher Trace and Valerie Singleton in a large cardboard box covered with Christmas paper and ribbons. 

This book does not reveal that the tiny eight-week old brown and mongrel puppy that was introduced to viewers at Christmas 1962 sadly died of distemper just two days later. That part of the tale (excuse the pun) story was revealed by Baxter and Barnes in their 1989 book Blue Peter The Inside Story in which they describe the frantic search for a substitute, driving around London in Edward's Mini to try and find the dead pup's look-alike:

"It wasn't until they reached Lewisham they struck lucky. In a dingy shop window, there was one small brownie-black puppy, shivering in the corner of a pen".

In the days before video or digital replay and freeze-framing, not a single viewer noticed the swap. Baxter and Barnes claimed it was the first and last Blue Peter deception. 

And talking of voting....

The name Petra was decided by viewers, with over 10 thousand votes received. She very quickly became part of the team, joining Chris and Val on all of their outside filming and creating the sense of being a family pet.

In early 1964 Petra was joined on Blue Peter by Jason, a thoroughbred Siamese cat. Initially Petra was not delighted at having her new co-star but it is said that the two animals eventually settled for mutual toleration then bored indifference on one hand and lofty disdain on the other. 

Petra's puppies made a great impact and became the first time that a children's television programme made frontpage headlines... and for all the right reasons!

The puppies found the following homes:

Candy was given to the British Rail Children's Home   

Peter and Kim also went to Children's Homes

Rex and Bruce became farm dogs

Prince was given to an Old People's Home

Rover became a regimental mascot with the Junior Leader's Regiment of the Royal Engineers

Finally, Patch joined Blue Peter as the programme's second dog

In this book, Petra A Dog For Everyone, it is remarked that Patch's arrival at Blue Peter coincided with the arrival of another new boy, John Noakes, with whom he shared personality traits:

"Right from the beginning Patch was a nutcase, and by some quirk of fate he became the firm friend of another nutcase, John Noakes. Some people say that dogs grow like their masters, and others that people get to look like their dogs, but John and Patch bore an uncanny resemblance to each other, both in looks and temperament from the word go". 

After the departure of Chris Trace from Blue Peter, Petra became very close with his replacement presenter Peter Purves. Loving nothing more than joining Peter on a nature walk with the Blue Peter naturalist Grahame Dangerfield. Peter's love of dogs would continue to be demonstrated in his later tv career when he became well-known for presenting commentary of the Cruft's Dog Show.

Petra retired from Blue Peter in the summer of 1977 and died aged 14 years and 10 months on Wednesday 11th September 1977, her death hitting the national headlines once again.

A bronze sculpture of Petra was made by artist Tim (William Timym) the man who had created cartoon boxer pup Bengo and the space friends Bleep and Booster. The statue was placed outside BBC Television Centre.