Sarah Greene

Last Monday I had the pleasure of spending time with the lovely Sarah Greene for Project 161018.
Sarah presented Blue Peter from May 1980 until June 1983.

Sarah first appeared on Blue Peter with the cast of the BBC adaptation of Pamela Brown's The swish of the curtain. It was noted how comfortable Sarah looked in the studio. Shortly afterwards she was invited back to audition, to be the new presenter as Tina Heath was leaving to have a baby. In fact I believe it was Tina that suggested to the production team, that Sarah would be a brilliant presenter. At the time Sarah had no intention of becoming a presenter, but after she was offered the job, her friends encouraged her to take it.

Within three weeks Sarah was on her way down to Cornwall to make her first Blue Peter film. However she had not made her first live appearance at this point so everyone was sworn to secrecy.
She also had to keep hiding her Blue Peter badge. Sarah made a lovely film about the Cornish fishing Village of Mousehole. As the team were getting ready to leave, a lady behind the bar of The Ship Inn were they had been staying said to Sarah in a low voice I know who you are, and what you're going to do. But your secret's safe we me. I wish you the best of luck.

For the next three years Sarah and her co presenters, Simon Groom and Peter Duncan, who Sarah said were like brothers went on many adventures together, including Summer trips to Japan and Canada.

Other memorable moments during Sarah's time on the programme are diving on the wreck of the Mary Rose, abseiling from a helicopter, modelling vintage underwear and giving Morph a Blue Peter badge.

Sarah features in four Blue Peter Books, she just managed a feature in book 17, it was about to go to press at the time she joined the team. She is the cover star of Book 18 dressed in old time music hall costume, and with her co presenters on the covers of books 19 and 20.

Sarah left Blue Peter in June 1983 and at that time many fans including myself wrote to Sarah wishing her well, below is her reply which I still have today.

Sarah went on to work on Saturday morning TV. Firstly as the Saturday girl on Saturday Superstore and then as the main co host of Going Live with Philip Schofield. Her other work has included Dr Who, Ghost watch and Collectors Lot. She was also recently reunited with Philip Schofield when she guest presented This Morning, as Philip's normal co host Holly Willoughby was unwell. Sarah got a great reaction from the programmes viewers, and I hope we will be seeing more of Sarah on TV in the coming months.

Thank you once again Sarah for supporting project 161018, it was a pleasure to meet you.

Barnacle Bill

Blue Peter has been using variations of the famous hornpipe Barnacle Bill as its theme tune since the programme began in 1958. Barnacle Bill was composed by Ashworth Hope (1880 - 1962) The first version was performed by Sydney Torch and the New Century Orchestra.

By 1979 it had been thought for some tine that the theme was rather old fashioned sounding and so
after an appearance on the programme Mike Oldfield, famous for Tubular Bells was asked to rearrange the theme. Presenter Simon Groom visited Oldfield's recording studio and a film was made of the recording process to be shown on the programme. Simon even played the famous drum roll that heralded the start of the tune.

A longer version of Mike Oldfield's arrangement was released as a single. The record reached No 19 in the charts and proceeds from the sale of the record went to that years Christmas appeal to aid the famine in Cambodia.

The Mike Oldfield version of Barnacle Bill was used as the Blue Peter Theme tune for the following 10 years, since then there has been several versions of the famous theme.

Simon Brint 1989 -1992
Simon Brint 1992 - 1994
The Yes No People 1994 -1999
David Arnold and The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra 1999 -2004
Nial Brown 2004 - 2006
Dave Cooke 2007
Dave Cooke and The Blue Peter music makers 2007 -2008
Dobs Vye - 2008 -2011
Banks and Wag 2011 - present

Today is BBC Music Day, an annual celebration of music that aims to unite communities and
generations through their love of music. The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra have put together a special piece celebrating CBBC theme tunes, starting off with you've guest it - Barnacle Bill - Enjoy.