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.