Katy Hill

In June 1998 Blue Peter presenters Katy Hill and Richard Bacon buried a time capsule at the site of the Millennium Dome. (now the O2 arena) The capsule was filled with items suggested by Blue Peter viewers. In February 2017 the capsule was accidentally dug up by construction workers, 33 years  early. Before its contents along with new items suggested by today's viewers of the programmes are put into storage at The National Archives. The 1998 capsule is going on tour around the UK. Its first port of call was Birmingham and it was here that I caught up with Katy Hill for Project 161018.

Katy presented Blue Peter for 5 years 1995 -2000. Being a Blue Peter presenter was Katy's dream Job. Her first job for the BBC was as a production secretary, she also won a slot on BBC Radio Essex called Katy's Kapers. Later she became PA to The Head of Children's programmes and eventually gained an interview for Blue Peter, after bombarding the Editor Lewis Bronze with letters, showreels and ideas for the programme. Katy joined the Blue Peter team in June 1995.

Some of Katy's many highlights include flying with the Red Arrows, taking part in a Royal Navy helicopter rescue exercise, motor cross and interviewing The Spice Girls. Katy also went on Summer trips to South Africa, Hong Kong/China, Canada, Mexico and Australia. During the 1996 Summer trip she spent a week with a Mongolian family.

For the 1998 Christmas Pantomime (Back in time for Christmas)  Katy played both her 137 year old self and her great granddaughter in the year 2108.

In 2000 Katy won The Best Children's Presenter Award from BAFTA for her work on Blue Peter.

In the Summer of 2000 Katy made the difficult decision to move on from her dream job and when she announced that she was leaving live on the programme she could hardly get her words out.

Katy features in Blue Peter books 28 and 29.

After leaving Blue Peter Katy went on to present the revamped version of Saturday morning show Live and Kicking where she met her husband co presenter Trey Farley. She also did stints on Top of the pops and BBC's Holiday programme. Katy then went on to present the breakfast show on Capital FM  and took part in The Games for Channel 4. Katy has also written many magazine articals for Cosmopolitan, Hair and Beauty and Hello.

Between February 2015 and July 2017 Katy along with former Blue Peter colleague Stuart Miles hosted the weekday breakfast show on Heart radio (Four Counties)

Katy has her own parenting and lifestyle blog. Katy Hill My World

In a future blog post we will take a closer look at The Blue Peter Time Capsules.

Barney Harwood and Lindsey Russell

The next blog post I was due to write was going to be about Blue Peter and its long standing association with Guide Dogs. However on Thursday I took a trip over to Media City UK in Salford to take some photographs. I had some lunch and was heading back to catch the tram back into Manchester, when I spotted two familiar figures. It was Barney Harwood and Lindsey Russell members of the current Blue Peter presenting team. Barney remembered me from our meeting in the Summer. I had previously met Barney at the launch day for The Grand Theatre Blackpool's Christmas Pantomime. On that occasion Barney recognised me from an Instagram post, and knew that I had all the Blue Peter books. I couldn't quite believe that at the time, and was thrilled he knew who I was.

I had also grabbed a cheeky selfie with Lindsey in the past. Back in December I was at Media City for the recording of a Pop Quiz special. The Blue Peter Christmas special went out live the same day. I spotted Lindsey walking towards me, wearing reindeer antlers.

Barney Harwood joined the Blue Peter team on 17th January 2011, and he is the 35th Blue Peter presenter. Prior to joining Blue Peter Barney had worked on several other CBBC shows, including :-

Prank Patrol, Basil's Swap Shop, Totally Dr Who and Smile, 

In 2007 Barney won a BAFTA for Best Children's Presenter for his work on Smile.

Barney is also a regular on the Pantomime circuit, playing Aladdin and Peter Pan, amongst others.

Some of Barney's Blue Peter highlights so far have included performing a loop with The Blades at Bournemouth airshow, cycling with the British cycling team and taken part in a survival adventure.

Me and Barney with my Border Terrier Loch, Stanley Park Blackpool
August 2016.

Lindsey Russell is the 36th Blue Peter Presenter. She is the first presenter to be chosen by the programmes viewers.

In the summer of 2013 CBBC launched a show called Blue Peter - You decide!. Over 20,000 hopefuls applied,and 10 were shortlisted to take part in the final competition. The judges on the show were Eamonn Holmes, Myleene Klass and Ceallach Spellman. Over 5 weeks the contestants took part in various Blue Peter style challenges. On 25th July 2013, it was announced that Lindsey had won the public viewer vote. Lindsey's first studio show was on 5th September 2013.

Some of Lindsey's Blue Peter Highlights so far have included running the London Marathon, wing walking and helping to train Guide Dog puppy Iggy.
In 2016 Lindsey attempted to cross The Irish sea in a giant Zorb (21 miles from Northern Ireland to Scotland) in aid of Sport relief. Lindsey did fantastically well after months of training, but sadly had to abandon the attempt part way through due to bad weather.
Lindsey is also the host of another CBBC Show Taking the next step.

Me and Lindsey, Media City UK
December 2016.