A catch up

Its been over two years since Blue Peter's 60th Birthday and almost as long since I last wrote on this blog. Shall we have a catch up ?

I have stayed in touch with some of the presenters I met during the charity challenge along with some of the team that work on the show.

Here's what happened next :-

April 2019

At the beginning of April 2019 Blue Peter introduced Henry, the tenth dog to become a Blue Peter pet.

Henry a two year old Beagle Basset cross adopted by the show from The Dogs Trust. It had been six years since Blue Peter last had a dog as a regular member of the team. On the morning of Henry's first live show he appeared on BBC Breakfast with Lindsey and featured in all the daily newspapers. Henry often steals the show in the studio and has been on many adventures with the team.

Later in the month Radzi Chinyanganya presented his last Blue Peter after five brilliant years on the programme. So I headed over to the studios to wish him well. Since leaving Blue Peter Radzi has been a regular face on tv presenting and commentating on many sporting events and has just published his first book - Move like a lion encouraging young children to get active. 

Later the same day I caught up with Razi's friend and former Blue Peter colleague Barney Harwood in a touring production of The Wizard of Oz. After the show it was great to chat to Barney who enjoyed looking through my Project 161018 book which he signed with a touching message.

May 2019

For a few weeks after Radzi's departure Lindsey presented the programme with various guest presenters. Presenter number 38 Richie Driss  bounced onto Blue Peter on 26th May 2019.

Richie began his career in community radio before landing a job with JOE.CO.UK where he took on challenges such as swimming with sharks and interviewed a host of football and film stars.

Richie's first challenge for Blue Peter was to sing with the Kingdom Choir at a concert at The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester.

Later in the month I went to support Barney Harwood again, this time he was performing at a comedy club trying his hand at stand up. This would be part of a new show he is working on for Netflix.

June 2019

I had a wonderful day at the end of June watching a days filming at Media city in The Blue Peter Garden. The weather was fantastic. In the morning the team recorded a carnival special to be shown later in the Summer. In the afternoon it was the run-through and then the live transmission of that days edition.

November 2019

Blue Peter supports BBC Children in Need every year. For for the 2019 appeal. Blue Peter went old school with the reintroduction of The Bring and Buy sale. I decided to do my bit and make some Blue Peter Badge and Henry cakes which sold well on the cake stall in the Blue Peter Studio.

December 2019

One last trip of the year to Media City and a chance to wish some of the team that work behind the scenes on Blue Peter a Merry Christmas.

March/April/May 2020

As the Covid pandemic takes hold and we go into lockdown everyone's plans are put on hold as we are told to stay safe and stay home. This includes Blue Peter and its presenters so for the next few months Lindsey and Richie present the show from their homes. 

In the early days of lockdown I unfortunately become unwell with Covid. My recovery was slow, but as I did, decided to take part in the 2.6 Challenge. The charity challenge was set up to replace the 2020 London Marathon, that was unable to go ahead due to the pandemic. My challenge was to walk 26 laps, over 3 days, of the little park near my house with my dog Loch. (One lap for each of the former Blue Peter presenters I originally met for Project 161018. (I actually meet 29, but didn't count Lindsey and Razdi for this challenge as they were presenters at the time of the 60th birthday) In doing this challenge I raised a further £150.00 for Guide Dogs and RNLI.

Part way through lockdown presenter number 39 is introduced as Mwaka Mudenda (Mwaksy) joins the team. She also presents Blue Peter from home during her first few weeks on the show. Mwaksy also completes her first BP challenge from home, attempting to set various records. Prior to joining the BP team Mwaksy worked for BBC Sport.

June 2020

As restrictions begin to ease the team return to the studio. Blue Peter has done a brilliant job entertaining and inspiring the children of the UK during the pandemic. To keep this going the team introduce The six badges of Summer scheme. Each week viewers are encouraged to apply for one of the programmes famous badges.

Although much to old to apply for any badges myself I decide to have a go and promote the scheme across my social.

Green Badge Week

I grew some wild flowers to encourage bees, butterflies and other insects.

Sport Badge Week

I had a go at skipping

Music Badge Week

I dug out my old drumsticks

Blue Badge Week

I made a thank you card for the NHS.

Fan club badge week 

I shared some project 161018 pictures including some outtakes and messages from

special guests Peter Purves and Tim Vincent.

Silver Badge week

I wrote a poem about my lockdown, which I read in the Blue Peter Garden.

July 2020

 

Blue Peter takes a Summer break for the first time in several years.

The six badges of Summer has been a huge success and by the end of the month over 43,000 applications had already been received.

September 2020

Blue Peter returns and introduces Adam Beales the programmes 40th presenter. This would be first time the programme has returned to a presenting team of four since 2007. Adam is an extremely successful and popular YouTuber.

December 2020

Blue Peter commissions artist Sally Marshall to to produce a Blue Peter themed unit for Box on the docks, in the grounds of Media City. It incudes her version of the famous Advent Crown and the installation is called Here's one we made earlier.

I also put my crafting head on again and made these Blue Peter themed Christmas Cards for the team.

Blue Peter continues to produce a brilliant weekly live magazine programme for children. Despite Covid restrictions has been able to stay true to its familiar format. One big change this year was the Christmas show. The traditional mass Christmas carol singing of choirs and The Salvation Army Band filling the studio was unable to take place. Instead Mwaksy leads various choirs virtually in a Christmas Medley and a spectacular film involving gliders and fireworks provide some Christmas sparkle.

At some point this year I do hope to finally meet Mwaksy and Adam to take my total of Blue Peter presenters met to 31.

In the meantime watch Blue Peter every Thursday at 5pm on CBBC and the Saturday Morning repeat on BBC2 at 8am, or on BBC iplayer.

Big Birthday Balloon

At the beginning of the year as part of the 60th birthday celebrations, Blue Peter launched a competition for its viewers to create a design that would be featured on a balloon. The design needed to fit into the existing galleon logo, and should be original, striking and celebrate Blue Peter.

Over 8,000 children entered the competition and on 12th April The Balloon was revealed live on the programme from the Piazza at Media City UK, featuring the winning design by Chloe from the 6 - 8 age group. Her design includes Blue Peter badges, Shelley the tortoise, Blue Peter makes and Lindsey and Radzi on Blue Peter challenges.

Prior to the official unveiling presenter Lindsey Russell had taken the balloon to Noway to take part in a a special  Birthday balloon challenge that will be shown on Blue Peter later in the year.

A belated Happy 59th Birthday Blue Peter

Monday 16th October marked Blue Peter's 59th Birthday.

The previous Thursday was chosen as the day Blue Peter would celebrate, and in fact it also marked the start of a year of celebrations of the programmes 60th year. I am so pleased the BBC are going to celebrate this wonderful television milestone.

The 59th Birthday show included the unveiling of the Gold Badge Walkway at Media City UK. A pathway celebrating some of the famous faces that have been awarded a Gold Blue Peter Badge over the years (more on this soon). The show also featured a birthday quiz including a round that recreated a make first made by John Noakes in the 1960's

A brilliant film featured current presenter Lindsey Russell taking part in a training exercise with The RNLI at Beaumaris the former home of The Blue Peter 2 lifeboat.

The show ended with a teaser of Radzi's Children in need challenge. Following in the footsteps of past presenters John Noakes, Janet Ellis, Simon Thomas and Andy Akinwolere. Radzi has been training with The RAF Falcons and is going to attempt a free fall parachute jump.

Lots more is planned for the 60th year, including in February when 5000 editions of Blue Peter will have been aired, a special Diamond anniversary badge will be launched.

The 59th birthday also marks a year to go until the end of my Project 161018 challenge. If you would like to visit my fundraising page and sponsor me, it would be greatly appreciated

Blue Peter and Guide Dogs

Blue Peter first became involved with The Guide Dogs for the blind association in 1964. The target for that years Christmas appeal was for 3 tons of silver paper and foil, enough to buy one guide dog. The result was 7 and half tons of silver paper and foil, enough to by two guide dogs (Honey and Cindy) with some money left over to help maintain a third dog.

Blue Peter's presenters at the time Christopher Trace and Valerie Singleton became Puppy walkers for one of the dogs, and so Honey's training was shown over the following months on the programme. After a year with Chris and Val, Honey went on to her advanced training on 6th February 1966 and for the next four months Honey was taught everything she needed to be an excellent guide dog. In the final month of training, Honey was introduced to her new owner. The owner and dog must learn to trust each other. This can be difficult, but gradually the pair began to work together. It was a proud day for Blue Peter when Honey led her owner through the gates of the training centre.

Honey Blue Peter's first Guide Dog

 In 1974 The 3B's appeal was launched to once again raise funds for Guide Dogs. 3B's stood for buttons, buckles and badges. The target two million envelopes of the 3B's to buy one guide dog, and a block of kennels for a new guide dog training centre. The result was six million envelops of the 3B's, enough for 11 guide dogs, a kennel block and extensions to several other training centres. Also an automatic drinking system for one centre and an incubator for another. Again one of the puppies was chosen to be puppy walked on the programmes, this time it was Peter Purves with Cindy.

In 1978 Simon Groom joined the presenting team, and with him came a new Blue Peter Pet, Goldie the Golden Retriever. Goldie had two litters of puppies during her time of the show. Goldie's first litter were born on 16th March 1981. The puppies were named by the viewers of the programme, Sandy, Buster, Henry, Prince and Lady. Lady went to live with Simon's parents on their farm in Dethick. The other 4 puppies were donated to Guide Dogs for the blind. Blue Peter again decided to follow the progress of one of the puppies, so Presenter Peter Duncan became puppy walker for Prince.

Simon Groom with Goldie.
Goldie gave birth to two litters of Guide Dog puppies.

Goldie's second litter were born on 3rd February 1986. This time she had 8 puppies, again all named by Blue Peter's audience, 66,368 people sent in name suggestions and the most popular were given to the puppies. Halley, Bonzo, Honey, Fergie, Snowy, Amber, Bonnie and Bruno. This time it was decided to keep Bonnie as the new Blue Peter pet, the other 7 went on to be trained as guide dogs.

On 16th January 1991, Bonnie gave birth to a litter of puppies, Major, Margot, Biddy, Lily, Teddy, and Honey. This time all the pups went to be trained as guide dogs. Honey (also the name of the programmes first guide dog) was chosen as the puppy who's progress would be followed on the programme and presenter John Leslie became her puppy walker.

Lindsey and Iggy go Christmas Shopping, during Puppy walking training.

Since then Blue Peter has followed the progress of 2 other puppies. In 2006 Magic was puppy walked with Andy Akinwolere. Sadly Magic had epilepsy and was not able to complete her training, so was re homed. The most recent Blue Peter guide dog is Iggy. Iggy joined the programme in June 2014, and her progress was followed by current presenter Lindsey Russell. In February 2016 Iggy was introduced to her new owner Callum and is making a huge difference to the young mans life.

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.

Here we go !

On 16th October 2018 the longest running children's programme in the world - Blue Peter will celebrate its 60th Anniversary. The programme has had 37 presenters during its history including the present team of Barney Harwood, Lindsey Russel and Radzi Chinyanganya.

To commemorate this historic television milestone, I have set myself a personal challenge to try and meet as many past presenters as possible and get a photograph or selfie with them, before the16th October 2018.

I have chosen two charities to support during this challenge, Guide Dogs and R.N.L.I, both of these charities have been supported by Blue Peter and its viewers on several occasions during the past 60 years.

I will be posting my progress on the blog, and sharing snippets of Blue Peter history and memorabilia.

I have previously met four presenters, pictured above Yvette Fielding, Barney Harwood, Lindsey Russell and Helen Skelton. However I am starting a fresh for this charity project.

If you would like to make a donation, please visit my fundraising page.

Thank you