If you were the sort of child who couldn’t wait to stick their hand up to let everyone know that they knew what a cosine was, then you were probably a fan of Blue Peter . Borrowing its name from the flag flown to indicate a ship is about to set sail, Blue Peter was launched by producer John Hunter Blair on 16 October 1958. Billed by Radio Times as “a weekly programme for younger viewers” featuring “toys, model railways, games, stories and cartoons”, the show was initially presented by actor Christopher Trace and 1957’s Miss Great Britain Leila Williams, initially doing little more than demonstrating what were very much presented as separate hobbies for boys and girls.
As the weeks went by, however, the likeable pair, and their enthusiastic if only just slightly less than formal presentational style, caught on with viewers, and the show – broadcast weekly on Thursdays – expanded its remit to take advantage of this, bringing in competitions, short documentaries and the very first stirrings of what would become a much-loved institution: the Blue Peter “make”. By 1960, Blue Peter was so popular that it was moved to a longer slot on Mondays, but behind the scenes all was not well. A succession of unsuitable replacement producers saw Williams leave after creative clashes, and her replacement Anita West only lasted eight weeks before she opted to leave, in light of an impending divorce.
By the end of 1962, however, arguably the two most significant figures in Blu.