Get Down Shep!

October 16, 2008 10:21 AM

50 Years of Blue Peter.

The National Institution has given children (never kids) a lesbian icon, 'evil', various scandals and god among men, John Noakes (who remains iconoclastic as ever). And an elephant. 50 things you didn't know. Blog of the anniversary episode.

posted by fearfulsymmetry (17 comments total)

that people in britain would make a show for children called Blue Peter is incredibly amusing to me.

I'm gonna make a tv show here in america, for kids, called Purple Dick.
posted by shmegegge at 10:31 AM on October 16, 2008

"Purple dick"? That sounds like a staple of English cuisine.
posted by smackfu at 10:38 AM on October 16, 2008

In the pre-Internet days, I was a huge Housemartins fan and often wondered over a lyric in Flag Day, which went "Got Blue Peter to stage an appeal," but that couldn't be right. It didn't make any sense.
posted by Shepherd at 10:40 AM on October 16, 2008

And incidentally my nickname is "Shep" due to working in an office with six Matthews for a while and British people always got a huge kick out of that for some reason.
posted by Shepherd at 10:41 AM on October 16, 2008

"Come along dearies. It's raining out. Let's put on our rubbers."
posted by doctorschlock at 10:53 AM on October 16, 2008 [1 favorite]

I don't think there's a child in my lifetime in Britain that grew up without watching Blue Peter at some point, often for several years. It's a big an icon of British TV as say, Doctor Who or Only Fools and Horses.

The "Blue Peter" flag btw, is shown by a ship about to proceed to sea, to tell the crew to get aboard. While is why the logo of the show is a sailing ship. They even used variations on the the same theme song for the entire 50 years, they only changed it majorly a couple of years ago.

They also have a long tradition of doing appeals/collections of items such as aluminium cans, spoons, shoes or stamps sent in by the children which are then sold for money donated to charity, or in some cases donated directly with clothing etc. A quick google shows they've raised over £100,000,000 for good causes in today's money.

All-in-all, a true icon of tv broadcasting.
posted by ArkhanJG at 10:54 AM on October 16, 2008 [2 favorites]

50 Years of Blue Peter.
See what socialized medicine gets you?
posted by Floydd at 10:59 AM on October 16, 2008 [4 favorites]

I remember when John Noakes was a saggar maker's bottom knocker. I sometimes think that I was incredibly lucky to grow up in England in the 70s.
posted by NeonSurge at 11:08 AM on October 16, 2008

"Purple dick"? That sounds like a staple of English cuisine.

Liike this one? Of course there is spotted dick too.

Here's an interview with a longtime "Blue Peter" editor, Biddy Baxter.
posted by homelystar at 11:37 AM on October 16, 2008

Now this cake needs a little while to bake......so here's one we made earlier, using exactly the same instructions...... sigh. happy days
posted by lalochezia at 1:07 PM on October 16, 2008

I only know Blue Peter from this. Which cracks me up.
posted by droplet at 1:35 PM on October 16, 2008

I don't think any post about Blue Peter should omit these two scoundrels.
posted by hnnrs at 2:11 PM on October 16, 2008

I loved Blue Peter as a kid. I haven't seen it for over twenty years, but as I remember it it was a great kids show, even though I never did get a badge.
posted by ob at 3:49 PM on October 16, 2008

Don't ask me why, but I was thinking of blue boy. 50 years what?
posted by mrgrimm at 4:07 PM on October 16, 2008

I am very sorry I made fun of Joey Deacon.
posted by forallmankind at 10:51 PM on October 16, 2008 [4 favorites]

I'm very disappointed to learn that Valerie Singleton wasn't having sex with either:

a.) Prince Philip
b.) Joan Armatrading

I would certainly have liked to see her making a strap-on dildo out of an empty washing-up liquid container, an egg carton and some sticky-backed plastic.

Her account of an abortion in the early 60's was a brave thing to admit though.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 1:44 AM on October 17, 2008 [1 favorite]

And now a song for pre-schoolers about a harem. I'm slightly too young for Play Away, but it seems a lot weirder than Play School or Blue Peter.
posted by Artw at 8:49 AM on October 17, 2008