For those of you who rushed to visit this entry the title has nothing to do with sex, so I hope you are not disappointed. This entry is to do with toilet rolls, and washing up liquid bottles. Confused?
For nearly fifty years the B.B.C. in England has shown twice a week a live T.V. show called Blue Peter. It is what is refered to as a magazine program, but designed to interest 8-15 year olds with such stories and gardening, pet training, history and of course making things. There is a lot more involved with the show, but it is the making things that I want to concentrate on.
I think that most kids in the U.K. have at some point attempted to make something that the presenters have shown whether it be making a cake (you may need your mothers help for that one) or a gift for mothers day (make sure you have your mother leave the room so she can’t see what you are making) or my favorite, making accesories for your toys. Blue Peter knew well that kids loved the expensive play sets that companies like Matel sold, and when the Tracy’s Island from Thunderbirds was sold out in the stores Blue Peter did a special on how to make one, which became incredibly popular.
I’m not sure if in America there were shows like this? There must have been, right? I must say that making my own centry box for my action man was fun, and for a while it turned me into a creative genius. I could turn an old shoe box into anything, at one point I made a magic cabinet and wowed the kids at Howard Primary School with my skills of making a red cloth vanish.
Blue Peter has its place in the halls of British T.V. classics. Everyone remembers all the great stuff, like Percy Thrower the gardener and the long awaited digging up of the time capsual. What people seem to remember the most though is Lulu the elephant, remember this was live t.v.
Let me know if you made anything from Blue Peter, trawling the You Tube I’ve found some great things to make, such as Dr. Whos Tardis, or a Dalek Cake, and a gadget stand.
O.K. so I think this post has bounced around a bit, mainly because of the awsomeness and variaty of Blue Peter. Pop Stars of the day lined up to be on the show, it was a great place to launch your new vynal record!
Now who doesn’t like ABBA?
With a show this popular of course it couldn’t go without it’s parodies. Monty Python had did a great job (and now you know where I got the title for this entry!)
And comedy band the Barron Knights even took a shot at the Blue Peter dog Shep.
Hope this brings back some memories for you!
Things I Wasted Too Much Time On. 
Peter Jarvis, John Noakes and I think Leslie Judd were the team I was familiar with in the late 70s and early 80s! Great post, thanks!
thanks for the comment James, Yes It was Peter Purvis though 🙂 televison was simple back then. none of the reality rubbish. hope you come back again
I nearly died laughing at Lulu.
I’ve never heard of the program, but I remember watching Art Attack (which is actually British) as a child. Seems like a somewhat similar concept. I always use to keep all the ‘loo roll’ tubes and use ‘PVA Glue’ to paste things together along with Neil. =D
My favourite part was always the “Big Art Attack” and this one was quite famous, as you’ll see why.
I remember Art Attack well, used to watch it all the time as a kid. Neil Buchanan made some cool stuff http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Buchanan
Lulu always makes me laugh! The best thing about it was that it was live, so I can imagine the producers having a fit in the control booth