grumpyf1

With so many big stories dominating the news recently, it was easy to miss the sad passing of two significant people who helped to make being a kid, and an adult, joyful. With increasingly bitter political campaigning and the horror of terrorist attacks filling our TV screens, websites, social media and newspapers, the recent deaths of John Noakes and Peter Sallis received limited coverage. Both deserved much more. Noakes brought his give-it-a-go bravery and sense of humour to children’s TV show Blue Peter at the end of 1965 and packed a mind-boggling array of adventures, stunts and things made out of coat hangers into his 12 year tenure on the show. No-one presented the programme for longer than the Yorkshire lad, and his arrival heralded a move away from the refined tones and comfy middle class style of Valerie Singleton and Christopher Trace. By the time I was old enough to be making the show an essential part of my week, Lesley Judd and Peter Purves were partnering the ev...