Blue Peter Part III - Specials and Badges

Yes, you do have to pinch yourself that I am writing this in 2019 not typewriting it and attaching to a big folder as I would of done in the 1970's and 80's when we didn't have computers but had a manual typewriter but this is about....

Blue Peter, my favourite all time show that I still watch on Thursdays and that is that!

Going way back in time when I first started watching it, it was groundbreaking  for a lot of things not least a one off special where then presenter Valerie Singleton, went on safari with no less than HRH The Princess Anne who as a young boy I was also aware of to Kenya where the Save The Children Fund which she was patron of were doing work with orphaned children.

The program originally went out on Easter Sunday April 11th 1971 as a one off having been filmed in February and created quite a stir but was reshown on Monday June 7th after the regular show.

The Radio Times page for that re-run is shown above.

Her Highness was widely praised her understanding of the issues and observations at the same time the show itself revealed a serious side, showing how children in less fortunate places lived and what could be done to help.

Later on that year a mini all colour book was issued that chronicled the visit and obvious friendship between Valerie and Princess Anne and that is my original copy

It was that edition that was the start point of Valerie's move into being a roving reporter for the Special Assignments series as Lesley Judd joined Blue Peter in 1972, a way of maintaining a connection with the shows audience while looking more at people and places around the world.

The show is also know for its iconic badges that children (and sometimes adults) earn that were introduced in 1963 based on a design by the late Tony Hart.

This is a black backed genuine one of mine from 2012 with the pin set in plastic to avoid any holes in little people occurring followed by tears whereas in my day it was said "It'll learn him to be more careful"!

Every so often a special badge is issued usually for marking a period of being on the air and this genuine one of mine comes from 2008  and is the 50th Anniversary Gold one only available that year. 

I do deliberate use the phrase Genuine One because there are a good number of what at best can be called replicas and at worst fakes around cheaply cast which detracts from the very notion these badges were never bought for fringe benefits but were earned by children (and a few adults) for genuine effort, abilities and endeavours.

532

Living with my folks tended to mean living with other peoples hobbies and interests to the point we'd be taken to see them and not least with Dad's perpetual trips to various preserved railways sometimes to the detriment what of the rest of us wanted. 

One that crosses that division between how some of that left me feeling and my own interests is to be found in the 532 "Blue Peter" steam locomotive because it was rescued with some input from the tv show which as you all know I love to bits and restored in 1970 which I just about recall that from memory was featured on the front of Blue Peter book 8.
We went during the 1970's to a railway museum that is no longer in existance at Dinting where the Cheshire towns of Stalybridge plus Hyde and High Peak area of Derbyshire meet and at the time 532 was often to be seen

It was there where I bought things like postcard books to buy and stick in postcards of various steam trains in and the odd badge such as this which surprisingly enough I still have because something in a live steam engine captured my imagination that transcended those other issues. 

I also have my original Tufty Club badge from the 1970's that was part of a campaign to imporve road safety for boys like myself.

I have been using a mouse a bit more with the Chromebook so I bought small mouse mat that does tie very much into the wolf theme running in the Chromebook cases and my pencil case

Kubo and a read

It hasn't been a week much given for being out so I read Shoot to Win in the Jamie Johnson footballing novel series during the wet spells.

One thing I do like is anime although like with music I don't blog about all the time but I recently got this on Blu Ray.

The main character in this animated story is Kubo, a boy who starts the film washed up on a shore with his mother having come to live on the edge of a village where he grows up entertaining the locals with his storytelling, music, and amazing origami skills.

Soon it isn't long before he realizes his mother can only tell him so much about his past and he in particular he'd would love to know who his father was.


When the village is attacked, it's the start of a remarkable journey that will change his life forever as he discovers his own magical powers.

This was one I just loved watching this week.

Nature and me

Something I do love is nature which probably had something to do with me growing up in the countryside a stones from a diary farm in which district I wrote about November last on here as a young boy.
Before I was away, as is my usual want I did take a number of pictures using my Nikon camera where what I wanted to photograph came very much into view.
One of the things I love about being here is while parts are built up we do have open spaces within that area such as a smallholding used for grazing by various people so we often see various animals such as lambs, ponies and horses.
Indeed many is the time I have seen horses being driven on our estate roads even by people and no one bats an eyelid.

That same interest propelled me while away (see more on Scouting & me) where these delicate species were spotted fully grown in the many layers as I was exploring in my uniform.
Sometimes I sound like a stuck record but for me the past and the present do link into each other, that's to say I explore my boyhood past and explore the present through the same eyes and mindset as that boy with same sense of wonderment and amazement.
It's really what makes this blog different neither nostalgic nor routed in present centredness.

Things from the past

Rolling back the years isn't all this blog is about, far from it which is why I love making it but the past does roll into the present which anyone who has read "Scouting and Me" will understand.

I can remember the Silver Jubilee quite well as we had commemorations and thanksgiving events for Our Queen at boarding school where we all had a personal anniversary Mug and Andy and I would of had the commemorative edition stamps as we collected them. 

Mine is in a glass front cupboard.

What was know as Computer Studies before it became ICT was starting to creep into our education even if machines were thin on the ground with just Sinclair X81's and the BBC B  being about.
I had a EGA Genie until in 1985 I got a Commodore 64 with all the extra stuff like tape drives and that had a knock on effect, one of which was the Computer Proficiency coming in for Cub Scouts

Although I am Dyslexic, actually I did learn to read and use maps which you might recall were in the CSE and GCE O level Geography syllabus as I did actually pass my O levels.
We did also have some instruction on personal safety although in hindsight there was very little "life skills" formally taught.

The thing is all those skills and abilities didn't just stop after taking my O Levels, they continue to be useful such as while being away for part of the last week where map reading enabled me to go out exploring when I took this picture on my Nikon camera and computer skills helped in getting me to base camp.