Blue Peter

Blue Peter is a British children's television programme, shown on the CBBC television channel. It first aired in 1958 and is the longest-running children's TV show in the world. Although the show has a nautical title and theme, its current format takes the form of a magazine/entertainment show containing viewer and presenter challenges, as well as the famous arts and crafts "makes".

During its history there have been many presenters, often consisting of two women and two men at a time. The current presenters are Barney Harwood, Lindsey Russell and Radzi Chinyanganya. The show uses a studio for the main format of the presenting; there is also a garden, often referred to as the Blue Peter Garden, which is used during the summer months or for outdoor activities. The programme also features a number of pets, currently a trainee guide dog named Iggy and a tortoise called Shelly.

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LNER Peppercorn Class A2 60532 Blue Peter

LNER Peppercorn A2 Class No. 60532 Blue Peter is the sole survivor of 15 locomotives of the 4-6-2 Peppercorn A2 Class, designed by Arthur Peppercorn of the LNER. 60532 worked between 1948 and 1966. It is owned by the Royal Scot Locomotive and General Trust (RSL&GT), currently awaiting overhaul at their LNWR Heritage facility based at Crewe.

Construction

60532 was built at Doncaster Works and out shopped by the newly formed British Railways on 25 March 1948. The initial livery was LNER apple green with British Railways on the tender sides.

60532 was named in the LNER tradition of using the names of famous racehorses. Blue Peter III was the name of a horse owned by Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery, which in 1939 won races including the Epsom Derby and the 2000 Guineas. The horse earned almost £32,000 for Lord Rosebury, more than enough to purchase three Doncaster Pacific locomotives at the time.

BR service

Initially all the A2s were allocated to English sheds. 60532 was allocated to the North Eastern Region of BR at York, where it worked principally over the East Coast Main Line.

Blue Peter (disambiguation)

Blue Peter is the British television programme.

Blue Peter also may refer to:

Falling (Blue Peter album)

Falling was the second full-length album by the Toronto-based new wave band Blue Peter. Coming on the heels of Up To You, their successful 1982 EP, Steve Nye was selected to produce their next album, which included the hit song, "Don't Walk Past". Nye's production emphasized keyboards over guitars, and drew comparisons with his work with Roxy Music and Japan.

Reception

Released in the spring of 1983 on Ready Records, Falling peaked nationally at 64 (where it stayed for three weeks) on the Canadian Albums Chart, and was ranked 25th on Toronto radio station CFNY's Top 83 of 1983 chart. The biggest single from Falling was "Don't Walk Past", known for its jangly guitar riff, and CFNY ranked the song at 92 in its Best 102 Of The Decade in January 1990. The video for "Don't Walk Past", directed by Rob Quartly, was inspired by the then-recent film Blade Runner and became the first from a Canadian indie label to get played on MTV in the United States. The video also won awards including "Best Video of 1983" from the Canadian Film and Television Association, and was ranked at 85 on MuchMusic's Top Videos of The Century list.

Blue Peter (instrumental)

"Blue Peter" is a single by musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1979. It is a rendition of the theme tune for the British children's television show Blue Peter and was used by the show between 1979 and 1989.

Blue Peter

The royalties from the single went to the Cambodia appeal launched by the children's show. It charted at number 19 in the UK Singles Chart.

Mike Oldfield's version of the Blue Peter theme was the first time the arrangement had changed since the programme began in 1958, and it had its genesis in his appearance on the programme in 1979 to demonstrate how modern pop music was created using multi-track recording techniques. The end result was liked enough by both the viewers and programme producers to be retained as the permanent theme, and Oldfield additionally recorded a new version of the programme's closing music, which runs for just 20 seconds and has never been commercially released.

The released version of the theme is actually a further re-recording, which incorporates many subtle changes compared to the TV version, in addition to eliminating the opening snare drum roll, extending the piece to a more suitable duration for commercial release, and being mixed in stereo. The TV version was mono-only (British television was not broadcasting in stereo at that time) and has never been made available for sale.

Blue Peter (British horse)

Blue Peter (1936–1957) was a British bred Thoroughbred racehorse whose career was cut short by the outbreak of World War II. He won the Epsom Derby and was later a Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland.

Bred and owned by Lord Rosebery, his sire was the good racehorse, Fairway and his dam Fancy Free was by Stefan the Great, a son of The Tetrarch.

Racing record

At age two, Blue Peter raced twice without winning. He was unplaced in one outing and second in the Middle Park Stakes behind the top-rated British two-year-old, Foxbrough.

In 1939, three-year-old Blue Peter went undefeated in all four of his races. He captured the Blue Riband Trial Stakes, a prep race for the ensuing Triple Crown series. In May, the colt won the 2,000 Guineas and then June's Epsom Derby, defeating Heliopolis by four lengths. While Blue Peter was clearly the best three-year-old in Britain in 1939. The onset of World War II ended his chance to win the Triple Crown as the St. Leger Stakes was cancelled. Cancelled as well, was a planned match race against the brilliant French colt Pharis who had won the Prix du Jockey Club and France's most important race at the time, the Grand Prix de Paris.

Blue Peter (band)

Blue Peter is a Canadian new wave synthpop band founded in 1978 in Markham, Ontario by Chris Wardman and Paul Humphrey. In their heyday, Blue Peter opened for major international acts such as the Police and Simple Minds. The video for "Don't Walk Past", directed by Rob Quartly, was No. 85 on MuchMusic's top videos of the century list, and was played on MTV in the United States, in spite of the lack of American record distribution for the band. The band continues to perform, on occasion.

History

Blue Peter was founded by guitarist/songwriter Chris Wardman and lead singer Paul Humphrey in the late 1970s, as a high school band. The initial lineup was rounded out by bassist Geoff McOuat and drummer Ron Tomlinson; this ensemble recorded Blue Peter's first EP, Test Patterns for Living, in 1979. In 1980, Mike Bambrick replaced Tomlinson on drums, and in the same year, the band released their first full-length album, Radio Silence.

Over the next couple of years, Blue Peter ran into difficulties with record labels and management, which led to them briefly releasing material on their own label, including "Chinese Graffiti" in 1981. Around this same time, McOuat left the band and was replaced by new bassist Ric Joudrey. After a year without label representation, Blue Peter returned to Ready Records in 1982, in time to release Up To You. "Chinese Graffiti" was included on the Up To You release, and won the band a CASBY Award (then known as the "U-Knows") for Single Of The Year in 1982.