John Noakes

When Noakes decided to become an actor, he took lessons at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama which he paid for by doing a cleaning job and working as a hotel liftboy.[6] He made his stage debut as a dog and a clown in a summer show with Cyril Fletcher.[6] In 1964 he appeared in one episode of the television military police drama series Redcap.[8]

After spending six months in the Broadway production of Arnold Wesker's Chips with Everything, Noakes moved back to the UK to work in rep in Surrey where he met his wife-to-be, Vicky.[6] Noakes recreated his role as Whitey Richardson in the 1963 BBC television adaptation of Chips with Everything.[9] He followed this with the role of Anselme Popinot in mini-series The Rise and Fall of César Birotteau on BBC2, a four-part dramatisation broadcast in June 1965.[10][11][12][13] His last dramatic role on television before joining Blue Peter was in an episode of the crime series Mogul, starring Barry Foster and Geoffrey Keen, broadcast on BBC1 in August 1965.[14]

Noakes got the opportunity to join Blue Peter when producer Biddy Baxter needed a third presenter to join Christopher Trace and Valerie Singleton after the show went from a weekly to a twice-weekly format.[15] Baxter spotted Noakes at the Phoenix Theatre in Leicester where he was playing Willie Mossop in the play Hobson's Choice.[15] Noakes joined Blue Peter as a presenter on 30 December 1965.[16] Peter Purves replaced Trace in 1967, creating the 'Val, John and Pete' line-up which lasted until 1972. When Singleton began to diversify her television career, former Young Generation dancer Lesley Judd joined the team. At a time when most BBC presenters spoke with Received Pronunciation (RP), Noakes's Yorkshire accent was a novelty.[15]

As a Blue Peter presenter, Noakes usually fulfilled the role of action man in the series. Highlights included changing the billboard name for the 1971 premier of Bedknobs and Broomsticks in London's Leicester Square,[17] free-fall parachuting with the RAF's Flying Falcons display team and bobsleighing (his sled hit a hole in the ice and turned over, injuring him). After a 5 mi (8.0 km) free-fall with the RAF in 1973, Noakes held the record for the longest free-fall parachute jump by a British civilian for a time.[18][19] His 1977 unassisted ascent of the 51 m (167 ft) high Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square in London has been voted the greatest moment in children's TV programming.[20][21]

Alongside his Blue Peter work, Noakes also presented the BBC's Christmas edition of Disney Time with his Blue Peter colleagues on December 27, 1971.[22] He returned to host the show solo at Easter 1979.[23] In August 1972, he hosted four editions of BBC Radio 1's Junior Choice.[24] Overlapping with his period on Blue Peter, Noakes and Shep made six series of Go With Noakes in which they travelled around Britain getting involved in diverse activities like motor racing, rowing, aerobatics and painting. In each series Noakes used a particular mode of transport to get about such as a yacht, on foot, narrow boat, or classic car. A total of 31 episodes of Go With Noakes were broadcast between 28 March 1976 and 21 December 1980.[25]

In October 1998, Noakes joined Valerie Singleton and Peter Purves in a special programme that celebrated 40 years of Blue Peter.[15] In January 2000, he joined his co-presenters again for the disinterment of the time capsule that they had buried in 1971.[15]

Noakes was encouraged to take special responsibility for one of the show's pets. His original dog was Patch, the son of Petra, the first Blue Peter dog. After Patch's sudden death in 1971 he was given another pet dog, a Border Collie puppy, named Shep by viewers. Noakes's attempts to control the excitable Shep led to his catchphrase "Get down, Shep!".[26]

When Noakes left the BBC, they offered to let him keep Shep, as the dog had lived with him since his TV debut.[27] Despite Shep living with Noakes, the dog was always legally owned by the BBC and in rules that also applied to himself whilst under contract to the BBC, he could not use Shep for advertising or commercial purposes.[3] Noakes was paid a stipend to cover all Shep's costs from the Blue Peter budget (as was Peter Purves for 'Petra' and later Simon Groom for 'Goldie') and as part of the agreement to keep Shep after leaving the show, Noakes agreed that the no-advertising condition should remain.[28]

However, shortly after leaving the show, Noakes was furious to discover that what he called his "dog money" ceased to be paid by the Corporation and he confronted Biddy Baxter in a phone call. Baxter was adamant that since Shep had left Blue Peter, the programme should no longer be responsible for any of Shep's costs, although she did sympathise with some of his argument and felt that the BBC should pay Noakes for Shep to appear in Go With Noakes or for 'personal appearances' the dog made. Regardless, she later wrote that Noakes was too angry to discuss the matter and the two rarely spoke again.[28] Soon after this angry confrontation, Noakes relinquished Shep, who went to live with Edith Menzies. Noakes subsequently appeared in a series of television advertisements for Spillers "Choice Cuts" dog food, using a dog that was indistinguishable from Shep but named Skip.[29]

After 12 years with Blue Peter, Noakes left the programme on 26 June 1978.[30] By this time, his working relationship with the show's producer, Biddy Baxter, was very difficult.[31] The bitterness would last for decades; in a 1999 interview, he reportedly said she "was an awful woman, I don't want to talk about her".[32]

Noakes refused to appear on a special edition of Blue Peter to celebrate its twentieth birthday in October 1978 because of his poor relationship with Baxter.[33] Eventually he was persuaded to pre-film a message for the programme, otherwise Noakes would have been the only well-known presenter to not appear. The message was shot whilst Noakes was on location filming the Go With Noakes episode "Around The Cheshire Ring", which allowed the show to explain his absence in a positive manner for the viewers. Five years later he did not appear at all for the silver anniversary programme in 1983.[34] In 2008, Noakes called Baxter a "stupid woman" in a television documentary celebrating the show's 50th anniversary.[35][36]

On reflection, Noakes said that he was disappointed with the persona he had created on Blue Peter.[32] Despite coming across as a natural presenter, he claimed his television personality was merely a role he played; one he once called "Idiot Noakes". He said of him: “Idiot Noakes has an extrovert personality, is light-hearted and jokey. A bit of a buffoon who would do anything for a laugh or a few pence.”[15]

Noakes also complained about what he regarded as his low salary during his time on Blue Peter, and how he had been uninsured for many of the stunts he had undertaken.[3] Biddy Baxter, for her part, denied Noakes's claims there was a lack of insurance for his stunts.[37]