1. John Noakes co-presented the BBC children's magazine programme Blue Peter in the 1960s and 1970s and is the show's longest-serving presenter, with a tenure that lasted 12 years and six months.
34 Facts About John Noakes
1. 2.
John Noakes was educated at Shelf Council School, in Shelf and then at Rishworth School near Halifax, where he excelled in cross country running and gymnastics.
3.
John Noakes's parents divorced when he was nine and he went to live with his grandmother.
4.
At the age of 16, Noakes joined the Royal Air Force as a mechanic.
5.
John Noakes subsequently worked for BOAC as an aircraft engine fitter.
6.
When John 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.
7.
John Noakes made his stage debut as a dog and a clown in a summer show with Cyril Fletcher.
8.
John Noakes recreated his role as Whitey Richardson in the 1963 BBC television adaptation of Chips with Everything.
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John Noakes followed this with the role of Anselme Popinot in mini-series The Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau on BBC2, a four-part dramatisation broadcast in June 1965.
10.
John 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.
11.
John Noakes joined Blue Peter as a presenter on 30 December 1965.
12.
At a time when most BBC presenters spoke with Received Pronunciation, John Noakes's Yorkshire accent was a novelty.
13.
Alongside his Blue Peter work, John Noakes presented the BBC's Christmas edition of Disney Time with his Blue Peter colleagues on 27 December 1971.
14.
John Noakes returned to host the show solo at Easter 1979.
15.
In each series John Noakes used a particular mode of transport to get about such as a yacht, on foot, narrow boat, or classic car.
16.
In October 1998, John Noakes joined Valerie Singleton and Peter Purves in a special programme that celebrated 40 years of Blue Peter.
17.
John Noakes was encouraged to take special responsibility for one of the show's pets.
18.
When John Noakes left Blue Peter, they offered to let him keep Shep, as the dog had lived with him since his TV debut.
19.
John Noakes was paid a stipend to cover all Shep's costs from the Blue Peter budget and as part of the agreement to keep Shep after leaving the show, John Noakes agreed that the no-advertising condition should remain.
20.
However, shortly after leaving the show, John 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.
21.
Regardless, she later wrote that John Noakes was too angry to discuss the matter and the two rarely spoke again.
22.
John 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.
23.
John 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.
24.
The message was shot whilst John Noakes was on location filming the Go With John Noakes episode "Around The Cheshire Ring", which allowed the show to explain his absence in a positive manner for the viewers.
25.
On reflection, John Noakes said that he was disappointed with the persona he had created on Blue Peter.
26.
John Noakes 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.
27.
Biddy Baxter, for her part, denied John Noakes's claims there was a lack of insurance for his stunts.
28.
In 1979, John Noakes wrote a children's book, The Flight of the Magic Clog, published by Fontana with illustrations by Toni Goffe.
29.
In 1983 John Noakes presented The Dinosaur Trail, a seven-part documentary for Children's ITV.
30.
John Noakes appeared on the show with his wife and revealed what he had been doing since retiring from television.
31.
John Noakes married his wife, Vicky, in 1963 and the couple settled in Mallorca in 1984.
32.
On 30 June 2015 John Noakes was reported missing from his home in Andratx, Mallorca: he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease some years before.
33.
John Noakes was found the same day, close to his home, having fallen into grass in a storm drain.
34.
John Noakes died on 28 May 2017 at the Son Espases Hospital in Palma.