Favourite amongst all my birthday presents - a "Hot Bitch" LED fan!
Not one, but two more significant bits of my childhood are gone...
The estimable Biddy Baxter - the "Miranda Priestly" of BBC children's telly, by all accounts - who was the genius behind the longest-running children's TV show in the world, Blue Peter has departed, Hamble, Humpty, Jemima, Little Ted and Big Ted in tow, for Fabulon. Miss Baxter took over the ailing show way back in 1965 and revived its fortunes by introducing such cultural icons as the Blue Peter Badge and the Xmas charity collection (of things that kids could easily source, such as foil milk-bottle-tops, postage stamps, scrap metal/cans and so on), men as well as women doing cookery demonstrations, "how to make" crafts, gifts and toys (inevitably using the famous "sticky-backed plastic") and, famously, the show's pets.
Most of the presenters were allegedly terrified of her, and one of the most beloved of them John Noakes publicly stated that he couldn't stand her. Auntie Beeb, in her wisdom, "let her go" after twenty-three years at the helm - but her legacy lives on, as the show is still running today... [Read my post on the show's 60th anniversary.]
And, on the weekend, we lost the charming character actor Ray Brooks who, out of his long and impressive career that spanned from the gritty and shocking TV drama Cathy Come Home, through bit-parts in just about every serial on our screens in the 60s and 70s (The Avengers, Randall & Hopkirk Deceased, Z-Cars, Coronation Street and so on), a starring role in the comedy-drama Big Deal in the 80s and a late-career part in Eastenders, is most famous for one iconic role...
...he was the voice of beloved children's TV icon Mr Benn!
RIP, both. And my childhood.
Meanwhile...
...here's a little something for this Tacky Music Monday from a man who (thankfully) is very much still with us - and celebrates his 75th birthday tomorrow - Mr August Darnell, the genius behind Machine, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, and this lot:
Oh, I love that song!
Have a good week, dear reader.
I loved Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savanah Band’s style and energy.
ReplyDeleteVery stylish indeed - I was surprised to find that this was as early as 1976, as the whole thing reminds me more of the early 80s... Jx
DeleteOh gosh my childhood has died along with Biddy Baxter and Mr. Ben.
ReplyDeleteSlowly but surely, it all starts to fade away - I mean, Valerie Singleton is 88 years old, Johnny Ball is 87 and Michael Aspel is 92... Jx
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