Blue Peter’s formidable editor dies aged 92

Biddy Baxter, who died at the age of 92, turned Blue Peter into a television institution.

Pets recipe, philanthropist appeals, gymnastics exhibitions, foreign travel reports and occasional history lessons tested time.

And, of course, for more than 25 years, adhesive -supported plastics have introduced children for generations for generations and the pleasures of rockets from plastic bottles.

The participation of his audience was passionate about incorporating his audience in the program long before it became an industrial mantra.

But he also won a fame as a great figure: a tyrant that falls with the presentation and protects the Blue Peter brand jealousy.

Joan Maureen Baxter was born in May 1933 in Leicester.

His father was a pianist, director and mother of a sportswear company.

There were too many Joans in the school class, so there was a nickname.

His raising during the war instilled Biddy’s ability to make and correct the Blue Peter Ethos.

“My friends and I made sales and purchase sales for the Spitfire Fund and put games and concerts for the British Red Cross and helped France.”

In 1952, St Mary’s College studied at a local grammar school before going to the University of Durham. At that time, only 6% of undergraduate students were women.

The experience shaped the rest of his life. “Durham was my life for three unforgettable years.”

Baxter aimed to become a prison officer or social worker. However, by chance, he noticed that the BBC was advertising for staff.

A university rejected the suggestions from a career officer that women were most appropriate for teaching or secretarial studies.

“He said to me, ‘No one from Durham has worked for the BBC,’ That’s why I applied. I really must be grateful to him.”

In 1955, he joined the BBC as a Radio Trainee Studio Manager and created sound effects. In 1958, schools were promoted to produce Junior English programs and listen to the mother.

The child had a short spell on a period of illness on television, and soon he applied for a permanent job.

A radio colleague made him a traitor to escape to television.

In 1962, Blue Peter, a short life expectancy program, was asked to take over as a producer.

The survival, which was thought to be something for children who followed the mother, was based on the fact that it was cheap.

The 15 -minute programs were presented by Christopher Trace and a former lady Laila Williams Great.

Williams was fired just before the Baxter program, and a new server was hired to work with Valerie Singleton, Trace.

Baxter entered the program like a hurricane. In a year, he introduced a young artist named Tony Hart to design the ship logo, and introduced the iconic blue Peter badge.

He also decided to buy a dog, so that viewers who do not have pets can share with a sense of property.

Unfortunately, the animal died only two days after Christmas 1962.

Baxter and his producer Edward Barnes decided not to inform the audience, but instead changed a sad -looking hybrid discovered in the South London pet shop.

Switch’s innocent audience was asked to find a name for the puppy. They chose Petra.

Two years later, when children were asked to write for a photo of the dog, more than 60,000 were applied.

When Petra died in 1977, there were newspaper deaths worthy of a film star.

“More important than fur and feather meat,” he would say.

Once upon a time, the handbag, the program Golden Retriever Goldie’yi reportedly threw a director who could not get closely.

Baxter’s Genius Breaking was to take advantage of the sources of his audience by asking them to add ideas for what they wanted to see in the program.

The letters poured and the Baxter set up a complex card index system, so that the children would get personal answers instead of a shaped letter.

“The index can control and ‘When you write the last, your hamster had a painful claw. I hope it will be better.’ It’s just a small thing, but the kids are not stupid.

Baxter then estimated that 75% of the show content was based on ideas presented by the audience.

In 1965, Baxter was appointed to the editor of the program and the transformation of Blue Peter continued.

Location shoot was introduced, more pets appeared and objections were initiated to collect old toys and silver papers for good reasons.

It was an early example of recycling, and it was designed so that even the poorest audience could participate.

As the ratings developed, Blue Peter was now open twice a week.

Baxter insisted on the best studios and resources and fought a lot for the program.

He found a piece of waste floor behind the television center and created a garden.

Michael Grade – Now Lord Grade – BBC1’s controller has passed.

“He was his life.” “Without this obsessive ability, the program never maintained the quality it did.”

The iconic Blue Peter began to appear with a mixture of fun but informative articles.

Baxter removed the gender stereotype before the statement was invented. Men’s servers were expected to take a share of food tasks.

However, when the presentation was the public face of Blue Peter, there was no doubt who was running the show, and most of his team admired him.

A studio manager remembered that the habit of taking steps in the studio in the Stiletto heels had damaged the ground, but no one had the courage to tell him.

Baxter believed that no presentation was larger than the program, and gave a short Shift to anyone he thought he had fallen below the standards he expected.

“They can always go and work elsewhere,” he shouted.

“This woman checked our lives and did not do it very well.”

Valerie Singleton complained that she was acting like a child. John Noakes said to him terrible: “It was a tyrant that treated me like a country from Yorkshire. I could not follow him.”

A former producer was once asked if there was a hierarchy. “Yes,” he replied. “There were biddy and everyone below.”

When he left Blue Peter, he fell famous for Noakes Baxter. His exciting dog aimed to appear with Shep in pet food commercials. Baxter was terrified.

“I think it would be immoral,” he said. “How can you have a blue Peter server in commercial television advertising dog food, so the children think ‘I have to buy it’.”

At the event, Noakes made ads with a similar dog.

However, by 1980, Blue Peter looked absolutely old -fashioned against arrogant new arrivals for Children’s TV, such as ATV’s Tiswas.

Childhood was changing and it was definitely cold to admit to watch the program.

In addition, the lack of diversity remained under the attack by commentators who reminded of the middle -class values.

“All these people, Ba Baxter shouted. As a result, do people want to watch it? They did millions and they did. Therefore, I do not believe that he is self -sighted, satisfied and prone to class. “

Biddy Baxter left the program in 1988. There are different stories about his separation.

At that time, her husband’s musicologist John Hosier reportedly decided to leave when a job was offered in China and decided to go with it.

However, in the summer of 1988, his colleague Richard Marson insisted that the show was maneuverable by a new children’s program, which wanted the show to develop without a strong kindergarten.

He was destroyed, but he did not complain to the public.

In his departure, he was awarded the Blue Peter Gold Bryd Bryd Award, the biggest dignity of the program. In 2000, he worked as a free consultant through various BBC directors until he retired.

In 2013, a special BAFTA award was given. “He told a former BBC chief Guardian,” Somehow he was ignored. If someone deserves to be recognized. Blue Peter is a legend and the Blue Peter. “

Peter Salmon, a senior BBC manager who works as a small producer on Blue Peter, summarized that he thinks Baxter was the secret of his success.

“The diet took the right for Middle England – meat and potatoes, all the greenery in the right place. And sponge pudding to follow. Coil and tidy. Sometimes you will enjoy.”