John Noakes

The following year, his mother married Canadian big band trumpeter Alfred "Alfie" Noakes (1903–1982) and John took his surname.

He subsequently worked for BOAC as an aircraft engine fitter.

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.

He made his stage debut as a dog and a clown in a summer show with Cyril Fletcher.

John Noakes (born John Wallace Bottomley; 6 March 1934 – 28 May 2017) was an English television presenter and former actor.

He 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.

Noakes was born John Bottomley, at the Royal Halifax Infirmary in Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire, to Sallie Hinchcliffe (née Hampson) and Arthur Wallace Bottomley.

He was educated at Shelf Council School, in Shelf and then at Rishworth School, near Halifax, where he excelled in cross country running and gymnastics.

His parents divorced when he was nine and he went to live with his grandmother.

At the age of 16, Noakes joined the Royal Air Force as a mechanic.

Noakes recreated his role as Whitey Richardson in the 1963 BBC television adaptation of Chips with Everything.

In 1964, he appeared in one episode of the television military police drama series Redcap.

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.

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.

His last dramatic role on television before joining Blue Peter was in an episode of the crime series Mogul later called The Troubleshooters, starring Barry Foster and Geoffrey Keen, broadcast on BBC1 in August 1965.

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.

Baxter spotted Noakes at the Phoenix Theatre in Leicester where he was playing Willie Mossop in the play Hobson's Choice.

Noakes joined Blue Peter as a presenter on 30 December 1965.

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.

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, 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).

Alongside his Blue Peter work, Noakes also presented the BBC's Christmas edition of Disney Time with his Blue Peter colleagues on 27 December 1971.

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!".

When Noakes left Blue Peter, they offered to let him keep Shep, as the dog had lived with him since his TV debut.

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.

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.

In August 1972, he hosted four editions of BBC Radio 1's Junior Choice.

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.

After a 5 mi free-fall with the RAF in 1973, Noakes held the record for a while for the longest free-fall parachute jump by a British civilian.

A total of 31 episodes of Go With Noakes were broadcast between 28 March 1976 and 21 December 1980.

His 1977 unassisted ascent of the 51 m Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square in London has been voted the greatest moment in children's TV programming.

He returned to host the show solo at Easter 1979.

In October 1998, Noakes joined Valerie Singleton and Peter Purves in a special programme that celebrated 40 years of Blue Peter.

In January 2000, he joined his co-presenters again for the disinterment of the time capsule that they had buried in 1971.

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.