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"Everyone has a special memory of BLUE PETER. What's yours?" is the question asked on the back of the book celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the BBC programme for children. My special memory is of BLEEP & BOOSTER, but it's clearly not one shared by the BBC itself - if the next-to-nothing coverage the duo received in the book's pages in 2008 is anything to go by.
RICHARD MARSON, editor of the programme for four years (and previously a producer), wrote the book, but apart from a brief mention ('Artist WILLIAM TYMIN drew the BENGO and Bleep and Booster stories...' - emphasis mine), there was no other evidence of their existence - no pics, no description, not even an entry in the index.
The author later explained to me in an email that there simply wasn't enough room in the book to include everything, but to children of the '60s, Bleep & Booster were/was Blue Peter. That's the main reason why me and my brother watched it. The atmospheric black and white illustrations, with zoom-ins (and outs) on the static art (as opposed to animation), the weird music, the well-spoken narrator - all these things added up to a memorable experience for less demanding and unspoilt kids of the time.
So, in an attempt to redress the balance, here's a story from the Bleep & Booster Annual for 1968, in an attempt to recapture the atmosphere of the space-spanning duo's adventures from an earlier and more innocent era.
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| 50th Anniversary book, published in 2008 |
And, finally, here's a short clip - just to give you an even better taste of it. Wonderful stuff, eh? PETER HAWKINS provides the voices and narration.
I'd never heard of Bleep & Booster before today (I was born in 1966) - my memories of Blue Peter are such things as Shep and the advent crown. But in January 2000 I heard that the Blue Peter team were going to unearth the time capsule buried in the '70s so I watched that episode - oh dear, water had got into the time capsule and everything was black and rotten due to water damage, what a letdown !
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly, I think B&B were on the programme until 1977 - unless I've misunderstood a reference to the Blue Peter books. I never saw the programme with the time capsule, but I may have seen a clip. There was a B&B video with two episodes released years ago (which I've got), but there's nothing on DVD yet.
ReplyDelete1977, Kid ? I was watching Blue Peter long before that and I have no memory of Bleep & Booster - if they were on the show till '77 then they clearly made no impact on me. I remember watching an episode of 'Magpie' circa 1975 and they had a spoof Blue Peter badge which showed a blue-faced man with a noose around his neck - obviously he was "Peter" and the noose was making his face blue - this was meant to be funny but I thought it was a bit shocking to be honest !
ReplyDeleteAccording to Wikipedia (which, as we all know, is never wrong - cough), B&B appeared in 313 five minute episodes between 1963 and '77. I'm not even sure that I remember seeing them in the '70s, to be honest, but I guess I must have, whenever I caught the show.
ReplyDeleteKid, I'm amazed by that - I watched that YouTube clip but I have no memory at all of Bleep & Booster even though I was watching Blue Peter from about 1970 onwards. My memory has failed me :(
ReplyDeleteOf course, it could be that you did what I did, CJ. Watch parts of the show, but turned over to Magpie or something else for a few minutes at a time. In the days before remote controls with programme info buttons, kids were always switching channels to see what they might be missing.
ReplyDeleteBleep and Booster certainly benefitted from having the BBC Radiophonic Workshop providing such a wonderful soundtrack. I think they were on BP in the 70s
ReplyDeleteas I seem to remember seeing them in colour once.
Ken.
One of the two adventures on my B&B video is in colour, Ken, so it must be the case.
ReplyDeleteKid
ReplyDeleteThis comment is a good few years down the line but like you I remember Bleep & Booster on Blue Peter. There is an article to be found on Bear Alley Books that give a lot of information about all the books that Bleep & Booster appear in. There were 3 annuals (have 2 & 3), 2 story books (have both) and the first 14 Blue Peter books (have 2 to 14). I also have the video but not able to watch at the moment. It is nice to know there is another fan out there.
I remember reading that article on B&B a few years ago, D. I've only got one annual, one video, and the first 20 BP books (and a few others after that), but I'm hoping that we may one day get a DVD release of the pair. If you go over to Moonbase Central (in my blog list) and type their names into the search box, you should see 'home-made' figures of B&B.
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