Popularising the phrase: "And here's one I made earlier," Blue Peter's "makes" segment is one of the show's most memorable and much-loved sections. Over the years, various presenters have shown us how to construct everything from jewellery boxes to Thunderbirds' Tracy Island, using little more than carboard boxes, paint and "sticky-backed plastic".
Although there have been a few Blue Peter presenters who weren't keen on making things, Sarah Greene, a presenter on the show from May 1980 to June 1983, loved them. "I really looked forward to them for two reasons," she recalls.
"First of all, that was a good five pages of script, which you didn't have to learn because the props were there as aide-memoires. And you could really improvise around what you were doing. And I quite liked doing that. I didn't get shaky hands doing that.
"And I guess if I've got anyone to thank for that, it's my dad who, being Mr DIY, I'd been making things with him for years. So that was quite handy."
Dad, of course, was Harry Greene, one of the UK's first television DIY experts, who was working as an art and drama teacher when he met Joan Littlewood, director of the influential Theatre Workshop.
"She took one look at my father and said: 'Hmmm. You've got the look of Tyrone Power. What can you do?' He said: 'Well, I can sing, I can dance, I can act? I mean, ever the publicist. But he was right. 'Did you see that set that's over there for the kids? I built that. I can make costumes and I can do anything you want. She said: 'Right, you're going to be my Owain Glyndŵr, we're doing the play next week. You're in. Do you want to join the circus?' He said: 'I do! And he literally ran away to join that circus.
After a few years of touring Britain and Europe, Theatre Workshop found a permanent home in the derelict Theatre Royal Stratford East.
Bu hikaye Best of British dergisinin October 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Best of British dergisinin October 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
THE FEW ON SCREEN
Steven Taylor looks at the Battle of Britain across film and TV
Table Service
Rachel Toy looks at the history of Ridgway Homemaker tableware
Hever Forever
Claire Saul studies the newly refurbished Boleyn Apartment at Hever Castle & Gardens - a castle fit for a queen
Shining a Light
Tony O’Neil tunes into the history of the last manned lightvessel
The Man With the Goldeneye
Film stills photographer Keith Hamshere describes how he came to enter the world of James Bond
THE ORIGINAL GOLDEN BALLS
lan Wheeler looks back on 70 years of Tiger comic and Roy of the Rovers, and chats to the man who edited and oversaw both titles
To Play the Queen
Chris Hallam looks back on the life of one of the UK’s best known lookalikes
POOLING RESOURCES
Martin Handley looks at what life was like after the Vernons Girls
POSTCARD FROM= SUSSEX
Bob Barton indulges in pleasure piers and fairground delights, as well as fulfilling a long-held ambition to visit the home of Rudyard Kipling
Oh, Miss Jones
Chris Hallam looks back at the origins and legacy of Rising Damp, ITV's most successful sitcom