''Go4It'' was a British children's magazine programme broadcast on Sunday evenings at 7.15pm on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

, and one of the few speech-based shows on British national radio aimed at younger listeners. It was broadcast between 2001 and 2009.

History

Children's radio had been provided by ''

Listen with Mother ''Listen with Mother'' was a BBC radio programme for children which ran between 16 January 1950 to 10 September 1982. It was originally produced by Freda Lingstrom and was presented over the years by Daphne Oxenford, Julia Lang, Eileen Browne ...

'' from 1950 to 1982 and subsequently by a weekday lunchtime programme called ''Listening Corner''. From 1990, there were Children's BBC radio serials on BBC Radio 5. When that station closed in 1994 CBBC serials moved to Radio 4 on Sundays from 7 to 7.30pm until Easter 1998 when it was replaced by another episode of ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural settin ...

''. "Go4It" started in 2001 and was originally produced by Jo Daykin and hosted by

Matt Smith Matthew Robert Smith (born 28 October 1982) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as the Eleventh Doctor, eleventh incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the BBC series ''Doctor Who'' (2010–2013), Daemon Targarye ...

and included Cromarty the space cat and many jokes. Smith was replaced one year later by

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

presenter

Barney Harwood Barnaby John "Barney" Harwood (born 7 November 1979) is a British actor and television presenter. He is known for his work with CBBC beginning in 2002. Career Television For CBBC, Harwood presented '' Prank Patrol'' and was a voice-over comment ...

on 5 May 2002. With Harwood's arrival the show became less patronising with the theme tune changed to ''

Danger Man ''Danger Man'' (retitled ''Secret Agent'' in the United States for the revived series, and ''Destination Danger'' and ''John Drake'' in other overseas markets) is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again b ...

''. When Harwood was off on holiday there were guest presenters like

Kirsten O'Brien Kirsten Lindsey O'Brien (born 23 February 1972) is an English television presenter and actress. She is perhaps best known for her work presenting for the BBC, including the popular CBBC art programme '' SMart'' from 1999 to 2009, and CBeebies ...

, Natalie Barrass and David McFetridge. The show typically centred on themes of books, poetry and literature. A typical episode featured a guest author or poet and often a trip 'on location' to an event related to children's literature. It could be considered a junior version of Radio 4's Book Club with an author being asked questions by the young fans in the studio: the 'g4it-ers'. Also included were games and competitions. Some shows were also themed, for instance an

Arthurian King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a Legend, legendary king of Great Britain, Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest tradition ...

theme (27 May 2007) or

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have b ...

(3 June 2007). The programme included readings of serialized stories although this was later dropped as the show 'matured'; instead listeners were encouraged to listen to sister programme '' Big Toe Books'' on BBC7. The 4 May 2008 episode was a special on

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

. Featured was

Philip Pullman Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. His books include the fantasy trilogy ''His Dark Materials'' and ''The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'', a fictionalised biography of Jesus. In 2008, ''The ...

's new comic strip and ''

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

''. During the first year the show was extensively parodied on the Radio 4 impressionist satire '' Dead Ringers'' for being about 'what people at Radio 4 ''think'' young people want to listen to', for instance

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Under ...

poetry read by

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...

and

Will Self William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English author, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster. He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Sel ...

stories. Matt Smith was singled out for what could be seen as a patronising attitude towards the audience, including excessive use of the word 'ace'.

Cancellation

In March 2009, it was announced that ''Go4It'' would be cancelled. The last episode was broadcast on 24 May 2009. The reason given was that it did not attract enough young listeners. The show attracted an average of 450,000 listeners, but only 20,000 were aged between 4-14. The average age of the listeners was between 52-55. The decision to axe ''Go4It'' means that there are now no children's programmes on BBC analogue radio.

Guests on the programme

Studio guests and people Natalie Barrass interviewed: *

and

Dakota Blue Richards Dakota Blue Richards (born 11 April 1994) is an English actress. Her film debut at the age of 13 was in '' The Golden Compass'', as the lead character Lyra Belacqua. Other lead roles include the wayward teenager April in ''Dustbin Baby'' and M ...

interviewed on her debut in the recently released film ''

The Golden Compass ''Northern Lights'' (titled ''The Golden Compass'' in North America and some other countries) is a young-adult fantasy novel by Philip Pullman, published in 1995 by Scholastic UK. Set in a parallel universe, it follows the journey of Lyra Be ...

'' (based on Pullman's "

His Dark Materials ''His Dark Materials'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of '' Northern Lights'' (1995; published as ''The Golden Compass'' in North America), ''The Subtle Knife'' (1997), and ''The Amber Spyglass'' (2000). It follows ...

") as the lead character

Lyra Belacqua Lyra Belacqua (), also known as Lyra Silvertongue, is the heroine of Philip Pullman's trilogy ''His Dark Materials''. In ''His Dark Materials'' Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a universe parallel to our own. Brought up in the cloistered world ...

. *

Michael Morpurgo Sir Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo ('' né'' Bridge; 5 October 1943) is an English book author, poet, playwright, and librettist who is known best for children's novels such as ''War Horse'' (1982). His work is noted for its "magical storytell ...

- Former Children's Laureate *

Terry Deary William Terence Deary (born 3 January 1946) is a British children's author of over 200 books, selling over 25 million copies in over 40 languages, best known as the writer of the ''Horrible Histories'' series. Since 1994 he has been one of Britai ...

- Author of ''

Horrible Histories ''Horrible Histories'' is an educational entertainment franchise encompassing many media including books, magazines, audio books, stage shows, TV shows, and more. In 2013, Lisa Edwards, UK publishing and commercial director of Scholastic Corpora ...

'' series, was interviewed on his trilogy, ''

The Fire Thief ''The Fire Thief'' was written by Terry Deary and is the first book in The Fire Thief Trilogy. The book is about Prometheus, the Greek Titan who, in Greek mythology, is said to have stolen fire from the gods and given it to humans. The story t ...

'' and

Greek Mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

Morris Gleitzman Morris Gleitzman (born 9 January 1953) is an English-born Australian author of children's and young adult fiction.Rainer Hersch - Musician *

Lynne Reid Banks Lynne Reid Banks (born 31 July 1929) is a British author of books for children and adults. She has written forty-five books, including the best-selling children's novel ''The Indian in the Cupboard'', which has sold over 10 million copies and ...

- Author of 1980s series ''

The Indian in the Cupboard ''The Indian in the Cupboard'' is a low fantasy children's novel by the British writer Lynne Reid Banks. It was published in 1980 with illustrations by Robin Jacques (UK) and Brock Cole (US). It was later adapted as a 1995 children's film ...

'' * Paul Jennings - An Australian author *

Michael Rosen Michael Wayne Rosen (born 7 May 1946) is a British children's author, poet, presenter, political columnist, broadcaster and activist who has written 140 books. He served as Children's Laureate from 2007 to 2009. Early life Michael Wayne Ro ...

- Author of the ''Sad Book'', written to cope his grief of losing his son Eddie at 18. *

Jacqueline Wilson Dame Jacqueline Wilson (née Aitken; born 17 December 1945) is an English novelist known for her popular children's literature. Her novels have been notable for featuring realistic topics such as adoption and divorce without alienating her lar ...

-Author of children's books, most famously ''

The Story of Tracy Beaker ''The Story of Tracy Beaker'' is a British children's book first published in 1991, written by Jacqueline Wilson and illustrated by Nick Sharratt. Background The book is told from the point of view of Tracy Beaker, a troubled ten-year-old gir ...

'' *

Raymond Briggs Raymond Redvers Briggs (18 January 1934 – 9 August 2022) was an English illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist and author. Achieving critical and popular success among adults and children, he is best known in Britain for his 1978 story ...

- Cartoonist behind ''

The Snowman ''The Snowman'' is a 1982 British animated television film based on Raymond Briggs's 1978 picture book ''The Snowman.'' It was directed by Dianne Jackson for Channel 4. It was first shown on 26 December 1982, and was an immediate success. It wa ...

'' * Steve Jackson - A British game designer *

Daniel Radcliffe Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor. He rose to fame at age twelve, when he began portraying Harry Potter in the film series of the same name; and has held various other film and theatre roles. Over his career, Rad ...

- Played

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

in the famous films, and spoke about his favourite books * Nick Tocjek. - Poet, who wrote a new poem with the help of the Go4it guests. (20 May 2007) *

Kevin Crossley-Holland Kevin John William Crossley-Holland (born 7 February 1941) is an English translator, children's author and poet. His best known work is probably the Arthur trilogy (2000–2003), for which he won the Guardian Prize and other recognition. Cros ...

, - Author of a series on the Arthurian legend. *

Philip Reeve Philip Reeve (born 28 February 1966) is a British author and illustrator of children's books, primarily known for the 2001 book '' Mortal Engines'' and its sequels (the 2001 to 2006 '' Mortal Engines Quartet''). His 2007 novel, '' Here Lies Art ...

- Author of books about King Arthur, and the

Mortal Engines ''Mortal Engines'' is a young-adult science fantasy novel by Philip Reeve, published by Scholastic UK in 2001. The book focuses on a futuristic, steampunk version of London, now a giant machine striving to survive on a world that is runni ...

Series.(27 May 2007) *Imogen Smallwood -

's daughter. (3 June 2007) * Eva Rice - Author of Who's Who in Enid Blyton. *Jam - a member of the all-girl computer experts, the

Frag Dolls The Frag Dolls were a group of girl gamers recruited and employed by Ubisoft with the aim of promoting games made by Ubisoft, including through the participation in esports tournaments. The term refers to three different teams, one each in th ...

. *

Dan Freedman Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

- Author of "The Kickoff", about a boy who works hard to become a top footballer, but also includes some tips for budding footballers. (17 June 2007) *Nick Green - Author of ''The Cat Kin''. * Andrew Cope Author of ''Spy Dog''. (24 June 2007) *

Catherine Lamb Catherine Lamb (born 1982 in Olympia, Washington) is an American composer and violist, and a winner of the 2020 Ernst von Siemens Composers' Prize. Biography Lamb describes her music as exploring "the interaction of tone, summations of shapes and ...

, - Author of ''Penguin Problems'', on how they can help the environment. * David Gilman, Author of "The Devil's Breath", in which the hero, Max Gordon, fights to protect the environment in some of the most dangerous places on earth.(3 June 2007) *

Anthony Horowitz Anthony John Horowitz, (born 5 April 1955) is an English novelist and screenwriter specialising in mystery and suspense. His works for children and young adult readers include ''The Diamond Brothers'' series, the ''Alex Rider'' series, and ''T ...

- Author of "

Alex Rider ''Alex Rider'' is a series of spy novels written by British author Anthony Horowitz. The novels revolve around a teenage spy named Alex Rider and is primarily aimed towards young adults. The series currently comprises thirteen novels, as we ...

" and "

The Power of Five ''The Power of Five'' (re-titled as ''The Gatekeepers'' in the US) is a series of five fantasy and suspense novels, written by English author Anthony Horowitz. Published between 2005 and 2012, it is an updated re-imagining of Horowitz's ''Pe ...

" Series. *

Philip Ardagh Philip Ardagh is an English children's author, primarily known for the Eddie Dickens series of books. He has written more than 100 books including adult fiction and children's non-fiction. During 2004 and 2005 Ardagh collaborated with Sir Pa ...

- Author of the " Eddie Dickens" Trilogy(8 July 2007) *

Louise Rennison Louise Rennison (11 October 1951 – 29 February 2016) was an English author and comedian who wrote the ''Confessions of Georgia Nicolson'' series for teenage girls. The series records the exploits of a teenage girl, Georgia Nicolson, and her best ...

- Author of teenage fiction.15 July 2007 19:15pm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007sngv *

Shirley Hughes Winifred Shirley Hughes (16 July 1927 – 25 February 2022) was an English author and illustrator. She wrote more than fifty books, which have sold more than 11.5 million copies, and illustrated more than two hundred. As of 2007, she lived i ...

- Author and Illustrator behind the hugely popular '' Dogger'' * Minne Gray - Author of ''The Adventures of The Dish and The Spoon'', which picks up where the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle" left off. (22 July 2007) * Thomas Daley - Diver and Teen Olympian

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
BBC Radio 4 programmes British children's radio programmes 2001 radio programme debuts 2009 radio programme endings

History

Cancellation

Guests on the programme

See also

References

External links