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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 #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
children's magazine programme ''
Blue Peter'' in the 1960s and 1970s and was the show's longest-serving presenter, with a tenure that lasted 12 years and six months.
Early life
Noakes was born John Bottomley,
at the
Royal Halifax Infirmary
The Royal Halifax Infirmary was a hospital in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, which opened in 1896 and closed in 2001.
History Earlier hospitals
The predecessors of the Royal Halifax Hospital were the Halifax Dispensary (1807-c.1836) in Hatte ...
in
Halifax,
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
, to Sallie Hinchcliffe (née Hampson) and Arthur Wallace Bottomley.
He was educated at Shelf Council School, in
Shelf and then at
Rishworth School, where he excelled in
cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open cou ...
and
gymnastics
Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...
.
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
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
as a mechanic. The following year, his mother married Canadian
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...
trumpeter Alfred "Alfie" Noakes (1903–1982) and John took his surname.
He subsequently worked for
BOAC as an
aircraft engine fitter.
Acting
When Noakes decided to become an actor, he took lessons at London's
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...
, 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
Cyril Fletcher (25 June 1913 – 2 January 2005) was an English comedian, actor and businessman. His catchphrase was 'Pin back your lugholes'. He was best known for his "Odd Odes", which later formed a section of the television show ''That' ...
.
In 1964, he appeared in one episode of the television military police drama series ''
Redcap
The redcap (or powrie) is a type of malevolent, murderous goblin found in Border folklore. He is said to inhabit ruined castles along the Anglo-Scottish border, especially those that were the scenes of tyranny or wicked deeds and is known for soa ...
''.
After spending six months in the
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
production of
Arnold Wesker
Sir Arnold Wesker (24 May 1932 – 12 April 2016) was an English dramatist. He was the author of 50 plays, four volumes of short stories, two volumes of essays, much journalism and a book on the subject, a children's book, some poetry, and oth ...
's ''
Chips with Everything'', Noakes moved back to the UK to work in
rep
Rep, REP, or a variant may refer to:
As a word
* Rep (fabric), a ribbed woven fabric made from various materials
* ''Rep'' (TV series), a 1982 British comedy series
* '' The Rep'', an entertainment guide published by the ''Arizona Republic'' 1997 ...
in
Surrey where he met his wife-to-be, Vicky.
Noakes recreated his role as Whitey Richardson in the 1963
BBC television adaptation of ''Chips with Everything''. He followed this with the role of Anselme Popinot in mini-series ''The Rise and Fall of
César Birotteau
''Histoire de la grandeur et de la décadence de César Birotteau'' or ''César Birotteau'', is an 1837 novel by Honoré de Balzac, and is one of the ''Scènes de la vie parisienne'' in the series ''La Comédie humaine''. Its main character is a P ...
'' 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'', starring
Barry Foster and
Geoffrey Keen
Geoffrey Keen (21 August 1916 – 3 November 2005) was an English actor who appeared in supporting roles in many films. He is well known for playing British Defence Minister Sir Frederick Gray in the ''James Bond'' films.
Biography
Early lif ...
, broadcast on
BBC1
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
in August 1965.
''Blue Peter''
Presenter
Noakes got the opportunity to join ''Blue Peter'' when producer
Biddy Baxter needed a third presenter to join
Christopher Trace
Christopher Leonard Trace (21 March 1933 – 5 September 1992) was an English actor and television presenter, notable for his nine years as an original presenter of the BBC children's programme ''Blue Peter''.
Early life and career
Trace was the ...
and
Valerie Singleton
Valerie Singleton (born 9 April 1937) is an English television and radio presenter best known as a regular presenter of the popular children's series ''Blue Peter'' from 1962 to 1972. She also presented the BBC Radio 4 '' PM'' programme for t ...
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
Peter John Purves (; born 10 February 1939) is an English television presenter and actor. He played Steven Taylor in ''Doctor Who'' under the First Doctor, a role he continued to play in audio dramas for Big Finish Productions. He later became ...
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
Lesley Judd (born 20 December 1946) is an English former television presenter and dancer, best known as a long-serving host of the BBC children's programme '' Blue Peter'' (1972–1979).
Background
Born in London, the daughter of Leslie T. Judd ...
joined the team. At a time when most BBC presenters spoke with
Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent traditionally regarded as the standard and most prestigious form of spoken British English. For over a century, there has been argument over such questions as the definition of RP, whether it is geog ...
(RP), Noakes's
Yorkshire accent
The Yorkshire dialect (also known as Broad Yorkshire, Tyke, Yorkie or Yorkshire English) is a dialect of English, or continuum of dialects, spoken in the Yorkshire region of Northern England. The dialect has roots in Old English and is influe ...
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
''Bedknobs and Broomsticks'' is a 1971 American live-action animated musical fantasy film directed by Robert Stevenson and produced by Bill Walsh for Walt Disney Productions. It is loosely based upon the books '' The Magic Bedknob; or, How t ...
'' 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). After a 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. His 1977 unassisted ascent of the high
Nelson's Column
Nelson's Column is a monument in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, Central London, built to commemorate Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson's decisive victory at the Battle of Trafalgar over the combined French and Spanish navies, during whic ...
in
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...
in London has been voted the greatest moment in children's TV programming.
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. He returned to host the show solo at Easter 1979. In August 1972, he hosted four editions of
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
's ''
Junior Choice
''Junior Choice'' is a BBC Radio programme originally broadcast from 1967 until 1982 with Christmas specials from 2007 until 2015 and again since 2017. Originally broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on Saturday mornings from 9.10 to 9.55 (later, ...
''. 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. A total of 31 episodes of ''Go With Noakes'' were broadcast between 28 March 1976 and 21 December 1980.
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
A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, or historians. The preservation of holy relics dates ...
that they had buried in 1971.
Shep
Noakes was encouraged to take special responsibility for one of the show's pets. His original dog was
Patch
Patch or Patches may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Patch Johnson, a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives''
* Patch (''My Little Pony''), a toy
* "Patches" (Dickey Lee song), 1962
* "Patches" (Chairmen of the Board song) ...
, the son of
Petra, the first ''Blue Peter'' dog. After Patch's sudden death in 1971 he was given another pet dog, a
Border Collie
The Border Collie is a Scottish breed of herding dog of medium size. Widely considered to be the most intelligent dog breed, they are descended from landrace sheepdogs once found all over the British Isles, but became standardised in the Ang ...
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
Simon Groom (born 12 August 1950) is a British producer and director. He was a presenter of ''Blue Peter'' from 1978 to 1986.
Early life
Groom was born in Chesterfield in Derbyshire, and was brought up on a farm in Dethick, which he often vis ...
for 'Goldie') and as part of the agreement to keep Shep after leaving the show, Noakes agreed that the no-advertising condition should remain.
[Baxter, Biddy. Blue Peter: The Inside Story. Interpet Ringpull BBC Books 1989. ]
However, shortly after leaving the show, Noakes was furious to discover that what he called his "dog money" ceased to be paid by the Corporation and he confronted Biddy Baxter in a phone call. Baxter was adamant that since Shep had left ''Blue Peter'', the programme should no longer be responsible for any of Shep's costs, although she did sympathise with some of his argument and felt that the BBC should pay Noakes for Shep to appear in ''Go With Noakes'' or for 'personal appearances' the dog made. Regardless, she later wrote that Noakes was too angry to discuss the matter and the two rarely spoke again.
Soon after this angry confrontation, Noakes relinquished Shep, who went to live with Edith Menzies. Noakes subsequently appeared in a series of television advertisements for
Spillers
Spillers Ltd was a British company that owned flour milling operations, operated bakeries and also sold pet food and equine feeds.
History
The business originated in 1829 from the establishment of a flour mill in Bridgwater, Somerset, by Joel Sp ...
"Choice Cuts" dog food, using a dog that was indistinguishable from Shep but named Skip.
Departure and acrimony
After 12 years with ''Blue Peter'', Noakes left the programme on 26 June 1978. By this time, his working relationship with the show's producer,
Biddy Baxter, was very difficult. The bitterness would last for decades; in a 1999 interview, he reportedly said she "was an awful woman, I don't want to talk about her".
Noakes refused to appear on a special edition of ''Blue Peter'' to celebrate its twentieth birthday in October 1978 because of his poor relationship with Baxter. Eventually he was persuaded to pre-film a message for the programme, otherwise Noakes would have been the only well-known presenter to not appear. The message was shot whilst Noakes was on location filming the ''Go With Noakes'' episode "Around The Cheshire Ring", which allowed the show to explain his absence in a positive manner for the viewers. Five years later he did not appear at all for the silver anniversary programme in 1983.
On reflection, Noakes said that he was disappointed with the persona he had created on ''Blue Peter''.
Despite coming across as a natural presenter, he claimed his television personality was merely a role he played; one he once called "Idiot Noakes". He said of him: “Idiot Noakes has an extrovert personality, is light-hearted and jokey. A bit of a buffoon who would do anything for a laugh or a few pence.”
Noakes also complained about what he regarded as his low salary during his time on ''Blue Peter'', and how he had been uninsured for many of the stunts he had undertaken.
Biddy Baxter, for her part, denied Noakes's claims there was a lack of insurance for his stunts.
Later work
In 1979, Noakes wrote a children's book, ''The Flight of the Magic Clog'',
published by
Lion with illustrations by Toni Goffe. In the book, Mr. Brooks takes John, Mickey the clever one, June the talkative one, Barbara the pretty one and Eric the clumsy one on an adventure against the international villain Baron Wilhelm Doppleganger and his secret arms factory, using a giant magic flying clog.
In 1982, Noakes and his wife made an unsuccessful attempt to sail around the world; they abandoned the attempt when their boat was damaged in a hurricane.
In a second attempt in 1984, the couple stopped in
Majorca, Spain, where they initially planned a three-day stop, but instead settled at
Andratx and ran a boat rental business. In 1983 Noakes presented ''The Dinosaur Trail'', a seven-part documentary for
Children's ITV
CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...
.
Between 1986 and 1988, the BBC's programme ''Fax!'' answered questions posed by viewers. On 20 January 1987, the question "Whatever happened to John Noakes and Shep?" was posed. Noakes appeared on the show with his wife and revealed what he had been doing since retiring from television. During the course of the interview, Noakes tearfully revealed that Shep had died three days before.
In the 2000s, Noakes trained in the
Michel Thomas
Michel Thomas (born Moniek Kroskof, February 3, 1914 – January 8, 2005) was a polyglot linguist, and decorated war veteran. He survived imprisonment in several different Nazi concentration camps after serving in the Maquis of the French ...
method of language tuition, and then became a language tutor, specialising in
Romance languages
The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...
. In 1999, Noakes co-hosted an ITV series entitled ''Mad About Pets''
and in 2004, he took part in the
Living TV
Sky Witness is a British pay television channel owned and operated by Sky, a division of Comcast. The channel primarily broadcasts drama shows from the United States, aimed at the 18–45 age group. An Italian version of Sky Witness, named S ...
reality TV show ''
I'm Famous and Frightened!
''I'm Famous and Frightened!'' is a Living TV reality TV show in which eight celebrities stayed for three nights in a "haunted" castle. They had to then do terrifying challenges to raise money for charity; each one was evicted until only the wi ...
''. A year later, he appeared in the
Channel 5 programme ''
Britain's Worst Celebrity Driver
''Britain's Worst Driver'' is a British television series created and hosted by ex-Top Gear host Quentin Willson made by Mentorn and shown on Five. The worst drivers chosen by viewers "earned back" their driving licences by performing various d ...
''.
On 14 June 2008, he appeared in a ''Blue Peter''-themed edition of ''
The Weakest Link
''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. ...
'', being voted off second. On 7 September 2013, he appeared with Peter Purves in
''Pointless Celebrities''.
Personal life
He married his wife, Vicky, in 1965 and the couple settled in Majorca in 1984.
On 30 June 2015, Noakes was reported missing from his home in
Andratx,
Majorca: he had been diagnosed with
Alzheimer's disease some years before. He was found the same day, close to his home, having fallen into grass in a storm drain.
Noakes died on 28 May 2017 at the Son Espases Hospital in
Palma. On 28 October 2017, half of his ashes were scattered from a firework rocket at the playing field of his former school Rishworth School. It was his wish that half his ashes were scattered at the school and the other half in Majorca.
References
External links
John NoakesBBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...