Help: BS BBC Playschool

Subject: RE: Help: BS BBC Playschool
From: AliUK
Date: 11 Nov 01 - 02:51 PM

Madame, the gaffe was a good one. but if you want to no more about childrens programmes of the 70s and 80s...? I remember the excitement when they got Mike Oldfield t re-record the Blue Peter theme tune. Simon Groom almost shorted the mixing desk he was slobbering sooo much. I met Simon a few times when he went to work for BBC RAdio Bedfordshire. He was quite a nice bloke actually. Also for all you rubahrb- o- philes, theyre trying to put together a new series. Hopefully still with Richard Briers doing the voices.

Subject: RE: Help: BS BBC Playschool
From: Lanfranc
Date: 11 Nov 01 - 02:23 PM

"Blue Peter" in naval signalling is the flag which represents "P". It is formed of a white square or rectangle on a blue background. As blue is the predominant colour, and Peter was the early phonetic word for "P" (It's now "Papa"), the flag is popularly known as the "Blue Peter". As well as forming part of longer signals, it is traditionally hoisted to indicate that a ship is about to depart from port, and is also used as the preparatory flag when starting a yacht race.

One assumes that, as an informative childrens' programme, "Blue Peter" aimed to prepare the little darlings for life. (Grieving dead dogs and avoiding pools of elephant piss are skills that are bound to come in useful one day!).

Subject: RE: Help: BS BBC Playschool
From: Wyrd Sister
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 03:15 PM

Thanks Sorcha - I enjoyed the link. And it led on to even more Bagpuss info for my besotted 20-year-old!

Subject: RE: Help: BS BBC Playschool
From: Sorcha
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 12:40 PM

Peter is often a euphemism for the male appendage.......imagine a blue one.....Pene Azul makes me giggle, too. Same thing. Although to be fair, Pene's name is a pun for blues pianist.

Subject: RE: Help: BS BBC Playschool
From: Madam Gashee
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 09:41 AM

Whoops sorry AliUK read it as AliO!! Humble pie, yummy yummy!

Subject: RE: Help: BS BBC Playschool
From: Madam Gashee
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 09:38 AM

I just knew that AliO would know all the oldie childrens shows!!& links to them too!

Subject: RE: Help: BS BBC Playschool
From: JudeL
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 09:27 AM

The program Blue Peter was named for the flag "Blue Peter" which was one of those flown by the navy to pass messages between ships at sea before the days of radio etc. Different flags and combinations of flags meant different things. The program also has as its theme tune a hornpipe of some description.
BTW - what does a blue peter mean to us'ers?

Subject: RE: Help: BS BBC Playschool
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 07:19 PM

(this blue peter stuff is really funny to the us'ers.....just thinking about blue peters makes me giggle!)

Subject: RE: Help: BS BBC Playschool
From: AliUK
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 07:16 PM

TV Lounge is great! You could also try www.sausagenet.co.uk as well the have MP3s of loads of old brit childrens programmes. Though I think they are going through an overhaul at the moment. I always remember Rentaghost at this time of year ( when it was good and still had Fred Mumford). Also the Blue Peter Panto which had all the people from Record Breakers, Blue Peter, John Craven and the people from Playaway. Oh! those far off Halcyon days. *sigh*

Subject: RE: Help: BS BBC Playschool
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 03:17 PM

Found this---CLICK
"Jill" runs that board and her e mail is there:
[e-mail]
Perhaps she would know. There is also a message board there:
TV Lounge Children's television remembered in style....You could try.

Subject: BS BBC Playschool
From: Wyrd Sister
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 01:55 PM

About 18-20 years ago, the late lamented UK TV programme 'Playschool' used a song which always comes back to me at this time of year. It was something about 'There's a brightness in the air, you can catch it...' and that's as much as I can remember. It was accompanied by cosy images of shop windows, lights in houses, cars pulling into the drive etc. Every November/early December there are a few clear, frosty evenings when the light has a really magical quality and just after the sun has set the sky looks almost green. There's something too about the anticipation of the excitement of Christmas in the sense of shiny things in shop windows, before the real commercial hurly-burly kicks in (or there was at that time!) that makes me think of this song. Unfortunately, that's as much as I can remember. Any ideas anyone?