BBC TV Blue Peter Childrens Program (1970s) .

[4069]

 The Trix A2 appeared, re-numbered and named to represent Blue Peter. Of course in true Reithian values fashion the maker's name could not be mentioned so for many of us it took a while for the knowledge of who made it to filter down.

Thanks for solving that - I've been (vaguely) wondering what that model was for the last fifty years, and never knew that Trix made an A2, until now

[JSpencer]

I used to have a copy of the BP annual where it showed you how to make wagon loads. I recall one was drainage pipes made from pasta. Another may have been a load of timber from lolly pop sticks but my memory might be failing me on that one.

 

In one show, they taught you how to make an oil deport using 4 toilet tubes, a corn flake box, pipe cleaners and some double sided sticky tape. I actually made this, though long since passed into the dustbin.

[rovex]

O

 

In one show, they taught you how to make an oil deport using 4 toilet tubes, a corn flake box, pipe cleaners and some double sided sticky tape. I actually made this, though long since passed into the dustbin.

 

A challenge for  Alan Downes, I think

[edcayton]

I had forgotten the Trix A2. I thought the short-term memory was supposed to go first.

 

Ed

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

... I thought the short-term memory was supposed to go first...

 That's typical of the very well publicised Alzheimer spectrum of memory deficit. But there's plenty of other possibilities that can lead to loss of, or inability to readily recall,  long term memories, and/or deterioration in working memory function. One of my elderly relatives is still pretty sharp mentally, but has huge 'holes' in recall of the past  - pretty memorable - events of earlier life.

[DonnyRailMan]

I seem to remember John showing Flying Scotsman on the layout then he went footplate of Flying Scotsman  

somewhere.

[Porcy Mane]

^{I wrote to them in the early 70s suggesting they showed us how to make scenery using paper mache and they did!}

 

Are you sure you want to be admitting to that? Funny how the memory plays tricks on you. I thought it was the 1990's!

[Axlebox]

Are you sure you want to be admitting to that? Funny how the memory plays tricks on you. I thought it was the 1990's!

 

..deffo 70s...it was a junior school project to write a letter...

Edited August 8, 2016 by Axlebox

[Porcy Mane]

..deffo 70s...it was a junior school project to write a letter...

 

Deffo not a Mr Hope project. He would have you communicating via morse code, semaphore or smoke signals. I somehow think he disapproved of Blue Peter and he'll have apoplexy if he knew we were using "Deffo" 

[Pacific231G]

 Among my parent's circle of friends, one had a son who was a regular cameraman on BP from its inception, among other programmes. I gathered that all was not sweetness and light between the 'creatives' in production and the studio technical crew. If what I was told is to be believed, the latter would if possible quite deliberately interfere a little with what the presenters were going to work with, to cover themselves for the inadequate or even non-existent shooting direction they were given for filming live TV in the studio. After all, if the presenters messed up, then the camera crews were just doing their best to improvise the best possible job for transmission.

Although I have come across technicians, usually the barely competent ones, who regarded production as their natural enemy my experience as a live studio director of camera crews in TV Centre was always very positive. Once they'd rehearsed a shot however complex they could repeat it every time. We "creatives" did actually plan our shots very carefully. I even kept a set of coins - possibly old pennies- with numbers painted on them attached to lengths of cotton that I used to plan camera moves on a studio floor plan as it was horribly easy to get their cables tangled. The BBC Studio Director's course like all BBC training was actually very thorough. I still can't hear "It's a Hard Knock Life" from Annie without twitching as it was used in a particuarly gruelling live shot calling excercise.

 

Although they'd stopped using it regularly by the time I first worked there, I saw the Blue Peter model railway in the TV Centre scenery dock on a couple of occasions and it was a very heavily built single unit, including the operator's well, that could be trucked in and out of the studio. It was normally protected by a box that covered it .I'm not sure of the actual size but 6ft x 8 ft feels about right and ISTR the BBC MRC had a hand in its building. 

Edited August 8, 2016 by Pacific231G

[DonnyRailMan]

Although I have come across technicians, usually the barely competent ones, who regarded production as their natural enemy my experience as a live studio director of camera crews in TV Centre was always very positive. Once they'd rehearsed a shot however complex they could repeat it every time. We "creatives" did actually plan our shots very carefully. I even kept a set of coins - possibly old pennies- with numbers painted on them attached to lengths of cotton that I used to plan camera moves on a studio floor plan as it was horribly easy to get their cables tangled. The BBC Studio Director's course like all BBC training was actually very thorough. I still can't hear "It's a Hard Knock Life" from Annie without twitching as it was used in a particuarly gruelling live shot calling excercise.

 

Although they'd stopped using it regularly by the time I first worked there, I saw the Blue Peter model railway in the TV Centre scenery dock on a couple of occasions and it was a very heavily built single unit, including the operator's well, that could be trucked in and out of the studio. It was normally protected by a box that covered it .I'm not sure of the actual size but 6ft x 8 ft feels about right and ISTR the BBC MRC had a hand in its building. 

 

Thank you for that very in-depth information. 

[railroadbill]

Great thread.  When did the model railway first appear?  All I can remember of it is  a Midland Pullman being run on it, which must have been a motorised Kitmaster model.  So that's going back...

 

Later on, I think they had a scalextric layout on which each grand prix race in the season would be reenacted.   I hoped they would change the layout each time to represent the actual race course for that race, but they just had a generic one. That was the time I was disappointed in the program.

 

I thought sticky backed plastic was sellotape!

[sandwich station]

This is the first time I remember model railways being featured on Blue Peter. Also had this annual but long gone now. http://welovebluepeter.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/blue-peter-annuals-number-two.html

[steam-driven boy]

Hi,

Later on, I think they had a scalextric layout on which each grand prix race in the season would be reenacted.   I hoped they would change the layout each time to represent the actual race course for that race, but they just had a generic one. That was the time I was disappointed in the program.

 

I don't recall much of that on Blue Peter, I'm wondering if you might be thinking of 'Tom Tom'?:..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Tom_(TV_series)

...that featured the regular GP reruns, I remember (vaguely to be sure, it's a long time back and I was about 10 years old) my dad presenting me with a motor racing hardback book which included an article about the guy who made the cars for that, they were scratchbuilt for the show, possibly 1/24th scale?  I don't remember the female presenters at all...

 

Regards, Gerry.

[jonny777]

I thought sticky backed plastic was sellotape!

 

A common misconception.

 

Sticky backed plastic in the 1960s was sold in wide rolls (maybe 1ft - 1ft 6ins?) with various patterns on it. It was akin to a vinyl covering, which many schoolkids (mainly girls in my era) used to cover exercise books. That is because the basic patterns tended to be flowery, but you could get plain colours and one with a simple square grid on it.

[Porcy Mane]

 (mainly girls in my era) used to cover exercise books. That is because the basic patterns tended to be flowery, but you could get plain colours and one with a simple square grid on it.

 And woodgrain effect too. I was about nine when I "restored" a reclaimed kitchen cabinet with the stuff. I was proud of it, even if nobody else was.

 

P

[Hroth]

A common misconception.

 

Sticky backed plastic in the 1960s was sold in wide rolls (maybe 1ft - 1ft 6ins?) with various patterns on it. It was akin to a vinyl covering, which many schoolkids (mainly girls in my era) used to cover exercise books. That is because the basic patterns tended to be flowery, but you could get plain colours and one with a simple square grid on it.

In those days, the BBC had a VERY strict "non-commercial" attitude to mentioning products on air, so common craft materials were renamed and trademarks obscured.  The following materials were commonly used in Blue Peter craft projects:

 

"Sticky-backed plastic" was code for Fablon (still available to this day!) 

Cereal boxes were usually Kellogs cornflakes boxes with logo and text rubbed off with wire wool

Squeezy bottles were Fairy Liquid containers similarly treated

Match boxes were Swan Vestas (large) or Bryant and May (small) similarly treated. 

The usual glue in those pre-PVA days was Copydex latex glue, with brown paper stuck around the container to obscure the manufacturer. 

And there was no thought to the health and safety implications of using discarded cardboard toilet roll centres!

Colour was usually applied using Reeves poster paints, usually in a little glass jar with a screwtop lid of the contents colour (again with the label obscured).  I've still got some of those in the attic, though the contents dried out long ago!

 

Nowadays, you'll get an itemised parts list, I suppose....

[jonny777]

In those days, the BBC had a VERY strict "non-commercial" attitude to mentioning products on air, so common craft materials were renamed and trademarks obscured.  The following materials were commonly used in Blue Peter craft projects:

 

"Sticky-backed plastic" was code for Fablon (still available to this day!) 

Cereal boxes were usually Kellogs cornflakes boxes with logo and text rubbed off with wire wool

Squeezy bottles were Fairy Liquid containers similarly treated

Match boxes were Swan Vestas (large) or Bryant and May (small) similarly treated. 

The usual glue in those pre-PVA days was Copydex latex glue, with brown paper stuck around the container to obscure the manufacturer. 

And there was no thought to the health and safety implications of using discarded cardboard toilet roll centres!

Colour was usually applied using Reeves poster paints, usually in a little glass jar with a screwtop lid of the contents colour (again with the label obscured).  I've still got some of those in the attic, though the contents dried out long ago!

 

Nowadays, you'll get an itemised parts list, I suppose....

 

 

Were squeezy bottles always ex-Fairy Liquid?

 

They could well have been ex-Squezy washing up liquid bottles.

 

[Hroth]

It probably just depended on what was to hand at the time, although the one you illustrate would need a fair amount of pre-transmission preparation!

 

And that Squezy is post 1971 as its decimal priced!

Edited August 9, 2016 by Hroth

[Porcy Mane]

Were squeezy bottles always ex-Fairy Liquid?

 

They could well have been ex-Squezy washing up liquid bottles.

Along with Domestos one of the products Tyneside gave to the world. Also gives you the ability to dance like a good un, if consumed in small quantities.

 

 

P

[Hroth]

Two bob, eh? Not bad! Though according to the price and inflation calculator ( http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1633409/Historic-inflation-calculator-value-money-changed-1900.html ) thats equivalent to £1.75 in todays sad excuse for money.  It might be interesting to put some old model railway prices through it!

 

I worry about the people in the illustration, they look like they've been ingesting huge quantities nasally........

 

(But I suppose that the graphic designer didn't have much choice of letraset figures to use)

[Porcy Mane]

There you go. Hornby Price list from the previous year to the Squezy Advert.

 

I wonder how much Christopher Trace was getting a week back then. Couldn't have been that much as he appeared in two Edgar Wallace Mysteries in 1960. Moonlighting indeed.

 

(And I seem to remember one of those films  (An Urge to Kill) had some good shots of 16 ton mineral wagons.

 

P

Edited August 9, 2016 by Porcy Mane

[Hroth]

Ohhh - the date at the top of the Squezy ad was 1960!  I managed to make it into '66 so that makes the price difference greater - £2.10!  Eeek!

 

Its a pity those are Triang TT models, so we can't compare them to similar 2016 models...

 

Still the equivalent prices of some 1959 items are:

 

T3 (Mainline passenger set) @ 87/6                    £92.45

 

T90 (Jinty) @ 32/-                                                £33.81

T91/2 (Windsor Castle and tender) @ 55/11       £59.08

T95 (0-6-0 Diesel shunter - green) @ 33/6         £35.39

 

 

These are quite stiff prices when considered against average wages ranging from about £14 - 16 per week in 1959.

(  http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1960/nov/29/national-average-wages )  Note how much professional footballers were paid!

[Hroth]

One thing these prices demonstrate - its the reason why we made so many things at home from cereal boxes, washing up liquid bottles and sticky-back plastic!  A big thanks to Blue Peter for showing us how!

[Classsix T]

The use of a singular 'e' on the product often caused me consternation (but not the lack of an 'u', oddly) unless it really was meant to be asked for as "Skwezzy". I'm better nowadays though, thanks for asking...

 

"Rich and thick" trumpet's the tag on the container, (insert joke of your own making here).

 

C6T.

Edited August 10, 2016 by Classsix T