John Noakes the Ultimate Blue Peter Presenter has passed away

Sad news indeed that TV legend John Noakes has died. It was probably a blessing at the end as his mate Peter Purves said that the Alzheimer's had taken a severe grip of him.

Rest in Peace John and enjoy your walks with Shep up in the sky.

must be getting old all these folks from my childhood departing in batches.

He was a fondly remembered part of my 1970's childhood too - John always came over as a genuinely nice chap you like to have as a big brother or favourite uncle.

We only had the two channels of kids tv back then of course, and ITV was mostly rubbish. So I suppose a large percentage of the nation's kids must have grown up watching Blue Peter's elite trio of John, Peter and Valerie entertain them twice a week - in that slightly middle class manner the beeb deemed suitable for the nation back then. But now with so many channels available, and all the other various big and small screen distractions available to them, I doubt today's children will have this kind of shared experience they can all relate to in the future.

Which is probably inevitable, but still a bit of a shame I think.

Was a legend indeed and leaves so many memories; Lulu the elephant, him accidentally exiting a bobsleigh at 80mph on the Cresta Run and climbing the mast at HMS Ganges stick in my mind.

Sad news, especially that he's suffered from Alzheimers in his last years.

As I said on the David Bobin thread, another voice from my childhood/teenage years gone.