Blue Peter — 1979-1980

Sept 1979

Expedition Egypt: Treasure and Camels Of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, only one still stands today, the massive Pyramids of Cheops, Chephren and Mycetimus, built by the Pharaohs, nearly 3,000 years before the birth of Christ. Join Simon, Christopher and Tina as they explore these vast, burial chambers that were once filled with gleaming treasure. Simon finds that riding the ship of the desert can be a bruising experience as he and his camel part company, but the 80 pantomime horses that invade the studio today are a bit more docile. Find out how you can turn into a horse and how the four-legged members of the Blue Peter team have got on during the holidays.

Sept 1979

Fit for a Queen A teddy made of chrysanthemums, a koala bear with a plum for a nose and an owl sitting under a banana moon were just three of the hundreds of stunning floral displays admired by Her Majesty The Queen when she made her first-ever visit to Westminster Cathedral for the International Year of the Child Flower Festival. Blue Peter film cameras were there to record this historic event and so were nine Blue Peter viewers aged from five to 16 -winners of the Flower Picture competition. For Cristian, Kate, Una, James, Christine, Rebecca, Lesley, Jenny and Sarah, who were all presented to Her Majesty, this particular Friday the 13th was one they'll remember for the rest of their lives!

Sept 1979

Expedition Egypt: Hall of Pillars Simon and Tina explore one of the Wonders of the World-the temple built in honour of the great god Amun, at Karnak. One hundred and thirty-four massive columns cover an area the size of Westminster Abbey, with the 12 largest big enough for 100 people to stand comfortably on each one!

Sept 1979

Transglobe Ahoy! Ran, Ginny and the crew will be reporting back to Blue Peter throughout the Transglobe Expedition's 55,000-mile voyage. Chris was on board the Benjamin Bowring for a behind-the-scenes look at the final preparations for this first-ever polar circumnavigation of the world.

Sept 1979

The Gardening Family Are there michaelmas daisies at the bottom of your garden? Do you grow lilac, gladioli, tradescantia, Virginia creeper, or tulip, plane and acacia trees? All these plants and trees were brought to this country by one family, the famous Tradescants. Chris traces their extraordinary story that ends in a Lambeth churchyard.

Sept 1979

'Expedition Egypt' Do you know what an oil tanker, a grand opera, a French engineer and an empress have in common? You can find out in today's report from Egypt, where Tina and Simon go snorkelling in the Red Sea and Chris tries his hand at underwater photography.

Oct 1979

Goldie Goes to School Ex-guide dog trainer Richard Duckworth puts pupils of all breeds and temperaments through their paces at his unusual school for dogs.

Oct 1979

Expedition Egypt The amazing child weavers of Herrania, whose tapestries are sought after by collectors all over the world.

Oct 1979

It's smelly work down on the farm as Simon and Goldie get to grips with silage-making to feed the cows this winter.

Oct 1979

1066 and All That.... It's 913 years since Britain was successfully invaded and next Sunday marks the anniversary of the famous battle that took place at Hastings. Christopher has taken Blue Peter film cameras to Caen and Bayeux in France and Battle and Hastings in England to follow in the footsteps of King Harold and William the Conqueror.

Oct 1979

21st Birthday Programme Join in the celebrations with Simon, Chris, Tina and the animals, including the first-ever presentation of the Blue Peter 'Award for Outstanding Endeavour'. With William the Conqueror and 14 dinosaurs in the studio, plus the band of the Royal Marines, anything might happen!

Oct 1979

Oct 1979

Good news for model railway fans today! Vintage '00' gauge ocos dating from the 1920s will be chugging along the Blue Peter layout-making what may well be their last public run. before they're put up for auction next week.

Oct 1979

'Oh I wish I'd looked after me teeth' - says Pam Ayres who will be in the studio today rendering her famous poem with its awful warning to compulsive sweet-suckers.

Oct 1979

The Long Sleep Tortoises Maggie and Jim make positively their last appearance before their winter hibernation!

Nov 1979

Where are they Now? News of the eight puppies born to Petra in September 1965.

Nov 1979

Next Saturday's Lord Mayor's Show features a covered wagon from Alberta, Canada, birthplace of the new Lord Mayor. Meet the four outriders as they mosey along to the Blue Peter studio, together with cowboy Doug Johnson.

Nov 1979

Top cook Delia Smith joins the team for the results of the Gorgeous Grub competition. Find out if you've won one of the unique Blue Peter aprons and whether your recipe has been chosen for the Gorgeous Grub Cook Book to help raise funds for the International Year of the Child.

Nov 1979

Catch up with the latest news about The Great Blue Peter Bring and Buy Sale... Find out how your gifts are helping to save the lives of the starving children of Cambodia.

Nov 1979

Nov 1979

Nov 1979

Make your pocket-money go further and give your friends and relations home-made cards this Christmas. They're cheap and cheerful and different from anything you'll see in the shops.

Nov 1979

Flying Cats Jack and Jill take to the skies and jet their way to Dunfermline for a guest appearance at the Edinburgh and East Scotland Cat Show. Blue Peter cameras follow their flight from Gatwick to Edinburgh.

Nov 1979

George Cansdale, who's bringing a mysterious animal to the studio. George has travelled all over the world in search of rare animals and birds - he once carried some exotic snakes from Hong Kong to London wrapped in his pyjamas. Find out what George turns up with today - you'll be in for a surprise!

Dec 1979

Dec 1979

Dec 1979

Dec 1979

With only four Blue Peters to go before Christmas Day, it's time to light the first candle on the Advent Crown. Chris will be demonstrating another gastronomic treat to delight your family and friends, so have paper and pencil handy.

Dec 1979

Two hundred years ago this week the most famous pantomime star of all time was born. His name was Joseph Grimaldi , and everyone from King George III to flower-girls in the gallery knew his catchphrase 'Here we go again!' Chris tells the story of Grimaldi's amazing life and shows one of the clown costumes he wore at Drury Lane.

Dec 1979

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry! This week's your last chance to join in with the Great Blue Peter Bring and Buy Sale before the Oxfam shops take down their posters this Saturday. Thanks to you, the lives of starving Cambodian babies, children and adults are being saved - watch out for the latest news on today's programme.

Dec 1979

Christmas is Coming! And today you can see the results of the Great Blue Peter Bring and Buy Sale Auction and find out how Blue Peter viewers all over Britain have given help and hope to thousands of suffering Cambodian babies, children and adults. Join in, too, with carols round the tree with the children of Allfarthings School, Warlingham County Secondary School and the Band of the Chalk Farm branch of the Salvation Army.

Dec 1979

Question: What do Her Majesty The Queen, Rameses II, Yul Brynner, the Prime Minister, James Callaghan and 80 pantomime horses have in common? Answer: They've all taken part in Blue Peter during 1979. If you don't remember seeing them, find out today where and when they all appeared, in Blue Peter's highlights of the past 12 months.

Jan 1980

Jan 1980

On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine Join Simon and Goldie deep in the heart of the Scottish Highlands and discover how an artist's sketches drawn on a wall in a mountain lodge have provided a clue to the age of the trees in the glen.

Jan 1980

In the Swim Chris spends the day with Britain's 800m Women's Freestyle record holder, 14-year-old Jackie Willmott from Southend. Jackie swims a gruelling 10,000m per day and starts her training at 4.30 every morning - going on till after dark with lessons squeezed in between. Will all the effort pay off? Watch the 1980 Olympics to find out!

Jan 1980

Frightful Flies to Freedom The remarkable story of the baby kestrel rescued and hand-reared by student Wendy Page of Loughborough University.

Jan 1980

Shampoo and Set Tina shows how to make a dolls' hairdressing salon, complete with basins, showers and driers.

Jan 1980

Cleopatra's Needle Each year thousands of tourists visit London's famous obelisk on the banks of the River Thames. Simon and Tina explore the quarry in Egypt where this gigantic granite block was hewn.

Jan 1980

Operation Oily Bird A mysterious oil-slick off the coast of Somerset has resulted in the biggest bird rescue operation since the Torrey Canyon disaster. Tina helps John Hughes, Warden in charge of the RSPCA's animal centre at Little Creech, near Taunton, clean up some of the 2,000 guillemots and razor-bills whose lives are in danger.

Jan 1980

Jan 1980

Join Simon on a trip back in time on the Severn Valley Railway and discover how you can win a ride on the footplate of a famous old loco.

Feb 1980

Deep in the heart of Buckinghamshire, lepidopterist Margaret Beer has come up with a world first. By breeding death's-head hawk moths in captivity she has succeeded where international experts have failed. Blue Peter film cameras were there and reveal the secret of her remarkable success.

Feb 1980

Welcome World ... We're Ready! That's the claim of Lake Placid, the small mountain village in the United States of America where the 13th Winter Olympic Games open next week. Tina reports from the Adirondack Mountains on how the people of Lake Placid prepared for the invasion of 1,200 competitors and 600 officials.

Feb 1980

Champions All There's a studio full of celebrities today with Crufts' Supreme and Obedience Champions and, ' Great Balls of Fire', none other than rock 'n' roller Jerry Lee Lewis.

Feb 1980

Feb 1980

Eager Beavers Barney and Bumble, two seven-month-old Canadian beavers bred at Chessington Zoo, try out the pond in the Blue Peter studio, with animal expert George Cansdale keeping an eye on them from the bank.

Feb 1980

Calling All Gardeners Now is the time to be making plans for a bumper crop of spring vegetables and flowers. Percy Thrower joins the team in the Blue Peter garden with more helpful hints for saving money and producing mouth-watering home-grown food.

Feb 1980

Feb 1980

Vote, Vote, Vote! Do metres and milligrammes drive you dotty? Are you flummoxed by feet and ounces? Today is your chance to join in with Blue Peter's nationwide Weights and Measures Poll and tell us whether you want Metric or Imperial measures used on the programme.

Mar 1980

Ever seen a duck with six wheels? Now's your chance as Simon drives one at the Grange Cavern Museum -a mysterious labyrinth of caves underneath a Welsh hillside.

Mar 1980

Operation Newt! The Cheltenham Tote Gold Cup horse race is in jeopardy-the water jump is full of great crested newts. Chris reports from the course on their rescue.

Mar 1980

With Mothering Sunday only six days away, now's your chance to beat the high cost of flowers in the shops and make some everlasting violets that cost only a few pence. (Have a paper and pencil handy to jot down the instructions.)

Mar 1980

Mountain Rescue! Chris takes to the hills on exercise with the RAF Valley Mountain Rescue Team and helps in the search for injured mountaineer Simon Groom.

Mar 1980

A special programme for St Patrick's Day.

Mar 1980

A-Z of Space Since 1957 five planets in our solar system have been photographed and men have walked on the moon. Reg Turnill, who reported for the BBC on the space programmes, investigates what the future holds for interplanetary explorers.

Mar 1980

"I name this ship..." With the traditional crash of a champagne bottle, Tina launches the latest cross-channel ferry at Harland and Woolff's shipyard in Belfast. Watch out for details of a competition that could win you a trip on the ferry's maiden voyage.

Mar 1980

Mar 1980

The Great Everest Mystery Fifty-six years ago two English climbers, GEORGE MALLORY and ANDREW IRVINE , made a bid to reach the summit of Mt Everest -and were never seen again. New evidence may solve the greatest mystery of 20th-century exploration.

Apr 1980

Dr Who's Spring Clean The BBC's travelling Dr Who exhibitions are constantly changing to keep pace with the latest monsters the Doctor tackles. Tina goes behind the scenes, to lend a hand with this very unusual spring clean.

Apr 1980

Octavia Aviator! Twelve-year-old Paul Sharp from Retford won Blue Peter's 'Name the Owl' competition and two days as a VIP guest of the RAF's Number 8 Squadron at Lossiemouth. As well as meeting the squadron's Great Eagle Owl mascot, newly-named Octavia, Paul joined the crew on a training flight over the North Sea in one of the squadron's historic Shackle-ton aircraft! Chris took to the air with Paul to report on the trip every plane enthusiast will envy!

Apr 1980

Metric or Imperial? The results of a nationwide survey of 19,000 viewers are announced on today's programme. Find out how children voted in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and whether their mums, dads, and grandparents agreed with them!

Apr 1980

Chris goes behind-the-scenes with the Mines Rescue Service - the emergency teams on 24-hour call to cope with pit disasters.

Apr 1980

Crack Pots Do you throw away your broken plates and cups and saucers? They don't in Guernsey! Simon and Goldie investigate the Channel Island's famous crockery-covered Chapel.

Apr 1980

St Christopher Ahoy! The results of the competition to design a mural for the newest cross-channel ferry. Find out whether you have won a vip trip on the St Christopher's maiden voyage for you and your family.

Apr 1980

The Rochdale Pioneers It's hard to imagine life without supermarkets and nowadays we take clean shops and clearly-marked prices and weights for granted. But 130 years ago finding a shop you could trust was very difficult indeed - until a group of writers in Rochdale started Britain's first co-op.

May 1980

May 1980

May 1980

May 1980

May 1980

William and Dorothy: Dorothy Wordsworth's diary was the inspiration behind many of her brother's most famous poems Tina and Chris go back in time and become 19th-century detectives as they explore the Lake-land countryside where William and Dorothy lived and worked.

May 1980

May 1980

A ginger tom-cat and Britain's oldest garden under continuous cultivation are two of the unexpected finds Tina makes when she explores Westminster Abbey.

May 1980

Portable Pavement: A replica of the largest Romano-British pavement north of the Alps fills the Blue Peter studio today-all 115,052 pieces of it! Simon, Chris and Tina help to fit the giant jigsaw together and meet Bob and John Woodward, who've painstakingly re-created the famous Wood-Chester pavement.

Jun 1980

Jun 1980

Jun 1980

Fred, the bionic tortoise, shows off his new shell after a death-defying encounter with a tractor-drawn mower.

Jun 1980

The Fishers of Mousehole Sarah goes mackerel fishing and eats Starry Gazey Pie.

Jun 1980

Twelve years ago schoolboy Ray Gluckman grew a crystal in an eggcup. See it today in a dustbin - tipping the scale at 40 lbs and still growing!

Jun 1980

' Dear Tina, Can you still cut your toenails? ' Find out today and hear Tina's baby's heartbeats through an electronic stethoscope.

Jun 1980

Highland Fling! Goldie barks open the Irvine New Town Highland Games, Jill's kittens make their first-ever studio appearance and the team prepare for the summer expedition.

Jun 1980

Goldie Special with Simon Groom Britain's best-loved golden retriever gets a programme all to herself today starting with a flashback to her first-ever appearance on Blue Peter on 18 May 1978. Simon joined Blue Peter on the same day too, and you can see how his training of Goldie has paid off as she comes face-to-face with cows, sheep, goats and chickens, to say nothing of giant St Bernards, without so much as a growl. Training dogs the Groom way has been very successful - see if you can pick up a few tips to make your dog as good as Goldie!