04/11/1974 Blue Peter

ALL: Hello.

And with her candlelit cake and all of her cards and presents here

in the studio, Petra really is having a memorable 12th birthday.

I think she looks in splendid condition,

considering she's 12 years old now.

In fact, it's hard to imagine,

looking at her, that she is such a very old lady,

and we'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who's sent her

a card or a present, and you can see we've brought them all

to the studio today. They make a splendid display here.

Although she is rather an old lady,

and she appears to have gone to sleep for the moment,

she still likes a game.

Hey, Petra, Petra! I've got a ball for you!

-Chase it!

-Come on!

Come on, look lively!

Come on, Petra, chase, come on!

-It's a handicap race!

-I've never seen her move so fast!

Startling!

OK, Shep!

-Shep's gone away now.

-She's following the scent.

Amazing. She's got it. Surprise.

Well done, girl.

Who's a clever girl? We'll get you a stretcher.

Shep's going to end up sharing that ball with her, I think!

Probably beating her to it most of the time!

-Hang on, she's going to come all the way round here!

-Come on, then!

Come on, then, girl!

It's a lap of honour, cos it's her birthday! Well done.

-Terrific.

-Something else that Shep's

definitely going to end up sharing with Petra is

a rather magnificent birthday cake.

It's a special birthday cake for dogs,

and underneath the savoury icing there,

there's all their favourite food.

We'll give them a slice of that in just a moment.

But first of all, let's take a look at some of her presents,

cos she's really been very fortunate with her presents.

She's been sent two rather nice quilts here.

They've been hand-stitched from bits of various kinds of material.

Those look rather nice in her basket.

She's got a vast assortment of biscuits.

You're having a good rummage there. Things to chew of all kinds.

I know what you can smell. Someone's sent her some chocolates.

They're her favourite kind. Do you want some of those? Hey?

Thought you would. Thought you would.

And as well as the other chewy things that there are,

there are quite a lot of bones,

some just to chew and some that squeak like that,

which don't seem to interest her all that very much!

She's been very lucky with all those presents.

She's also been lucky with her cards.

She's got hundreds of them. This is a nice and unusual one.

It says "Snap" on the front of it, and the reason why,

you'll see when I turn it round.

It says, "Dear Petra.

"As we both have our birthday on the same day

"and we're both going to be 12 on November 4th,

"I'd like to congratulate us

"and wish us both a very happy birthday. From Georgette Frank."

-It's a plural birthday card.

-That's right.

Actually, I've got a beautiful birthday card here.

It's in the shape of a cake.

There's 12 candles burning away on the top there,

and there's the numbers 12 there,

some rather pretty daisies along the bottom there, and I open it up,

you'll see, there they are, Petra's name in very bright pink

and three bright pink hearts along the bottom.

And there's another rather nice one.

This is a bit of a fun one, actually,

Petra around the birthday table there, it says,

"I'm 12, as you can see, and this cake here's for Shep and me."

Underneath is Jason saying, "After all the things I've done for her!"

It's a nice joke, because inside it says,

"Happy birthday, Petra, you're not that mean."

She really isn't, she's lovely.

Here she is in the centre of another unusual card

with drawings of her eight puppies all the way round there.

Down at the bottom here, a drawing of poor old Patch,

who you may remember was with us on the programme

until he died rather sadly three and a half years ago.

At the bottom here, it says, "Happy birthday to a grandmother."

That's not a mistake, because inside the card, there's a picture

of three of her grandpuppies, Mandy, Brandy and Dandy.

And here we have Petra in cinemascope.

Rather a long Petra, this.

Having a bit of a dream there.

She's dreaming about, "My birthday, what fun."

Juicy bones, a new dog bowl, extra food for tea,

or even birthday cake, which she's got,

and presents, a nice, cosy basket to sleep in,

with a new thick, woolly blanket,

and there will be thousands of cards,

and right at the end of the dream,

"With that, I'll have a smashing birthday,

"and I'll be on television as well."

Actually, her dreams have come true - she is on the telly and she's received most of those things!

-Yes.

-They really are smashing cards.

We'll cut the cake in just a moment

and give both Petra and Shep a nice taste of it.

But as I said, thank you again for her cards and presents,

and I think it just goes to show what an extremely popular dog she is.

Now, I don't know if there's anyone watching now who can remember Petra

being on Blue Peter for the very first time.

If there is, they must be at least 15 years old.

It was on our Christmas programme in 1962.

Amongst the presents round the tree was a large box

covered in Christmas paper with a special Blue Peter label.

Petra soon grew from a ball of wool

to a floppy, long-legged, gangly puppy.

We bought a large kennel with a perfectly good front door.

But Petra soon found the more spectacular way out.

Petra's always had the knack of making the most unusual friends.

She and Tom the donkey would play like this for hours.

But we never let her off the lead in a field of animals she didn't know.

She was trained never to chase sheep, lambs or cows.

September 9th, 1965 was a red-letter day in the Blue Peter calendar.

It was the day Petra presented us with her eight puppies,

and she herself was nearly three years old.

And this, believe it or not,

was poor Patch's first appearance on Blue Peter.

Petra was a marvellous mother.

She kept a close eye on all her pups and washed and cleaned them

every minute of each day.

It wasn't long before the blind, helpless puppies became

eight of the fiercest young dogs you've ever seen.

Besides Patch, there was Rex, Rover, Candy, Prince, Kim, Bruce and Peter.

One of their favourite games

was a tug of war with one of Val's old scarves.

It was Bruce who started the cardboard picnic cup game,

and in no time, they were all doing it.

Whenever she can, Petra takes part in all the things we do.

Like the time when John and I visited Daniel, our Blue Peter baby,

to build a shed for his donkey.

Thank you.

Oh, yeah. Well, we've got a slight hole there,

and we've also got a slight problem.

We've got to get... Petra.

Here we are. Hit the nail.

Hit it.

Woh!

You hit the wrong nail there, mate.

Yes.

'Peter seemed to be getting on much faster than the two of us.'

Very good.

Hey, look - it's standing up all by itself.

Are you finished work?

Suppose you want your wages?

Here are your wages.

You haven't done any overtime yet, mate.

Your nail's come out again.

'As soon as I got out the jelly babies, Petra appeared from nowhere.

'But she was unlucky. Daniel wasn't giving this one away.'

One of the proudest moments in Petra's life

was when she was eight years old,

and was asked to sit for a famous sculptor.

Tim, who draws the Bengo and Bleep & Booster pictures,

wanted to make a bronze statue of her.

Petra's head was the first part Tim was going to model.

'He set about it using strips of plasticine,

'which he'd warmed up, so it was nice and soft, and easy to shape.'

Let's establish the exact length. She's got a rather long...

She has a long snout, and it's fairly thin, too.

Foxy. Yes. Establish the ear.

That's about the height of the ear.

Can I just have a look? yes.

I think she'll probably sit here now, Tim.

Get your ears up, and your head up.

Now, stay! Good girl.

'I thought I might be in the way,

'so I got Petra to sit and stay, and hoped she wouldn't get bored.

'It was going to be a long job,

'so I settled down to watch Tim at work.'

The finished statue was a splendid likeness,

and today, on her 12th birthday,

Petra still looks as bright and alert as she did four years ago,

when the statue was made.

Petra, come on and be bright and alert, whilst I give you your cake.

Look. There you are.

Are you going to be alert?

She's very sleepy this afternoon.

Before anyone complains we're over-feeding our dogs

and making rather fancy food for them,

this is all made from lunchtime scraps.

It is food that they like.

There's a few little bits of chicken off the bone there.

Nice.

Happy dogs.

One of the things we'll definitely do tomorrow

is make sure that Petra, Shep and Jason

are well out of the way,

safe inside - indoors - for Guy Fawkes Day.

Like many animals, one thing they aren't too fond of

are loud bangs and explosions.

Yes, and if you want to enjoy November 5th,

one of the best ways is to go along to a big, organised display,

where there's no danger of getting hurt.

There'll be firework displays and bonfires all over Britain tomorrow.

Thanks, Shep(!)

But the village of Great Torrington in Devon

had its bonfire last Saturday.

A most unusual one it was, and I went along

to lend a hand out with the preparations.

'Torrington's bonfire is always special.

'This year, the bonfire committee decided

'to build a huge Viking ship.'

It reminded me of the Shetlands' Up Helly Aa festival.

Only this boat was about four times bigger.

Just about everyone in Torrington brings something

to make sure there's a good blaze.

'The man in charge of it was Larry Alexander.'

I should think everybody gets rid of their rubbish

on this, don't they?

Everything bar the kitchen sink, I think.

In fact, I think we've had two sinks.

Is this a record this year?

For length, I should imagine so. It's 150 foot long.

Is it really?

Let's go round and have a look at the back, shall we?

'The ship was one-sided.'

Round the back, it was a mess.

A huge timber framework, packed solid with rubbish.

Ladders led up to a sort of deck,

where more helpers were working on the mast that towered 85 feet

up in the air.

There was a traditional dragon figurehead,

and, like all Viking ships,

rows of shields lined the sides.

The ship wasn't going anywhere, except up in smoke,

'but even so,

'it had an enormous sail.'

The wind's getting up, Larry.

It's about force five now.

Hold it!

Hold it.

Hey!

There she goes!

Hang on, the sail's not down properly, that side.

The bonfire was due to be lit at eight o'clock,

and, with nine hours to go,

cooking had already started on an ox,

'to feed the hundreds of spectators.'

I reckon that was a morning's work, was that.

But there's something I can't put my finger on. I've just realised

everybody in the village seems to have beards. Why is this, Dave?

That's for a very unusual event we will put on this afternoon.

1,100 years ago,

the Vikings invaded at this very spot, led by their king, Hubba.

Today, the battle was to be fought again,

and this time, the Vikings were going to be led by me.

Time to get a bit of blood around them this afternoon.

There's no two ways about it.

It's not real blood, is it?

Yeah, it will be.

I can take tomato ketchup, but not blood.

I feel like Ena Sharples.

Right, my bonnet.

WOLF WHISTLE

Thank you.

How's that - do I look fierce?

Right, then. Off to battle!

Right, lads. Kill them!

'As one man, the Vikings of Torrington

'brandished their wooden swords and rubber axes,

'and set about the Saxons from nearby Appledore.

I'd just started to enjoy the fight,

but unfortunately, as the real King Hubba died in battle,

I had to fall at the right moment,

and stay down.

Legend has it that the dead King Hubba was taken by boat up-river,

to be given a magnificent Viking funeral,

so my acting part was far from over.

CHEERING

After the boat, I was to be put on a cart

and bumped through the streets

and back to the Torrington funeral ship.

Acting dead was getting a bit boring,

so I was pleased when a kind Saxon lady slipped me a sweet.

Back in the olden days, dead Viking kings were put on their ships,

which were then set on fire, and pushed out to sea.

'Everything had been very realistic so far,

'and it was quite a relief when I was allowed to get off the cart.'

-We have to get this effigy up as quick as we can, John.

-Right.

If you come over here a minute..

'In my place, a stuffed dummy was hauled on board the funeral ship.'

'It wasn't a good likeness,

'but rather him than me.'

CHEERING

Can you take my wig off?

Pull my whiskers.

Just pull.

I look very scruffy, as usual, but not to worry.

There's the fireworks.

OK? Are we ready to light the fire?

-Time to light the fire.

-Stand by!

-I think we're going to have to move back.

-Yes.

Back!

It was a great day for everyone.

The battle and the blaze, between them, had raised over £400

for Christmas parcels.

So, thanks to King Hubba, Larry, and all his helpers,

the old people of Torrington will have a very happy Christmas.

A profitable and enjoyable day for all concerned, I would say.

I reckon that fire will burn for a few more days yet.

I'm sure it will. There's will be a lot of fires tomorrow night.

If there's no big bonfire or firework display

near where you live,

and you're going to have a smaller one on your own,

be very careful with your fireworks.

Simple things to remember - keep them in a box with a lid,

and keep the box well away from the fire.

Don't light more than one firework at once.

Please don't carry them around in your pockets,

and don't throw them around.

Last year, there were 1,200 accidents on Bonfire Night,

so it's worth taking extra care

to make sure nothing happens to you.

Or to your pets, so make sure you look after them.

Now, over to Lesley.

We said on Thursday that today we'd be showing you

exactly what goes on behind the scenes

here at the BBC Television Centre.

To do that, we thought we'd show you the BBC's biggest studio.

It's Studio One.

It's so enormous that I feel pretty small standing here.

Of course, I'm not alone.

Apart from John, Peter and myself,

there are an awful lot of other people who work here, too.

If I added up all the electricians, cameramen, engineers,

floor assistants, and make up girls,

there would be well over 50 people, all working,

helping to get Blue Peter on the air.

The measurements of Studio One

sound like something out of Roy Castle's Record Breakers.

For a start, there's 990 metres of working floor space.

Two of the walls measure 33 metres long.

The other two measure 30 metres long.

If they're putting a play on here in the studio,

and they have to get scenery in and out,

then there's a huge pair of doors.

When they're open they provide a space which is 5.5 metres high,

and four and a quarter metres wide.

Big enough, in fact, to drive a double-decker bus through.

When the scenery gets in here,

it's then slung by wires up to the roof.

Well, not really onto the roof,

but electric motors, called hoists.

All the lamps are on hoists, too.

Over 500 of them can be raised or lowered at the press of a button.

But the lamps aren't controlled down here.

They're operated from upstairs, in a control room.

Pete's there now, on the other side of that glass panel.

This is the lighting control room.

From here, Lance, who's the lighting supervisor,

is able to control all the lamps you've seen out there in the studio.

For instance, if I want to fade down the lights on the background

of the Blue Peter set,

all I have to do is press one of the buttons on this panel, here.

This is a mini computer,

and it's able to remember a whole selection, or group,

of lamp settings

So, if I want to fade them down, I'll press this button.

Out there in the studio, the lights fade right the way down.

And then, to bring them back again,

all I have to do is press this one, and they come straight up again.

I was able to see what was happening there

by looking out through a window here, out into the studio,

from which Lance can see everything that happens in the studio

at any time during a programme.

In Studio One, we can use five cameras.

Some are on pedestals, and are pushed around by the cameramen,

like camera four, for instance.

Actually, it's quite a skill to push the camera around

and get a good picture at the same time.

Some of them are on a camera crane like this one.

And this is one of the largest camera cranes used by the BBC.

It's called a Sam Master

and it's used not just for indoor camerawork,

with television cameras on the front like this,

but for outdoor filming as well.

It's got this huge great lorry,

which you'd think might be rather noisy to work inside the studio,

but in fact, when it's in the studio

it can be worked off electric motors.

Now, on the business end of this long boom is myself,

who's being the cameraman, this camera,

and I've got my assistant Dave, who's also a cameraman.

But Dave's job is to turn the little wheel round there,

so Dave, if you can turn it.

You'll see now that the whole camera and myself swing round

so I can find any shot that I want.

OK, Dave, if we go all the way back.

Well, it needs four people to raise this boom

to a fantastic height of over seven metres, so, OK, fellas!

Two sort of push up

and then the back two get hold of it at the back and pull down...a-ah!

I went quite high.

Now if I spin the camera around, or Dave turns us round,

I then zoom out.

You will now see what a fantastic shot I get.

OK, fellas! Can you let us down again?

And, there again, it takes really two to get us down.

OK, Dave, if we could swing round.

You'll notice too that we're wearing crash hats,

and this is just in case any of those lights up there

are a little too low and we go a bit too high

and there's a rather sudden contact between our heads.

We're also strapped in, so if anything does go wrong,

we can't actually fall out of the seat.

Let's go up again, can we, fellas?

Sorry for all the hard work.

But each camera in the studio,

its picture is shown on a little television screen

in the control room, which is inside there.

Well, here in the main control room,

you've got a whole bank of television sets across the bottom.

Now these are showing the pictures that are being given out

by each of the five cameras here in the studio.

Above them, you'll see there are three more sets,

and this one here in the centre

is what we call the transmission monitor, that's the one

that's showing the picture that you're seeing at home.

Whatever we see on there, that's what you're seeing at home.

If you're lucky enough to be watching Blue Peter today in colour,

then you'll have noticed that only this one

and this one are actually colour sets.

The others are giving out pictures in black and white,

and that's because these two monitors here are really

precision-made instruments to give a perfect colour picture.

They're very expensive,

far more expensive than ordinary domestic colour television sets,

so the BBC make do with just two here in the gallery.

But because all the cameras are giving out

different pictures at the same time,

there has to be someone here in the gallery

who decides which picture you're going to see

and when to change from one picture to the other.

The person who does that is the studio director, Ian,

and he's sitting here.

Now he's talking all the time to the cameras as the show is in progress.

He talks to them through this microphone here,

and the cameramen hear him through their earphones.

Sitting next to him is the vision mixer, Shirley,

and she actually controls, with this panel,

the pictures that you see at home.

And she just, in fact, cut to camera two,

which is that one that I'm speaking at now.

If you look behind me on the bank of monitors there, you can see,

on camera five, there's a picture of Lesley with Petra, Jason and Shep.

She's waiting for me to finish up here.

Well, I'm not going to yet, but what I am going to do

is press camera five's button, and there at home you've got

a picture of Lesley in the studio.

It's quite simple. Then by pressing button number two,

I can get the picture of the panel back here again.

Now in front of those buttons,

you'll see there are some sliding devices here.

These are called faders, and it's self-explanatory, really,

what they do, because by moving them like this,

you'll see that Lesley's picture fades up

and the picture of the faders disappears,

and although you'd much rather carry on looking at Lesley, I'm sure,

I'm going to bring the faders back like that.

And that, again, is on camera two.

But in fact, I don't wish to look at camera two anymore.

I'd rather talk to camera three, which is over here,

so press the right button, and up comes camera three's shot.

Now over here, on this wall of the control gallery,

there is yet another control room through that glass panel.

That is the sound control room, and Dave, the sound mixer

is sitting there in front of a whole other bank of faders,

but these faders are nothing to do with the picture.

These are to do with the sound that comes up

-from the microphones in the studio.

-Cue Lesley.

And the sound is picked up by these microphone booms.

These follow John, Pete and I around in the studio,

wherever we happen to go.

Well, normally, they're set a lot higher above our heads than this

so they don't creep into your picture that you're getting at home,

and because of that, John, Pete and I have to speak in quite loud voices.

Well, so that we know exactly when we're on the air,

in other words, when you can see us on your television sets at home,

we've got Claire, our floor manager, who gives us various signals

by waving her arms around to tell us when to stop, when to start.

And she gets those signals from the studio director,

and she can hear what he's saying in that earphone there.

And you see her waving her arms around,

that means we're out of time now.

25 minutes is just about up and it's time to round up the programme.

Well, we'll be back on Thursday, and I shall be showing you

how to make the furniture to go in the doll's bedroom.

And one of Britain's top footballers will be here in the studio

with some special tips.

But before then, tomorrow, Bonfire Night,

do be careful with your fireworks.

If you've got any pets, keep them well indoors out of harm's way.

-So we'll see you on Thursday.

-Goodbye.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd