'I still watch Blue Peter' (From Western Telegraph)

'I still watch Blue Peter'

8:06pm Saturday 18th October 2008 in

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One of the presenters of the first episode of Blue Peter said that she still watches the long-running BBC children's show 50 years after it first went on air.

Leila Williams was speaking on the eve of the opening of a new exhibition of memorabilia from the programme at the National Media Museum in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

Among the exhibits at the event to mark the show's half-century was a working script for the very first broadcast on October 16, 1958.

The script shows how Williams presented a piece on choosing a doll and dolls' outfits, while fellow presenter Christopher Trace explored toy trains and model railways.

The programme then looked at two new books of tricks for boys, with the presenters insisting "Of course, the girls can do these tricks just as well".

Despite the script from 1958 surviving, the earliest actual footage of the show dates from 1963 and is also on display at the exhibition.

Williams said: "When you're starting a new programme, and you're also new to television, it's a scary combination.

"Once we'd finished the first show it was very difficult to gauge how it had gone. I went home and waited for the BBC to call me to tell me not to bother coming back.

"But I never heard anything and so thought I ought to return for the next show. When I arrived I was glad I had, as I was greeted with the words 'Leila, we're a hit!"

Among the items on display are some of the famous creations made on air by presenters over the years, including the Advent Crown and Tracy Island.