Here’s some we viewed earlier
show has since had 37 presenters, 25 pets and one million badges. More than 100,000 letters are received annually and almost 200,000 children own at least one Blue Peter badge.
Singer Ed Sheeran, 27, last night joined the very select few who have been awarded a gold Blue Peter badge.
Handing it over, current presenter Lindsey Russell told Ed: “Our viewers like to be inspired and entertained and that’s exactly what you’ve done with your incredible musical talent.
“So, in honour of your passion for British music and also your amazing success, we’d like to honour you with our highest accolade, the one and only Gold Blue Peter badge.” Ed told her: “Banging. Me and the Queen. I might keep it next to my MBE – because it’s kind of like a similar honour, isn’t it?” PETER PURVES PAST PRESENTER OF BLUE PETER Asked which meant more to him, he said: “I think they’re on the same level. The Queen has a Gold Blue Peter badge, she doesn’t have an MBE, so maybe this is the one.”
He said his family had been fans of Blue Peter for generations. He said: “My parents got me into it and their parents got them into it. And I’ll probably get my kids into it.
“It works for all generations. Happy Birthday, Blue Peter. Sixty years, that’s an amazing achievement and here’s to 60 years more. Thank you for always inspiring kids to be creative.”
Others to be honoured with gold badges in the past include Sir David Attenborough, JK Rowling and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
In last night’s Big Birthday show, Lindsey achieved the challenge of a lifetime by completing a solo, hot air balloon flight in the Arctic Circle. Having worked long and hard to pass the exams in order to be allowed to fly single-handedly, she was beside herself with joy to have made it.
She declared: “It feels absolutely awesome. I’m a licensed hot air balloon pilot, flying across a frozen lake. That’s the most brilliant thing I’ve ever done.” Fellow presenter Radzi Chinyanganya, 31, boarded the Royal Navy Aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth and flew above the ship in a helicopter to see the letters BP formed by the servicewomen and men below. “That is first class,” he said.
Blue Peter editor Ewan Vinnicombe later summed up the mood of the day, saying: “Blue Peter is a very special club to be part of.” CREATIVE Biddy Baxter
I don’t think it has changed much at all, but young people watch it very differently