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Valerie Singleton
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Valerie Singleton OBE (born 9 April 1937) is an English television and radio presenter, best known as one of the presenters of the popular children's series, Blue Peter. She was educated at The Arts Educational School, London.
Early life
She wanted to be a dancer and for two years attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). She won a scholarship for her first term and began her career as an actress at the New Theatre in Bromley.
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Encyclopedia
Valerie Singleton OBE (born 9 April 1937) is an English television and radio presenter, best known as one of the presenters of the popular children's series, Blue Peter. She was educated at The Arts Educational School, London.
Early life
She wanted to be a dancer and for two years attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). She won a scholarship for her first term and began her career as an actress at the New Theatre in Bromley. In 1959, she starred in the sitcom The Adventures of Brigadier Wellington-Bull.
Blue Peter
She joined the BBC in 1961 as a continuity announcer and in 1962 joined Blue Peter where she stayed until 1972. She continued until 1975 in a part-time role as a 'roving reporter'. Along with John Noakes she continues to be more closely associated with Blue Peter than any other former presenter. (Initially, Singleton was for a long time credited for being the 3rd ever presenter, but the acknowledgment in 1998 of her predecessor Anita West as a former presenter helped her slip down a place to 4th.) During her long stint on Blue Peter, Singleton pulled off the coup of accompanying HRH Princess Anne (now The Princess Royal) on her first solo trip overseas for a Royal Safari to Kenya. The resulting documentary created a spin-off series for Blue Peter entitled Blue Peter Special Assignment. In 1998, the two met again to reminisce about the Royal safari for Blue Peters fortieth anniversary.
Although she stopped presenting Blue Peter full time in 1972 she in fact continued to make regular appearances and was credited as a presenter through to 1975. During this time, Singleton presented her own chat show and the solo spin-off series, Blue Peter Special Assignment, which was shown at weekends and ran from 1973-76. Each edition focussed initially on European capital cities but later covered Islands and well-known historic figures. She returned for a final series in 1981 reporting on the Yukon and Niagara Rivers. Val Meets The VIPs also ran during the mid 1970's and involved interviews with a single celebrity, with the audience of children invited to put their own questions. One famous guest was then Secretary of State for Education, Margaret Thatcher, who when asked if she would like to be Prime Minister said that she did not have enough experience, nor would there be a woman Prime Minister in her lifetime.
Other work
In 1974, Singleton joined Nationwide as the show's "Consumer Unit" presenter alongside Richard Stilgoe, but later became one of the main hosts of the show. She left in 1978 to present the BBC's late night news programme Tonight, replacing Sue Lawley. She then went on to host many other programmes, notably Radio 4's PM and BBC Two's The Money Programme. During her long stint on PM she made headlines when she threw a glass of water in the face of her co-presenter while live on air. When she quit Radio 4's PM in 1993, she presented a travel programme for ITV and is now a regular travel writer for several national publications. She also appeared as herself in the BBC TV comedy series Citizen Smith, alongside the actor Robert Lindsay.
Singleton was awarded the OBE for her services to children's television, in 1994. She still makes occasional guest appearances on Blue Peter.
In the 1990s she presented a popular quiz on Channel 4 - Backdate. She was an early enthusiast and patron of the painter Jack Vettriano. In 2006, Singleton made a series of tongue-in-cheek 'makes' in the style of Blue Peter for VintageLadyBird to coincide with the release of the Ladybird Book for Boys And Girls, Things To Make & Do With Valerie Singleton. In 2005, the story of Singleton's move out of London to Dorset and the sale of the flat she'd lived in for over forty years was reported in The Times. According to Metro Newspaper in 2007, Singleton intended to publish her biography in time for Blue Peters fiftieth anniversary in October 2008. According to the article, she will reveal "a few things that will shock". However, the book is yet to be published.
Personal life
In a candid interview for the Daily Mail in June 2008, Singleton discussed several issues about her personal life and previous relationships. She firmly dismissed persistent rumours that had dogged her for 30 years that she was a lesbian, that had started after she interviewed rock musician Joan Armatrading in 1978, insisting that nothing could be further from truth and had probably dissuaded men from approaching her. Singleton also revealed several relationships and affairs with a number of men including actor Albert Finney and fellow presenter Peter Purves.
She disclosed that she had had an abortion in 1963 after a brief affair with Richard Wade, a BBC staff writer, after fears that the pregnancy would be detrimental to her career. A long term relationship with Daily Express journalist Philip Geddes ended in 1983 when Geddes died in the IRA bomb attack on Harrods in London.
Singleton admitted that many of the men in her life had been younger than herself, including her last boyfriend who was a builder and 24 years her junior. Although Singleton had been engaged in 1967 to radio DJ Pete Murray, the couple drifted apart and she has never married. Singleton lives alone in Dorset.
TV personality Stephen Fry once said: "I have been pondering this business of fame since I was young enough to know Valerie Singleton from the Queen and for Americans and other non-Britons I should explain: One is a remote, god-like, autocratic woman endowed with powerful charismatic charm and the other is a constitutional monarch recently played on screen by Helen Mirren".
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