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Valerie Singleton



 
 
Valerie Singleton OBE
Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom....
 (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
Blue Peter

Blue Peter is a long-running BBC television programme for children. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC Channel....
. 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
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , in Bloomsbury, London, is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in Britain....
 (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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Valerie Singleton OBE
Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom....
 (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
Blue Peter

Blue Peter is a long-running BBC television programme for children. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC Channel....
. 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
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , in Bloomsbury, London, is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in Britain....
 (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
The Adventures of Brigadier Wellington-Bull

The Adventures of Brigadier Wellington-Bull was a short-lived black-and-white United Kingdom British sitcom that starred Alexander Gauge and Valerie Singleton that lasted only one series....
.

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
John Noakes

John Noakes is a United Kingdom actor, presenter and television personality, best known for co-presenting the BBC children's magazine programme Blue Peter in the 1960s and 1970s....
 she continues to be more closely associated with Blue Peter
Blue Peter

Blue Peter is a long-running BBC television programme for children. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC Channel....
 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
Anita West

Anita West is a British actress and former television presenter....
 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
Blue Peter

Blue Peter is a long-running BBC television programme for children. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC Channel....
 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
Blue Peter

Blue Peter is a long-running BBC television programme for children. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC Channel....
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
Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher Order of the Garter, Order of Merit, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Fellow of the Royal Society was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990....
, who when asked if she would like to be Prime Minister
Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of Cabinet in the Executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician....
 said that she did not have enough experience, nor would there be a woman Prime Minister
Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of Cabinet in the Executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician....
 in her lifetime.

Other work


In 1974, Singleton joined
Nationwide
Nationwide (TV series)

Nationwide was a BBC television current affairs television series broadcast on BBC1 each weekday following the early evening news. It followed a magazine format, combining political analysis and discussion with consumer affairs, light entertainment and sports reporting ....
as the show's "Consumer Unit" presenter alongside Richard Stilgoe
Richard Stilgoe

Richard Henry Simpson Stilgoe Order of the British Empire is a British songwriter, lyricist and musician. He is noted for clever wordplay as much as for his music....
, 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
Tonight (1957 TV series)

Tonight was a BBC television current affairs programme presented by Cliff Michelmore and broadcast in Britain live on weekday evenings from 1957 to 1965....
, replacing Sue Lawley
Sue Lawley

Sue Lawley is an England broadcaster.Born in Sedgley, Staffordshire, England and brought up in the Black Country, she was educated at Dudley Girls High School and graduated in languages from the University of Bristol and some time later started her career at the BBC in Plymouth....
. She then went on to host many other programmes, notably Radio 4
BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a domestic UK radio station that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history....
's
PM and BBC Two
BBC Two

BBC Two is the second major terrestrial television channel of the BBC, aimed at a wide range of subject matter and interests, and specialising in intelligent yet popular programme genres....
's
The Money Programme
The Money Programme

The Money Programme is a finance and business affairs television programme on BBC2.It was first broadcast on 5 April 1966 and presented by "commentators" William Davis , Erskine Childers and Joe Roeber....
. 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
Citizen Smith

Citizen Smith was a British television sitcom. The show was written by John Sullivan , who went on later to write Only Fools and Horses....
, alongside the actor Robert Lindsay
Robert Lindsay

Robert Lindsay may refer to:*Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie , Scottish chronicler*Robert Lindsay , English actor*Robert Lindsay , British Olympic track and field athlete...
.

Singleton was awarded the OBE
Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom....
 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
Channel 4

Channel 4 is a UK Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom television broadcaster which began transmissions on 2 November 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the #Channel Four Television...
 -
Backdate. She was an early enthusiast and patron of the painter Jack Vettriano
Jack Vettriano

Jack Vettriano Order of the British Empire born Jack Hoggan , is a Scotland Painting....
. In 2006, Singleton made a series of tongue-in-cheek 'makes' in the style of
Blue Peter
Blue Peter

Blue Peter is a long-running BBC television programme for children. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC Channel....
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 Peter
Blue Peter

Blue Peter is a long-running BBC television programme for children. It is shown on CBBC, both in its BBC One programming block and on the CBBC Channel....
s 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
Daily Mail

The Daily Mail is a United Kingdom newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1896 by Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun ....
 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
Lesbian

File:Lesbian Couple from back holding hands.jpgLesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females....
, that had started after she interviewed rock musician Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading

Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, Order of the British Empire, is a United Kingdom singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Armatrading is a three-time Grammy Award-nominee ....
 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
Albert Finney

Albert Finney, Jr. is a British people actor. Hailed as a "second Laurence Olivier" as a young stage actor in the late 1950s, Finney rose to film star fame in the early 1960s....
 and fellow presenter Peter Purves
Peter Purves

Peter Purves is an England actor and television presenter.Purves was born in New Longton, near Preston, Lancashire, England, went to the independent Arnold School in Blackpool and originally planned to go into teaching, training at Alsager College of Education, but began acting with the Barrow-in-Furness Repertory Company....
.

She disclosed that she had had an abortion
Abortion

An abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death....
 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
Daily Express

The Daily Express is a conservative, United Kingdom tabloid newspaper, in its heyday a middle-market title but nowadays very much downmarket....
 journalist Philip Geddes ended in 1983 when Geddes died in the IRA
Irish Republican Army

The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation descended from the Irish Volunteers, established 25 November 1913 and who in April 1916 staged the Easter Rising....
 bomb attack on Harrods
Harrods

Harrods is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. The Harrods brand also applies to other enterprises undertaken by the Harrods group of companies including Harrods Bank, Harrods Estates, Harrods Aviation and Air 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
Pete Murray (disc jockey)

Peter Murray Order of the British Empire, is a United Kingdom radio and television presenter and a stage and screen actor. His broadcasting career spanned over 50 years....
, the couple drifted apart and she has never married. Singleton lives alone in Dorset
Dorset

Dorset , is a Counties of England in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester, Dorset, situated in the south of the county at ....
.

TV personality Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry

Stephen John Fry is an England actor, comedian, author and television presenter. With Hugh Laurie, as the comedy double act Fry and Laurie, he co-wrote and co-starred in A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and the duo also played the title roles in Jeeves and Wooster....
 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
Helen Mirren

Dame Helen Mirren, Order of the British Empire is a multi-award winnning English actor. She has won an Academy Award, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes and four Emmy Awards during her career....
".


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