Blue Peter's 60th: Our top ten facts

Tuesday 16th October marks Blue Peter's 60th Birthday!

It's the longest running children's TV show in the world.

It has had 37 presenters, 25 pets, countless makes and given out more than one million badges.

There will be an hour long programme to celebrate, but how much do you know about Blue Peter?

Here are our top ten facts

1. Blue Peter first aired on 16 October 1958 and was on TV for 15 minutes.

2. The first presenters were Christopher Trace and Leila Williams.

3. Lindsey Russell is the only person to become a Blue Peter presenter in a nationwide talent search. She became the 36th presenter of the series after thousands of children selected her in a viewer vote in July 2013.

4. The 60th anniversary show will be programme number 5,037.

5. The theme tune is called Barnacle Bill and there have been eleven versions of it.

6. The famous Blue Peter badge was launched on 17 June 1963.

7. There are eight types of badges - Blue, Silver, Green, Sport, Purple, Orange, Gold and Diamond.

8. Since 2017, Blue Peter's plastic badges have been made out of recycled yoghurt pots in a solar-powered factory in Cornwall.

9. There have been nine dogs, five tortoises, nine cats and two parrots.

10. Blue Peter reads and responds to every single letter they receive - the office manage hundreds of items of mail each week.

Blue Peter's Big Birthday will broadcast on CBBC on Tuesday 16 October.

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