Eight bells for John Noakes who has passed away aged 83 in hospital in Palma Mallorca following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Noakes gained a reputation as an action man presenting daring occupations and stunts on Blue Peter from 1965 to 1978; he is the show’s longest serving presenter.
He was a keen sailor who set off to sail to the Caribbean with his wife Vicky in 1982 in their ketch Jonathan L Seagull. They were shipwrecked off Casablanca when they were hit by a 60ft wave in a hurricane. Rescued by a Japanese Tanker Noakes is quoted as remarking: “If only we’d had a camera on board it would have been the documentary of all time!”
In 1984 having bought another ketch with the insurance money the couple set off again planning a world cruise. However after stopping in Palma, Mallorca they decided to settle there and set up a boat charter business.
Noakes’ exploits on screen included climbing Nelson’s column and attempting the button on HMS Ganges’ mast (without anything so modern as a safety harness) as well as doing the St Moritz bobsleigh Cresta Run and sky-diving from five miles high.
So dangerous were some of John’s exploits that the BBC’s response, when asked to do a risk assessment was apparently: “John may die”.
He was born, as John Bottomley, in 1934 at Shelf, nr Halifax, W Yorkshire to a freemason father Arthur and mother Sallie. His parents split up during the war with his mother getting remarried in 1947 to a Canadian born trumpet player called Alfie Noakes. John lived with his father for a while but became estranged when the latter remarried in 1950, and changed his name to Noakes on turning 17 in 1951.
John Noakes born (John Bottomley) 6 March 1934; died 28 May 2017
This You Tube clip shows Noakes climbing the mast of HMS Ganges, the Royal Navy’s training school at Shotley in Suffolk for a Blue Peter programme in 1967