John Noakes RIP

Part of my childhood, and will be remembered fondly.

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Me too. Sad news, another good 'un gone

R.I.P. John Noakes

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Yeah, lovely man. I remember him starting a big toboggan race on Parliament hill, which made it onto the TV that night. Yours truly won it and got the Blue Peter badge as well as the joy of patting Shep My next door neighbour borrowed the badge to show his fam and that was the last i saw of it :cry:

RIP.

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Cool story. Everyone I know who ever met him said he was right down to earth.

Seems like Fred Dibnah, John Noakes and Johnny Morris were of a time.

A better time.

highlandsflyer":gc7qha5w said:

Part of my childhood, and will be remembered fondly.

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Ditto

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highlandsflyer":nr9szsvt said:

Cool story. Everyone I know who ever met him said he was right down to earth.

Seems like Fred Dibnah, John Noakes and Johnny Morris were of a time.

A better time.

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100% agree with that. TG we have nice memories of people like him who didnt do unspeakable things. Il add Jack Hargreaves from Gone Fishing to the list. He sounded so like my Irish Grandfather a keen fisherman too. The stories he would tell. These days kids cant sit still for 5 seconds, let alone listen to the technique to catch a sinister giant pike.

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Nice story about the tobogganing – shame about someone snaffling your badge – outrage!

Loved John Noakes. Top bloke, always gamely taking on all those white knuckle challenges and experiences. I Still can't get over him scaling Nelson's Column in particular, dressed as he was at the time:

After shinning up one ladder, Noakes swung himself dauntlessly on to another, tilted 45 degrees from the vertical. Noakes swung himself dauntlessly on to another, tilted 45 degrees from the vertical. “At this level,” said Noakes in a voiceover, “the plinth on which Nelson stands overhangs the column. I found myself literally hanging on from the ladder with nothing at all beneath me.” Nothing, that is, but a 52-metre drop to the slabs of Trafalgar Square. Truly, they don’t make television presenters like Noakes any more. “It’s a long way up, really,” he said as he stood on the plinth.

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Fred Dibnah's another great highlight from the days of rushing home from school downhill through woods and across a muddy cowfield to watch tv. Looking back, I think we were really lucky to grow up in such a rich, eventful, risk-taking and characterful era. There aren't many people today I can think of who compare to John or Fred – Guy Martin is possibly the closest embodiment of them.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrnuhrqVN1M[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R3-YwDZrzg[/youtube]

and of course, who can forget Bob Fleming?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLdv6gler_M[/youtube]

Also a great insiration to me and all. And as for climbing Nelsons column :shock: that terrifies me even today. Every steeplejack shown on tv, I think of that overhanging section he had to go around.

Remember this from the Barron Knights

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzasI7ZWUe0[/youtube]

RIP John & Shep