'Blue Peter' Pets Trivia Quiz

Answer: She was a replacement, the original having died after one show

Pets were introduced into the programme to allow children without pets to experience some of the pleasures of pet ownership, and to teach proper pet care. Petra was a mongrel. The first puppy died after one appearance on the show and was hastily replaced with a lookalike so as not to upset the viewers. Presumably teaching the realities of pet ownership did not extend to telling the kiddies that puppies sometimes die!

Presenter Peter Purves once lost Petra for four hours whilst walking her - he has said that he spent those four hours in a state of panic, wondering how he was going to break the news that he had lost the nation's favourite dog.

Petra appeared on the show until June 1977 and died in September 1977. A statue of Petra is on display in the Blue Peter Garden.

"Blue Peter" did have one gender-bending pet. Fred the tortoise became Freda after a sharp-eyed viewer spotted the mistake!

Answer: Patch

Patch was cared for by presenter John Noakes. Sadly, Patch died of a bacterial infection in 1971.

Answer: Shep

Shep was a lively Border Collie and John's refrain of "Get Down, Shep" became something of a catchphrase. He was very much a one man dog and was known to be quite surly with the other presenters.

When John Noakes left the programme in 1978 Shep left with him, having been given to him by the BBC. A condition attached to the gift was that Shep was not used in any advertising. John appeared in an advert for dog food with a similar looking dog, named Skip! Shep also appeared with John in the programme "Go With Noakes".

Shep died in 1987 and John Noakes tearfully announced his death on the programme "Fax" a few days later. I recently watched an interview with John Noakes, recorded recently as part of the "Blue Peter" fiftieth birthday celebrations. He was still tearful when talking about Shep.

Answer: Tortoises

The first "Blue Peter" tortoise was named Freda and first appeared on the show in 1963. Maggie and Jim (named for Margaret Thatcher and James Callaghan) became regulars on the show in 1979, after Freda's death. It was part of the "Blue Peter" autumn routine to prepare a suitable habitat for the tortoises' winter hibernation.

However, despite this, poor Maggie and Jim didn't survive the winter of 1981/1982.

Answer: Siamese

Jason was a very laid back cat. In fact some people thought he was stuffed! There were also accusations that he was drugged. He first appeared on the show in 1964 at the age of three weeks, along with his mother and siblings. He died in 1976. Rather bizarrely, the Oxford Union held a two minute silence to commemorate his death.

Answer: First "Blue Peter" pet to be spayed

Willow was a Burmese cat. She was spayed to set an example - there were (and still are) far too many unwanted kittens and puppies rescued by animal societies every year.

Willow suffered the ignominy of being fired by "Blue Peter". She was of uncertain temperament and wasn't above scratching and biting the presenters and guests. A favourite ploy by her trainer was to smother her paws with cream cheese before filming, so she would sit quietly and appear to be washing!

Answer: K9, the robotic dog from Doctor Who

Shep obviously didn't like being upstaged, and tried to bite off K9's tail. So far as I know, three times Grand National winner Red Rum never appeared on the show. Shep attacking Lamb Chop (and Sherie Lewis) is just wishful thinking on my part, and Leonard the Laughing Llama is a figment of my fevered imagination

Answer: Running away from the presenters

Jack and Jill were brother and sister. They would be happily nestled in the presenters' laps, but as soon as the cameras rolled they would run off. Not really ideal studio cats, but they were very popular with viewers

Answer: Meg the Border Collie (Matt Baker)

Did you spot the clue in the pairings? Bonnie appeared in the nineties, whilst Christopher Trace appeared in the late fifties/early sixties. Mabel and Lucy are currently (October 2008) still appearing in the show, whilst Peter Purves presented from 1967 to 1978 and Simon Groom presented from 1980 to 1986.

Answer: George the tortoise

George is believed to have been around eighty years of age when he died in 2004. Shortly before his death he was introduced to Shelley, a much younger female tortoise. It is unclear whether the excitement hastened his demise, but the little minx Shelley became George's replacement rather than his companion.

George is one of the more interesting tortoises from Blue Peter. Aside from the rather racy manner of his death, he once disgraced himself on air by urinating on athlete Kriss Akabusi. He also once got rather friendly with presenter Sarah Greene's shoes. In 1988 the home in which George was living was burgled, and he went missing. Convinced he had been killed, the programme aired a tribute to him. He was found days later walking along the street, possibly still in pursuit of the burglars.

Joey appeared in the early sixties but died at a comparatively young age. Smudge was run over at less than a year old. Willow lived until the ripe old age of nineteen.