Valerie Singleton
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Valerie Singleton OBE |
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|---|---|
| Born |
9 April 1937 Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England |
| Years active | 1959 – present |
Valerie Singleton OBE (born 9 April 1937) is an English television and radio presenter best known as a presenter of the popular children's series Blue Peter but who went on to present the BBC Radio 4 PM programme for ten years as well as a series of radio and television programmes on financial and business issues.
She is the daughter of an ex-RAF Wing Commander from Hitchin, Herts, named Dennis Singleton, later an advertising manager. She was educated at Frensham Heights School in Surrey and at the independent Arts Educational School, Tring Park in Hertfordshire. Singleton wanted to be a dancer and for two years attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (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. She began presenting on BBC Radio in 1963, hosting On The Sunny Side Of The Street for the Light Programme. She was also a reporter on BBC2's Time Out in 1964.
She joined the BBC in 1961 as a continuity announcer and in 1962 joined Blue Peter, where she stayed until 1972. She then continued until 1975 in a part-time role as a 'roving reporter'. Along with John Noakes, she continues to be more closely associated with Blue Peter than any other former presenter. (Singleton was for a long time credited as being the third presenter, but the disclosure in 1998 of Anita West as her predecessor meant she slipped down to fourth.)
During her time on Blue Peter, Singleton accompanied Princess Anne on her first solo trip overseas in a Kenyan Royal Safari in 1971. In 1998, the two women met to reminisce about the Royal safari for one of Blue Peter's fortieth anniversary programmes. At Christmas 1971, Singleton and the Blue Peter presenting team hosted the annual Disney Time on BBC1.
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