The BBC's Blue Peter was always one of my favorite shows to watch after school when I was a kid growing up in the early '80s. The presenters were always going off on jungle adventures and doing daring stunts. They had great guests on the show regularly from all walks of life - actors, botanists, musicians, sports personalities, scientists and not just famous ones either - a lot of them were kids just like us. They had a yearly charity appeal to remind us all of how lucky we were. They were in there early with the whole maker/recycled crafts thing, always showing us great activities to turn bits of old junk into something useful.
It's still going strong today and my daughter is really starting to enjoy it too, especially as I think she has a soft spot for one of the presenters, Barney! In the episode broadcast last week, Barney (who is a self-confessed gadget freak) got to do something I'm sure many of us have dreamed about - meeting with Apple's design head honcho, Jonathan Ive, inside the R&D department of 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California!
The premise was to get Jony's thoughts on the results of a design competition run on the show towards the end of last year, but also to award him a Gold Blue Peter badge. I remember being supremely jealous of someone in my school who had a normal Blue Peter badge - they give them out to people who have appeared on the show - but golden ones are only given for exceptional achievement, such as performing acts of extreme bravery, or representing their country in a major event. Previous winners include David Beckham, J.K. Rowling, The Queen, diver Tom Daley, and the tenth Doctor David Tennant.
Ive was wonderfully encouraging to the finalists in the design competition and seemed genuinely pleased with his latest award too - surely this ones tops all of those industry gongs and that silly old knighthood? He also had a little surprise for Barney too - a replica of the Blue Peter logo - an old sailing ship - being made on one of the CNC machines normally used for making iPhone prototypes, and he even got to use the show's catchphrase of "and here's one I made earlier" as he pulled a fully polished version from behind his back.
Watch the full segment below or on the BBC News site.
