Lesley Judd making Easter Chicks on Blue Peter in 1976
From decorating a bonnet to cutting out bunny shapes, Easter is a time associated with homemade arts and crafts. So what does 主播大秀 Genome have to tell us about this yearly tradition? The website is full of listings of programmes that have helped children and parents get into the Easter spirit.
In the first few decades of the 主播大秀, arts and crafts programmes at Easter mainly looked at customs and tradition, but there was the odd radio programme offering a bit more of an interactive take. As early as ran a segment on “how to make your own Easter egg” (no indication in the billing as to whether the egg was boiled, blown or made out of confectionery), and in April featured an item for Easter billed as "ideas for mothers who like to make and decorate their own Easter Eggs - with the children helping".
In the immediate post-war years, parents needed to be creative in providing their children with Easter treats. Sugar rationing was still in place until 1953 and treats like chocolate were in short supply. In the late 1940s, cookery presenter , no doubt offering advice on how to stretch the ingredients furthest (Patten had worked for the , and gave advice on how to make food rations last, on the 主播大秀 主播大秀 Service).
Peter Duncan, Paul Daniels and Phillip Schofield
With the advent of TV for children (), programmes began to show young people how to make things themselves. Children’s programme Blue Peter was an enthusiastic adopter of children’s arts and crafts activities. The show that would one day bring us the iconic was never going to be short of inspiration for Easter arts and craft.
(I feel at this point I should reveal my credentials… I am a Blue Peter badge winner. It may have been 20 years ago but it is still one my proudest achievements. Now... back to the listings, and here's a paragraph "I made earlier")...
Presenter Peter Duncan was tasked with baking a in 1983. In 1976 Lesley Judd made the Easter Chicks at the top of the page (Easter also brought the curtain down on her seven-year stint as presenter on the show, with her last credit coming on ). Since then, the pull towards Easter arts and crafts in Blue Peter has remained strong and in 2000 an eclectic show presented by Katy Hill, Matt Baker, Simon Thomas and the show’s longest-serving female presenter Konnie Huq saw .
Simon Thomas, Konnie Huq, Matt Baker and Katy Hill
An opportunity for members of the public to get directly involved arrived in 1974, when the 主播大秀 broadcast . Battersea was billed as “London’s jolliest park”, and the programme commentary was provided by Brian Johnston (No mention in later issues of whether the cricket commentator was bowled over by the bonnets on show). An Easter Parade would have been a rare occasion to see a bonnet in action, as the headpiece was already in decline by the late 1960s, according to Marjorie Anderson on .
It wasn’t just Blue Peter and Easter Parades that encouraged children (and adults) to embrace their creative side at Easter. Even the in the late 1990s, and with the introduction of CBeebies and C主播大秀 in 2002 the schedules enjoyed a deluge of craft-based programmes at Easter., in colour and still entertaining children, was making Easter eggs in 2004 (hasn’t he aged well!), and although listings in the formative years of both Cbeebies and C主播大秀 don’t go in to much detail, it is fair to say parents needed to be well-stocked in all things arts and crafts in the run up to Easter.
From 主播大秀 Genome we hope you all have a lovely Easter. Perhaps now is the time, (while I look into copying Andy Pandy’s beauty regime) to get your scissors and glue out and have a look through the listings if you need a bit of inspiration for something to do.
The Modern Andy Pandy