John Noakes' Blue Peter climb of Nelson's Column 'greatest children's TV moment'

'Blue Peter' presenter John Noakes (1934 - 2017) climbs Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, London, 29th April 1977. (Photo by Getty Images)

Noakes, known for his stunts, clambered up the towering monument on the children’s show in 1977. The segment has been named the greatest ever children’s TV moment by magazine TV Years.

Other moments in the top 10 include viewers being told “everything and everybody has to die” on Pipkins, and Rik Mayall reading Roald Dahl’s George’s Marvellous Medicine on Jackanory.

But it was Noakes’s climbing stunt which was named the greatest moment for young UK viewers. TV Years editor Graham Kibble-White said “picking something from the longest-running children’s TV programme in the world, involving its greatest-ever presenter – John Noakes – felt like the right decision”.

Noakes, born in Shelf, Halifax, clambered up using a ladder, which was tilted backwards by the overhang of the monument.