julian_craster

Some older folks may recall Christopher Trace on the BBC children's programme Blue Peter....
They may find this of interest.

I recall Val Singleton fondly, who interestingly has some rather unexpected
British film credits.... and Christopher, of course, can be seen in the opening scenes
of HAMMER's 1958 'Hound of the Baskervilles' ....


From DNB (Oxford UP)

Christopher Trace (1933-1992)

Christopher Trace, television and radio presenter,
was born on 21 March 1933 at Cranleigh, Surrey, the son of Laurence
Archibald Trace, a dental surgeon, and his wife, Edith, nee Morley. He was
educated at Cranleigh School, Surrey, and joined the army in 1951 and
trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. After seven years in the
forces he began an acting career and took small parts in British B crime
thrillers such as Wrong Number and Urge to Kill. His most notable movie part
was as Charlton Heston's stand-in in Ben Hur (1959). A year earlier, while
working on The Hound of the Baskervilles, he met Margaret Elizabeth Cattrall
(b. 1935/6), daughter of Frederick Nelson Cattrall; they were married at St
Jude's Church, Kensington, London, on 3 May 1958 and had a son, Jonathan (b.
1959).

Trace's acting career was sidetracked when he successfully auditioned for a
new BBC children's programme, Blue Peter, a stablemate to the established
magazine series Studio 'E', aimed at a younger audience. Blue Peter was
devised by John Hunter Blair, a model railway enthusiast with a layout in
his BBC office. Models and handcrafts were intended as a major part of the
programme's early format and Trace, a keen model maker and fellow railway
enthusiast, won through to become its first presenter. Duties were shared
with Leila Williams, whose first BBC contract listed her as 'assistant
compere to Christopher Trace', indicating that it was he who was the show's
anchor. Blue Peter was first broadcast on 16 October 1958. As was customary
for all BBC announcers and presenters, Trace wore a suit and tie on screen;
the effect was a sober but avuncular figure with just a hint of matinee
idol. Williams later described their presenting style as an older brother
and sister pairing. The programme performed steadily if not spectacularly.
After Williams's departure Trace was left as the sole presenter between
January and April 1962. At this time he drew heavily on his craft skills and
continued to build all the onscreen models himself in the BBC's special
effects department-there being no background assistant to provide the
programme's 'makes' until 1963. He also undertook freelance modelwork for
the department, including a giant railway layout for a Michael Bentine show.
Two of Blue Peter's best-known catchphrases-'And now for something
completely different' (later taken up by Monty Python's Flying Circus) and
'Here's one I made earlier'-are attributed to Trace.

Between May and September 1962 Trace presented Blue Peter with Anita West.
But the programme reached new heights with the arrival of Valerie Singleton
as his co-presenter, and Biddy Baxter as producer, in October and November
of that year. Baxter introduced many of the programme's classic elements,
including its first pet, the dog Petra. Trace helped train the animal for
the programme. A brief mention that Trace and Singleton were to take part in
the 1964 London to Brighton vintage car rally drew thousands to the event
and was clear evidence of their celebrity (Baxter and Barnes, 53). Blue
Peter's popularity led to an increasing amount of location work but this,
plus the programme's twice-weekly schedule from October 1964, placed strains
on Trace. A day's filming at Camber Sands in May 1965, swimming in freezing
weather, was too much and he snapped: 'You get someone else to share this
bloody agony or I'm leaving for good' (ibid., 74). This led to a search for
a third presenter. Another field trip in 1965, Blue Peter's first summer
expedition to Norway, was marred by Trace's romantic liaison with a young
Norwegian woman. The event was kept quiet at the time, but proved
detrimental to his career. His son Jonathan recalled, 'Not only did it sour
the relationship with my mother [who soon filed for divorce] but it also
didn't help his reputation within the BBC and he felt it was time to move
on' (interview for Blue Peter Confidential).

Trace's departure was also prompted by the arrival in January 1966 of a
third presenter, John Noakes. Noakes was an instant success and, despite
Trace's army career, quickly assumed the role of 'action man'. While Trace
had long since adopted more informal dress, he now appeared somewhat austere
and old-fashioned when set against his down-to-earth and fun-loving
colleague. Baxter recalled that the situation made Trace 'morose and
difficult to deal with', not least because it was 'very easy for the man who
is being paid to give the impression to the public that this is his show, to
actually believe it' (Baxter and Barnes, 81). However, Noakes's arrival
also exposed the changing styles of children's television performance from a
correct and disciplined approach, as practised by Trace, to the more
relaxed, and often more popular, manner of younger presenters.

Trace made his final appearance on Blue Peter in July 1967 and announced
that he was moving to Spain to write a book (this never transpired). Edward
Barnes, Baxter's deputy, later recalled that Trace's decision did not leave
them 'desperately broken-hearted-he knew he'd had enough' (Blue Peter
Confidential). This, however, is to underplay Trace's immense contribution
to the programme's formative years. Huw Wheldon, then BBC controller of
programmes, for example, believed that 'There will be no Blue Peter without
Christopher Trace!' He returned to make a special appearance on Blue Peter's
twentieth anniversary programme (1978) when live on air he produced an
engraved metal boss that became the Blue Peter award for outstanding
endeavour, awarded annually until 1990. Reflecting on the programme in 1980
he claimed that 'Occasionally I think it's slipping slightly but I suppose I
look at it rather like an indulgent parent' (Where Are They Now?).

On leaving Blue Peter, Trace joined a new film company, Spectator, in which
he invested heavily but which was wound up in 1973. Trace filed for
bankruptcy, having lost 16,000. In the mid-1970s he returned to television,
and worked as a presenter of the news magazine Look East for BBC Norwich and
the early morning radio programme Roundabout East Anglia. Decrying the 4.30
a.m. starts and 'the ruination of one's social life', he left broadcasting
several years later. He subsequently worked for a light engineering firm in
Hemel Hempstead and was, by the early 1990s, studying for a law degree in
London. In 1991 he was incapacitated by a back injury which he blamed on
damage caused while working for Blue Peter. Forced to claim sickness and
housing benefit, he rented a room in a fellow student's flat in Walthamstow.
Trace died of throat cancer on 5 September 1992 at the Royal London
Hospital, Whitechapel, London. On his death Biddy Baxter paid tribute to
Trace as one of early television's brightest stars; in particular she
acknowledged his efforts in 1962 when he presented the programme alone and
so ensured its survival into a later golden period (Baxter, The Times).

Alistair McGown


Sources B. Baxter and E. Barnes, Blue Peter: the inside story (1989) + B.
Baxter, The Times (22 Sept 1992), 15 + L. Bowden, Blue Peter confidential,
BBC2, 10 Oct 1998 [television programme; incl. unbroadcast footage] + The
Times (9 Sept 1992), 15 + S. O'Neill, 'Star of children's television caught
in benefits trap', The Independent (30 March 1992) + Where are they now?,
interview, BBC1, Sept 1980 [television programme] + b. cert. + m. cert. + d.
cert.
Archives BBC WAC
Likenesses group portrait, photograph, 1967, repro. in The Independent (8
Sept 1992) · photograph, 1958, repro. in The Independent (8 Sept 1992) ·
double portrait, photograph, 1965 (with V. Singleton), repro. in The Times
(9 Sept 1992) · double portrait, photograph, 1965 (with V. Singleton), Hult.
Arch. [see illus.] · W. Vanderson, double portrait, photograph, 1965 (with
V. Singleton), Hult. Arch.

arty-dave

I remember the old boy well...

samkydd

I remember him both on Blue Peter and Look East and thought he had an engaging TV presence and personality. Like a few other former household names he seemed to have got bored and went off "to do other things" and probably regreted it later.

I always thought that he'd left Blue Peter at their wish because he was getting divorced, and such things were frowned upon when presenting children's TV.

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"