The BBC is 100 years old this week. The celebrations so far have been all about its influence in the UK but it’s had a huge effect over here as well.
My home town is Navan, which meant that in the 1970s and well into the 1980s when everyone else in the country lived in one-channel and eventually two-channel land, us residents of the east coast had access to Dan Maskell at Wimbledon, muttering in disapproval as McEnroe let rip at an umpire or contestants on the Generation Game being coaxed by Bruce Forsyth to remember the cuddly toy on the conveyor belt or John Noakes excitedly going “Get down, Shep!” to his ever-jumpy dog on Blue Peter.
John Noakes and Shep were kindred spirits, by the way. When Shep died, Noakes appeared on the BBC and sobbed openly.
I was into my twenties by then but I had a little moment too.
We watched a lot of Blue Peter, you see. When our cousins in…
