Biddy Baxter

'On the last Blue Peter programme before Christmas 1962 Owen Reed, who at that time was Head of Children's Television appeared on screen with a large cardboard box covered with Christmas paper and ribbons. He solemnly presented the box to Christopher Trace and Valerie Singleton (it was long before Lesley or Peter, or even John Noakes!) who cut the ribbon, removed the lid and revealed for the first time a tiny 8 weeks old brown and black mongrel puppy.'

What you won't read in Biddy Baxter's Petra: A Dog for Everyone, is that this (as yet unnamed puppy) died almost immediately afterwards.

The dog millions of young viewers clutched to their hearts for so many years was technically an impostor, speedily exchanged, thanks to the extended Christmas break between transmission; which made possible a country wide search. In a plot worthy of the greatest spy fiction of the time. The producers scoured the country for a suitable lookalike. An animal was found, purchased, and flawlessly exchanged in time for the next program in the new year. It was the perfect cover up, performed by a corporation that was well versed in closing ranks and maintaining a strict code of silence when needed - as we now all know.
But, in those innocent days when the corporation was affectionately known as 'Auntie', the illusion that would help shape the lives of a generation of British school children was flawless, and we were all none the wiser.

In retrospect, it probably was in the best interests of all concerned. However, I feel doubly sad for the poor puppy that died because it narrowly missed out on becoming one of the best cared for and adored dogs in recent history.
That luxury inevitably went to the puppy that viewers, only a few weeks later, named 'Petra' and a legend was made.
However, when death finally came a second visit, many years later and after a full life, there could be no escape.

'At ten o'clock, on the morning of Wednesday, 14 September 1977, a mongrel dog called Petra died peacefully, euthanisedat her home in Sussex. She was 15 years old.'

Presenter Peter Purves remarked, many years later, when asked about the famous dog: "People imagined she was a German Shepherd, but she was some rough collie cross. She'd lost her teeth, developed diabetes, her eyes were bad and she was neurotic and badly bred. A mess."

But, to millions of children she was our Petra.
This book charts the life of this most nationally loved of dogs, that a bronze monument was even erected to her memory.

Petra was part of my childhood.… (mere)