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My mum worked with Biddy Baxter. Both women were formidable – and absolutely terrifying | Zoe Williams

So many of the tributes of the late Blue Peter producer are synonyms for ‘scary’, which from the 60s to the 80s was what many people thought of professionals who happened to be women

David Attenborough’s description of Biddy Baxter, when he presented her in 2013 with a special Bafta for her 25 years’ work on Blue Peter, was easily the best: dedicated, passionate and pioneering. But since the producer has died, at 92, and other reminiscences have poured in, you can’t help but notice how many of them are synonyms for “scary”.

“Producer” and “creator” describe Baxter’s work on Blue Peter, but don’t convey how totally and utterly everything was her idea: from Tony Hart to the Blue Peter badges, from the golden retrievers to the Blue Peter garden, from “here’s one we made earlier” to the charity appeals, she conjured it all, to make a cultural artefact that left no child untouched. If you ever received a Blue Peter badge, it’s odds on you still have it – and, if it’s a gold one, that you still talk about it. Continue reading…
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