Blue Peter greats: Purves feels the phwoar factor

Peter Purves admits to having said "phwoar" when he saw Valerie Singleton for the first time. She insists she wasn't as prim and proper as she may have come across on TV. Small wonder, then, that former Blue Peter presenters Peter Purves and Valerie Singleton couldn't keep their hands off each other.

Purves releases his memoir, Here's One I Wrote Earlier, this week, including his version of what happened on a wine-fuelled night in a hotel with Singleton in the 1970s. Val blew the big secret last year, also revealing that she fancied "pirate-type" men.

But Purves won't talk about his crush on "gorgeous Lesley Judd", another of his Blue Peter colleagues. Judd's memoirs may one day solve the puzzle.

Blue Peter greats

Peter Purves (1967-78)

Clean-cut on camera, Purves had a brief fling with Valerie Singleton. He continues to work as a TV presenter, theatre director and trainer.

Lesley Judd (1972-79)

Handy with sticky-back plastic and pipe cleaners, Judd now lives near Toulouse, France, and works as a conference organiser.

Valerie Singleton (1962-72)

She was the Queen of 'Blue Peter', and calm itself in the face of studio surprises. She later presented 'The Money Programme' and now lives in Dorset.

John Noakes (1965-78)

Said he was treated like a 'country yokel' by programme editors, despite undertaking some highly dangerous escapades. Last seen on 'The Weakest Link'.