FIFTH BOOK
Published 1968
BP Team: Val Singleton, John Noakes, Peter Purves
Cover: Both the front and back covers feature a shot of the team against a white background, their clothing perhaps reflecting the sort of things that they get up to on Blue Peter; Noakes is wearing a yellow hard hat with the BP logo, Val a curious eskimo-like parka which could symbolise the expeditions and Purves looks like he's just enjoyed a swim, with wet hair and a towel over his shoulder. Luckily Val is placed in front of the two so we can't see anything else.

Features: Bathing Petra and Patch who seem a lot better behaved than Goldie a decade later... a skiing trip to Austria for the entire team... Once again the team turn seemingly useless objects into nice little earners; "Can you imagine 9 million Blue Peter viewers ripping stamps off every letter they can find?" asks Val. "Because I can." The cause is a low key appeal to provide homes for two homeless families in Britain... Joey the parrot is let loose on the production office... A feature on Bob the BBC props man... Pete's first appearance taking a water safety course... Guide dogs for the blind... John spends a day as a waiter in the London Hilton... Val goes showjumping... Petra's grand puppies... Val gets sent to the Tower of London but they let her out again.

Makes: Miniature gardens which are created from real twigs and finished off with a reindeer and holly twigs from a Christmas cake.
Chocolate apples: your basic toffee apple idea but with chocolate. Table top tanks: for those of you who "collect models of vintage vehicles" here's the chance to create some more out of carboard, matchboxes and glue.
Alpine Rally: paper mache mountains for your slot cars (Scalextric, but of course it must remain unnamed).

Historical Figure's Life Story in Pictures: Father David, who brought Chinese deer to Europe. Yes. Really.
Also, a biog of Isambard Kingdom Brunel - the greatest engineer the world has known apparently.
Stories: Bleep and Booster and Paddington, as well as a cartoon picture story featuring Bengo.
Rubbish Mystery Story: The Case of the Miniature Emperor - a rather spurious mystery to solve which tries to justify itself by beginning "John [Noakes] Says can you solve this case?"

Notes: Despite falling prey to that old con-the-kids trap of annuals, with snakes and ladders dressed up as "Ski Run" and some tenuous magic tricks (which do at least feature Purves performing them) this is very much a packed annual. Pretty hard to come by although certainly the earliest you stand any real chance of locating, you may of course come across it for next to nothing if you're lucky but could be talking close to a tenner if you're not. According to Book 14, Books 4 to 14 were all issued in print runs nearing half a million (a huge amount in annual terms) so all should be equally easy to find. It's never that simple though is it?