Newsround (John Craven)

[Paul Cooksley]

Hi there

Apologies if this has been asked before, but I was wondering what the survival rate of Newsround was, especially of course the early John Craven years...

Does the first edition exist still?

My question is prompted by seeing that there's a documentary on BBC1 (quite late at night over Christmas I think!) about news programmes in general for children - with of course Newsround being the most obvious candidate.

Any info appreciated

Thanks

[David Brunt]

As listed in the Kaleidoscope guide the earliest surviving show is 27 November 1972 (first TX was 12 April 1972), presented by Richard Whitmore as John Craven was at his wife's side after she gave birth.

Survival rate is very patchy, mostly recorded on the same off-air tape as Blue Peter. Probably no more than one or two shows a month for much of the 1970s.