Past and present hosts of CBBC programme Newsround have revealed their most memorable moments as the show turns 50 – including one former host who met her husband behind the scenes.
The iconic children’s news programme celebrates its 50th anniversary on April 4, and has become a huge part audiences lives since it was co-founded by John Craven and Edward Barnes in 1972.
Many young people have memories of turning on Newsround on BBC One at 5.25pm, where between 1972-1989 John Craven would explain the latest news events that were taking place, in a way that was clear and accessible to the audience – without being patronising.
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One of the many future journalists to watch John Craven in the seventies was none other than ITV’s Julie Etchingham, who admired the way that Newsround made current affairs accessible to a young audience.
“I was one of lucky generations that got the great John Craven, and no doubt whetted my appetite for what I ended up doing as a career,” said Julie.
Talking about her own first day on set, Julie explained that her audition has made her nervous, but that her first day also had a huge impact on her life – as it was where she met her future husband.
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“My first day on set was a bit of blur. I was with a new team in this new set, and my biggest worry really was that Newsround had this opening sequence where you read the headlines, then you had to walk across the studio, perch on a little high stool and then read.
“All I was concerned about – giving that I had slipped off the stool in the audition – was that I was just not going to hit the spot and fall flat on my backside.”
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She added: “I remember even in that first week they said, ‘right in a couple of weeks time we’re sending you out to South Africa as we’re making a film about children of the new South Africa, as President Mandela had been inaugurated that year.
“Before I knew it, this job was incredible. I travelled the world with it, did stories, I met my husband to be there.
“The first day I walked into the office and they said, ‘this is where your desk will be’, and I sat down facing this guy Nick Gardener, who I ended up marrying. It’s quite a big week in my life professionally and personally I suppose.”
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Like Newsround presenters throughout the decades, the hosts have covered the biggest news stories of the day that were relevant to their young audience – from the death of royalty to natural disasters, to boyband splits and the latest sporting events.
One of the stories that stuck with Julie was reporting on the death of Princess Diana, saying: “Being in that crowd and navigating that story and this moment of history – this tragedy of history – that our audience was trying to get to grips with.
“Their eyes would have been focused on the young princes, because they were of that generation. It was an extraordinary time.”
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However, the news reporter’s days would often go from reporting on hard news stories to softer stories, with Julie adding: “You’d be doing quite heavy stories, and then they’d send you to interview Kermit The Frog.
“I genuinely never thought I’d be interviewing a puppet. To get in frame, it meant the guy who was the puppeteer was lying at my feet, with his hand up a frog.
“So I’m eye to eye with Kermit The Frog and there’s this guy lying on my feet, moving his arm up and down, at my feet. That was unforgettable.”
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Presenters to follow in Julie’s footsteps included Sonali Shah and Ellie Crisell, with Ellie recalling that reporting on the Indonesia Tsunami in 2004 will always be the story she will remember covering.
Talking about her time reporting following the Indonesia tsunami, Ellie said: “I felt priviliged that I was able to give those children a voice, someone to talk to, tell us what happened, how are they feeling?
Sonali, who had reported stories such as the conflict in Afghanistan, added: “We go to a place and report on it and it stays with you,” saying: “It was our job to show kids here, how kids were growing up.
“Some kids who were 10 years old, had always grown up in a warzone. Seeing armed guards around them – that was their life. Hopefully we conveyed that to kids here, how different life is.”
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With stories such as death, conflict, natural disaster and politics often quite complex to understand, Newsround used tools such as explainer videos, graphics and later, interactive tools such as the website and red button service, to communicate stories clearly to their young audiences.
It became a trailblazer for the way modern news is presented to audiences, with Ellie saying: “We were big on all the website stuff and the digital stuff, way before it became the norm.”
Its easy to understand news format has since made the programme popular with adult audiences too, with Sonali adding: “We have a huge adult audience and I used to get that feedback all the time.
“People used to say, ‘I don’t quite get how they’re covering it on the six o’ clock news, but I watch you, so I understand what is happening with the economy right now. Or they’d watch the Newsround videos.
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“There was a bit of a misunderstanding at one point that we were only for children.”
She added: “The way we communicated, which you see a lot now throughout news – those explainer videos – we were doing them 20 years ago.
“Not assuming people had knowledge, but we were never patronising. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t assume somebody knew about something.”
Newsround also found new ways to interview its famous stars in a way that would ask different questions from those covered on adult news programmes, with lines that would often later be reported in the papers.
Sonali said: “I remember once doing a spelling bee with Andy Murray and his brother Jamie. That was a real example of where we got him laughing.
“The Andy you see now – I’d say you first saw him on Newsround because we found different ways of interviewing people. We were adults asking them different questions, and I think they really warmed to us.”
Not everything always went to plan during interviews either – with one surprise newsroom invasion seeing the microphone turned on the presenters instead.
Ore Oduba, who presented the programme from 2008-2013, revealed his shock when Ant and Dec turned up as part of Comic Relief, saying: “You’re like, am I being interviewed by Ant and Dec? Where’s the big red book Michael Aspell? That was pretty cool.”
Despite the huge stars who were interviewed on the programmes however, the main focus and stars have always been the voices of the children themselves.
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Current presenters De-Graft Mensah, Hayley Hassall, Ricky Boleto revealed how taken back they were by how inspiring the children they interview are, with Hayley saying: “They inspire us a lot of the time. We’re not teachers. A lot of the time they know more than us.
“If they’re passionate about something and they contact us about things they care about. We’re meeting kids and going wow, you are amazing.”
De-Graft added: “I think having worked on it and how it has changed my life, I think it has really reinforced to me how important and how switched on children are.
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“It’s genuinely a privilage to be a part of that world with them, and to talk with them. It has really changed my perspective on how much kids know.”
Talking about its influence on news and the lives of children in the past 50 years, Sonali said: “It’s an institution,” adding: “It was very relatable and you thought, I can see myself on screen.
“We talked about climate change really early on and the fact that we were always in touch with our audience, ahead of so many other news programmes, it meant that it was always a bit of a trailblazer.”
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Julie Etchingham added: “We were there to spend time to listen to children’s voices and allow them to share their experiences with kids their own age back in the UK about what they had been through.”
There is no doubt of the impact that Newsround has had and is sure to continuing having in the future, with Ore Oduba summing up its impact in one phrase: “It is still is a fire soaring brightly today.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
