A whole generation of children was divided. Divided into whether we watched good old Blue Peter on the BBC - or Magpie on commercial TV.

For some, the decision was already taken – by parents. After all, ITV had only been on-air just over ten years – and some households even banned the grubby upstart channel for not being up to the high standards of the BBC.

Valerie Singleton and Christopher Trace were all very well on black-and-white Blue Peter in their nice frocks and slim slacks. But Magpie offered a little hip ‘60s rebellion. The presenters even dared to wear jeans and relied much less on scripts – right until its final edition 45 years ago this month.

Like Blue Peter, Magpie featured annual appeals. But rather than requiring children to pester neighbours for milk bottle tops – it simply requested cold hard cash.  The money totaliser was a long strip of rainbow paper which ran out of the studio and along the corridors of the Teddington Lock premises.

The programme – with its mascot Murgatroyd - was made by Thames Television and first transmitted on 30 July 1968 – the first day on-air for the brave new Channel.   Its first presenters were Radio 1’s Pete Brady, with Susan Stranks and Tony Bastable. Douglas Rae, Tommy Boyd and curly-haired Mick Robertson arrived later.

Sue Stranks was replaced by our own Jenny Hanley, who’d already made a name for herself in the movies – including famous appearances in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Scars of Dracula! She also popped up in the huge sitcom Man About the House and hosted a series of Saturday Night at the Mill.

Jenny later embraced radio and, of course, she now hosts three programmes each week on our Boom Light station.

“On Magpie, with all the stunts, the rock climbing, underwater helicopter escape training, parachuting – I swear they were trying to kill me!”

“We did have items specifically for music of the time, so bands that were up and coming or had hits would come into the studio – and they caused chaos. How the fans knew that the Bay City Roller were coming, I shall never know, but it always got out. There were always screams.”

Enjoy Jenny across on our sister station Boom Light at noon, Friday - Sunday.