It’s a headline I never thought I would ever write. Blue Peter’s Valerie Singleton admits affair with Peter Purves. It makes my head spin this one. For those of you who haven’t got a clue what this headline is all about – Valerie Singleton? Peter Purves? Blue Peter? - let me explain (even though you’re far too young for my liking). Valerie Singleton was a lovely Blue Peter presenter from the 1960s and 1970s who had a slightly stern, schoolteacher way about her. But she was great. Peter Purves, on the other hand, was a shaggy-haired mofo and I loved him. He had a nice voice. He went on to host Junior Kickstart, which was a staple when I was growing up. Valerie and Peter were two parts of the arguably the best Blue Peter presenting team. John Noakes rounded off theHoly Trinity. Anyway, enough. Valerie, redoubtable, morally upstanding Valerie, has admitted that she had a fling with Purves! Unbelievable.

In today’s Sun – yes, I know – ‘squeaky-clean’ Valerie said that the pair had ‘romped’ in a hotel after filming in the 1960s.

Valerie was quoted as saying: “He was lovely – warm, interesting and fun – and was between marriages. We were on an assignment out of London – neither of us can remember quite where – and we had a few glasses of wine at our hotel and one thing led to another. It was one of those impulsive, enjoyable experiences, but more a friendship thing.”

I don’t know what to think. Richard Bacon snorting gak, phone-in scandals, various curses of Blue Peter and now this? Is Britain’s bets-loved childrens’ programme a teeming mass of scandal? Probably not.

But Valerie Singleton and Peter Purves? Who’d have thunk it? What about Noakes and Shep, someone has just asked me. Now that is taking things a bit too far.