Anita West
Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for clobbered parameters".Template:Wikidata image Anita West (born 30 November 1934) is a British former actress and television presenter.
Blue Peter
On 7 May 1962, she joined the British children's television show Blue Peter as co-host, following the departure of Leila Williams. She remained with the programme for only sixteen editions, the last being shown on 3 September 1962, making her one of the programme's shortest-serving presenters (other than stand-ins Ann Taylor, Tony Hart and Sandra Michaels). She voluntarily resigned from the show because of her imminent divorce (in 1962) from the musician Ray Ellington; she believed that audiences would find it inappropriate for a divorcée to present a children's programme. West never divulged her reasons for leaving to the producers, who deemed her "unprofessional" for simply walking out on the show.[1][2]
West's tenure was so short that, for several decades, she was not officially recognised as a Blue Peter presenter, only being added to the official list of presenters upon the show's 40th anniversary in 1998.[3] In contrast, her replacement, Valerie Singleton, ahead of whom West had come in earlier auditions,[3] became the show's longest-serving female presenter until Konnie Huq.[4] Additionally, due to the BBC's policy of not recording programmes at the time, no footage of West's time on Blue Peter exists.[5]
Later career
After leaving Blue Peter, West appeared in such shows as Space: 1999, Crossroads as Doctor Hilary Maddox, The Saint and Lovejoy. She also briefly returned to Blue Peter in 1998 to appear in its pantomime.
In the 1970s, she was a PR hostess at the Palm Beach Casino Club in Mayfair.
She appeared in the films Impact (1963), Shadow of Fear (1964), Ring of Spies (1964) and Joey Boy (1965).[5]
Personal life
West was married to Ray Ellington for six years; the couple had a son, Lance, and a daughter, Nina.[6][7] In 1998, she told Blue Peter's 40th-anniversary documentary BP Confidential that she had no regrets about quitting the show, other than on a professional level, as her children were the most important thing in her life.[3]
References
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External links
- Anita West BBC Blue Peter
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