She helped to educate millions of children in the art of turning yoghurt pots and cereal boxes into unique knick-knacks � all with the help of some sticky-backed plastic.
CAROLYN CHURCHILL and LAUREN MAYBERRY
She helped to educate millions of children in the art of turning yoghurt pots and cereal boxes into unique knick-knacks - all with the help of some sticky-backed plastic.
But now former Blue Peter presenter Romana D'Annunzio is swapping the TV studios for the classroom as she embarks on a new career as an English teacher.
The 37-year-old, who co-hosted the BBC programme from 1996 to 1998, graduated from Glasgow University yesterday with a Professional Graduate Diploma of Education (PGDE).
She said that being part of the television institution was an "amazing experience" and she was looking forward to using some of creative skills gained while working on the show when she begins her first teaching post in Edinburgh after the summer.
"I'm looking forward to starting a new chapter in my life," she said. "I follow my gut feeling on what's right for me at any particular time and it was right for me to leave the media behind and follow a different path.
"Blue Peter in itself was a bit like teaching and sometimes you did feel like a primary school teacher. You have to explain things, while keeping kids' attention and making sure there's a bit of humour too.
"When I have been on placements I have sometimes drawn on that experience. There is always room for creativity so I like to make my lessons as enjoyable and creative as possible."
Blue Peter has helped launch the presenting careers of several household names since it was first broadcast in 1958 and some of the best-loved hosts such as Peter Purves and Valerie Singleton have continued to appear on TV screens decades after their Blue Peter debut.
It was a chance meeting with Blue Peter's then editor Lewis Bronze at the Edinburgh International Television Festival that eventually led to Ms D'Annunzio joining the show.
At the audition she had to interview an Olympic athlete while jumping on a trampoline and carry out another interview while on a bucking bronco.
After showing off her creative skills by making Christmas cards, she was offered the job and became the second Scot, after John Leslie, to co-present the show.
Ms D'Annunzio's first appearance was on March 1, 1996, and she presented alongside Stuart Miles, Richard Bacon, Tim Vincent and Katie Hill, before she co-hosted her last programme on February 20, 1998.
"Blue Peter is an amazing programme which has moved with the times," Ms D'Annunzio said. "Because of its magazine format you can do all sorts of weird and wonderful things in one programme.
"I used to get involved in all the dressing up, cooking and making cards and I also went on an expedition to Hong Kong and China. It was great to meet all the kids associated with the programme and people from all walks of life, from singers to astronauts."
After leaving the show, Ms D'Annunzio worked for Cosmopolitan magazine before returning to full-time education and completing an access course at Stevenson College in Edinburgh.
She then studied for an MA in English Literature and Italian at the University of Edinburgh and spent her third year in Rome where she taught English to teenagers.
She said: "I was bitten by the teaching bug and I knew I wanted to carry on down that road."
