Simon Thomas (presenter) 2:1 BA Hons degree in history. Having applied for the job three times, Thomas began presenting the children's programme "Blue Peter" on 8 January 1999 replacing the sacked presenter Richard Bacon. Previously he had worked as a runner at Children's BBC and the radio station LBC. During his tenure at "Blue Peter", he ran in the London Marathon twice and two Great North Runs, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and Mont Blanc, completed over 40 solo sky dives with the Royal Air Force, presented a medal at the Commonwealth Games, ran in the 60 metres sprint at the Norwich Union Indoor Athletics
1999 Shia uprising in Iraq potential opponents . The Iraqi government never acknowledged the scale and extent of the uprising and barely reported any news about it. In a rare acknowledgement of domestic unrest, the Iraqi government admitted on 15 May 1999 that there had been anti-government disturbances in Basra in mid March. The Iraqi government however denied reports of widespread killing, and blamed the unrest on Iranian infiltrators. Following the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and the toppling of the Ba'athist government the suppression of the events of 1999 were investigated by the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal. The ensuing trials had 14 defendants, and ultimately