Blue Peter the 50th anniversary) the opening arrangement of the tune was reworked to include elements of "Barnacle Bill" once again. The closing theme for 2008 is the same as opening signature tune. In September 2011, the series returned to using "Barnacle Bill" though with the opening bars and drum roll omitted (along with the "Sailor's Hornpipe") and the traditional closing signature tune not used. 1958–1989: The earliest episodes featured stock footage of a sailing ship under the opening credits. By the late 1960s, Blue Peter's opening sequence featured extracts of that edition's filmed inserts or an event in the studio where
Barnacle Bill (1941 film) Barnacle Bill (1941 film) Barnacle Bill is a 1941 feature film starring Wallace Beery. The screen comedy was directed by Richard Thorpe. "Barnacle Bill" was the second of seven MGM films pairing Beery and character actress Marjorie Main. Lazy fisherman Bill Johansen (Wallace Beery) docks his small (and sinking) fishing boat in San Pedro harbor, aggravating ship chandler Pop Cavendish (Donald Meek) and Pop's spinster daughter Marge (Marjorie Main), who would like to marry Bill even though he has welched on paying his debts for years. Pop tries to have Bill's boat attached, but cannot because Bill has craftily listed