As a "Blue Peter" presenter, Noakes usually fulfilled the role of action man in the series. Highlights included changing the billboard name for the 1971 premier of "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" in London's Leicester Square, free-fall parachuting with the RAF's Flying Falcons display team and bobsleighing (his sled hit a hole in the ice and turned over, injuring him). After a free-fall with the RAF in 1973, Noakes held the record for the longest free-fall parachute jump by a British civilian for a time. His 1977 unassisted ascent of the high Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square in London has been voted the greatest moment in children's TV programming.