Blue Peter legend John Noakes – best known for his daring stunts and his pet dog Shep – has died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.
The 83-year old was a household name in the 1960s, 70s and 80s and remains Blue Peter's longest serving presenter, fronting the children's show with a variety of co-hosts including Valerie Singleton and Peter Purves from 1965 until 1978.
Famed for using the phrase 'Get down Shep' during his attempts to control his excitable border collie, he usually fulfilled the action man role.
Among his many stunts was a record-breaking free-fall parachute jump. He later made several series of Go With Noakes.
'His many escapades with his faithful companion Shep, during his time with Blue Peter, will live on in many peoples memories and that is how his family would like him remembered.’
Mr Noakes passed away nearly two years after he was airlifted to hospital after apparently falling into a roadside storm drain while out walking near his then Majorcan home.
He had sparked a huge search after vanishing on an extremely hot day. The presenter was missing for almost ten hours as police, his wife and friends searched countryside near the town of Andratx, where he lived at the time.
He had no water with him and there were fears he might have become dehydrated in the searing 35C (95F) heat.
As the hunt became increasingly desperate, town hall officials even highlighted his disappearance on the council's website as six police officers and ten members of the civil guard joined the search.
Mr Noakes was eventually spotted by a police helicopter lying collapsed 'in the bottom of a storm drain' less than a mile from his house.
His wife Vicky, then 71, said he had fallen 'among long grass' which had hidden him from search parties.
The Yorkshireman may not have been able to shout for help because of the effects of the extreme heat.
Mr Noakes was airlifted to hospital in the island's capital Palma and was said to be 'in a bad way' but stable.
He later returned home but his health continued to decline.
Although dehydrated from spending hours outside in scorching temperatures, the former children's TV star was uninjured and is expected to make a good recovery. Speaking minutes after her husband was found.
Mrs Noakes said: 'I've been told he's not injured in any way, but I imagine he's dehydrated after being more than nine hours without water under a scorching sun and I assume they'll keep him in hospital overnight to rehydrate him and check he's okay.
'He was found very near the road in a sort of a storm drain that fills up when it rains. I imagine he just lost his bearings and strayed off the path and fallen somewhere.'
She added: 'I knew it couldn't be far because he wouldn't have been able to walk that far.'
A police officer added: 'He was very weak because he has been outside for many hours in the heat, presumably without eating or drinking anything.
'Bear in mind that this gentleman is 81 and suffers from Alzheimer's, which is assumed to have contributed to him going missing.'
Mrs Noakes had put out an appeal to help find her husband of 52 years after he wandered off.
She followed him in the car but lost sight of him when she parked the vehicle to catch up with him on foot.
A ten-strong civil guard mountain rescue team was joined on the ground by firefighters, local police, civil protection workers and increasing numbers of expat friends of the couple as well as locals.
The civil guard confirmed its helicopter had found Mr Noakes alive 'but in need of medical attention'.
An officer said: 'Fortunately we found him when we did, because another couple of hours and with night closing in the search would have been suspended till tomorrow, and then it could have been a different story.'
Mr Noakes' dementia was only known to a close circle of friends and family. Speaking earlier in the day, his wife said he had lived with Alzheimer's for a 'number of years'.
She added: 'You learn to live and cope with things. But this is a little different this time and I am concerned because it is the hottest day of the year so far here.
'If he is wandering around, he'll get more confused as he gets more dehydrated.'
The couple's son Mark, 51, a landscape gardener from Bentley, Hampshire, said he was 'very relieved' at the news his father had been found.
In 1982 Mr Noakes and his wife set sail to travel the world, but were shipwrecked in a hurricane. In 1984 they tried again and got no further than Majorca and ended up settling.
In 2008 he appeared in a Blue Peter-themed edition of the Weakest Link - and became visibly upset when Anne Robinson mentioned Shep.
