Peter Duncan (actor)

Infobox actor
name = Peter Duncan


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birthdate = birth date and age|1954|5|3
location = London
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yearsactive = 1980 - present
spouse = Annie Duncan
website = http://www.heresoneimadeearlier.com/
notable role =
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Peter Duncan (born 3 May, 1954) is a British actor and television presenter, best known as a presenter of "Blue Peter" and for his later family travel documentaries.

Early career

Duncan began his career as a stage actor, appearing as Jim Hawkins in "Treasure Island" followed by two years in Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company. His notable television roles includes "King Cinder", "Play for Today", "Warship", "Oranges & Lemons", and season 2 of "Survivors". His roles in films include Kit Nubbles in "Quilp", Kevin in "Stardust" and a brief role in the film "Flash Gordon", with his character dying after a few minutes on screen.

Blue Peter

He joined "Blue Peter" in 1980, and shortly afterwards it was revealed in a tabloid newspaper that Duncan had appeared nude in the British film "The Lifetaker" (1975). Although this revelation was an apparent embarrassment to the BBC, they accepted that as he had done this before "Blue Peter", it would not - and did not - affect his tenure on "Blue Peter". He ran the first London Marathon in 1981 in 3' 10"and has run it in 1991 & 2001

Unusually, Duncan did two stints with "Blue Peter", being on the team from 1980 to 1984, and again from 1985 to 1986. During his stay with the programme, he became associated with the kind of daredevil stunts previously popularised by John Noakes, and these continued in his own spin-off series, "Duncan Dares".

On 20 February 2007 Duncan was awarded the highest Blue Peter Award - The Gold Badge.

Return to the stage

After leaving Blue Peter permanently in 1986, he returned to the stage, most notably in the musicals "Barnum", "Me and My Girl" and "The Card" for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

Family travel documentaries

Between 1999 and 2005, Duncan filmed and produced three travelogue documentary series. Each series consisted of six episodes and featured his family embarking on backpacking trips around the world. The family also consists of Duncan's wife Annie, and their four children: Lucy, Katie, Georgia and Arthur.

The first series, "Travel Bug", charted a six month tour of the world. Filmed in 1999 when the children were aged 7 to 13, the series was shown on children's television on BBC1. The next series, "Chinese Breakaway", charted the family's two month backpacking trip across China in 2002. The series was aired on Five and Sky Travel. In the third series, "Arthur's trip to India" (also aired on Five), Duncan's 13 year old son was featured as the chief presenter. A one-off additional episode ("Arthur's trip to Jordan") followed his son to the heart of the Middle East.

Chief Scout

Duncan was appointed as the 9th Chief Scout for The Scout Association in the UK, for a five year tenure from 5 September 2004. [cite web |url=http://www.scoutbase.org.uk/library/hqdocs/facts/pdfs/fs295307.pdf |title=Meet the Chiefs |accessdate=2007-12-08 |month=October | year=2004 |publisher=The Scout Information Centre ] There is some controversy over this appointment due to his only ever having been a Cub Scout before rejoining the organisation as an adult. The number of Scouts and volunteers has increased dramatically during his tenure.

Most recently

More recently, he starred in and directed "Cinderella" at New Wimbledon Theatre in South London. took part in the Channel 4 series "The Games" that same year. He played Macduff in Macbeth at Regents Park Theatre, London and filmed a documentary about Scouts climbing Everest. His one man show Duncan Dares started touring in October with an opening night at The Congress Theatre, Eastbourne. It is a showcase for his versatility as an entertainer - and even includes a tightrope walk! A two hour, one man variety show.

References

External links

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* [http://www.1stbritanniascoutgroup.org/brownseaislandvideo Video showing Peter Duncan celebrating 100 years of Scouting]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/bluepeter/presenters/duncan.shtml Profile as a BBC presenter]
* [http://www.heresoneimadeearlier.com Duncan's personal website]