- Anita West
Infobox Actor
name = Anita West
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occupation =Actress andtelevision presenter
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website =Anita West is a British
actress and formertelevision presenter ."Blue Peter"
On
7 May 1962 , she joined the British children's television show "Blue Peter " as a stand-in host, following the departure ofLeila Williams . She remained with the programme for only 16 editions, the last on3 September the same year, making her, to date, its shortest-serving presenter ever. She was removed from the series because of her imminent divorce from the musicianRay Ellington , and its perceived inappropriateness for a presenter of a children's programme in this era; one of West's successors,Lesley Judd , was to be more fortunate more than a decade later when she separated from the actorDerek Fowlds .The length of time West presented "Blue Peter" was so short that, for many years, she was not officially recognised as a "Blue Peter presenter", only being added to the official list of presenters upon the show's fortieth anniversary in
1998 . In contrast, her replacement,Valerie Singleton , ahead of whom West had come in earlier auditions, became the show's longest-serving female presenter untilKonnie Huq .Later career
After leaving "Blue Peter", she appeared in such shows as "", "Crossroads" and "
Lovejoy ". She also briefly returned to "Blue Peter" in 1998, to appear in its pantomime.External links
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/bluepeter/presenters/west.shtml Anita West]
BBC Blue Peter
*imdb|0921919
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