In a podcast in March, I told you about a programme on BBC television called Blue Peter. It is a popular and high-quality programme for children. It has been running for many years, since the early 1960s in fact.

　　Children like pet animals, so Blue Peter has a whole zoo of pets which appear on the programme. At present there are three dogs, a cat and a tortoise. The cat first appeared on the programme last January. At that time, it had no name. So Blue Peter asked the children who watch the programme to choose a name. The children voted on the Blue Peter web site. And a few weeks later, Blue Peter announced the name which the children had chosen – the cat would be called Socks.

　　However, Socks was not in fact the name which the children had chosen. The most popular name for the new cat had been Cookie. But the people who make Blue Peter decided that Cookie was not a suitable name for the cat. Why? I do not know. But Socks became the official name of the Blue Peter cat.

　　In the last few months, we in Britain have become worried about TV and radio programmes which mislead their viewers and listeners. There have been stories about phone-in competitions which no-one could win; and about “live” programmes which had actually been recorded. The radio and TV companies have promised that these things will stop. They have even sacked some of the staff responsible.

　　So the top people in the BBC were very embarrassed when they found out about Socks. At the beginning of the Blue Peter programme today, the presenters apologised to the children. They said that the BBC was very, very sorry about what had happened. They introduced a little kitten, who will be Socks’ friend on the programme. The kitten is called Cookie.

　　The children watching Blue Peter today probably wondered what the fuss was about. January was a long time ago. Most of the children have probably forgotten whether they voted for “Socks” or “Cookie” or some other name. They probably don’t care what the cat is called. I don’t care what the cat is called. Do you?

　　This is not the first time there has been a problem about the animals on Blue Peter. Over 40 years ago, there was a Blue Peter dog called Petra. But Petra became ill and died. What could the BBC do? It feared that the children would be upset if the BBC told them that Petra was dead. So they found another dog which looked exactly the same, and called the dog Petra, and the new Petra appeared on Blue Peter instead. No-one knew. Everyone was happy. And it was 30 years before the BBC revealed what had happened.