Anita West
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anita West | |
|---|---|
| Occupations | Actress, television presenter |
| Known for | Blue Peter |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
Anita West is a British former actress and television presenter.
On 7 May 1962, West joined the British children's television show Blue Peter as co-host, following the departure of Leila Williams. She remained with the programme for only sixteen editions, the last being shown on 3 September 1962, making her one of the programme's shortest-serving presenters (other than stand-ins Ann Taylor, Tony Hart and Sandra Michaels). She voluntarily resigned from the show because of her imminent divorce (in 1962) from the musician Ray Ellington; she believed that audiences would find it inappropriate for a divorcée to present a children's programme. West never divulged her reasons for leaving to the producers, who deemed her "unprofessional" for simply walking out on the show.[1][2]
West's tenure was so short that, for several decades, she was not officially recognised as a Blue Peter presenter, only being added to the official list of presenters upon the show's 40th anniversary in 1998.[3] In contrast, her replacement, Valerie Singleton, ahead of whom West had come in earlier auditions,[3] became the show's longest-serving female presenter until Konnie Huq.[4] Additionally, due to the BBC's policy of not recording programmes at the time, no footage of West's time on Blue Peter exists.[5]
Later career
After leaving Blue Peter, West appeared in such shows as Space: 1999, Crossroads as Doctor Hilary Maddox, The Saint and Lovejoy. She also briefly returned to Blue Peter in 1998 to appear in its pantomime.
In the 1970s, she was a PR hostess at the Palm Beach Casino Club in Mayfair.
She appeared in the films Impact (1963), Shadow of Fear (1964), Ring of Spies (1964) and Joey Boy (1965).[5]
