Former Blue Peter presenter marries gay partner
Mark Curry, who presented Blue Peter from 1986 to 1989, has entered a civil partnership with his partner Jeremy Sandle.
50 guests attended the ceremony at Marble Hill mansion, Twickenham.
Mr Curry and Mr Sandle, a chartered surveyor, share a house and have been together for ten years.
47 year old Mr Curry, who was not out whilst presenting Blue Peter for fear of ruining his career, called the day his “coming out” party. He told the Daily Mail:
“I’m a bit of a worrier. I get nervous just putting on a dinner party, so I was more than a little jittery about how things would go.
“Thankfully, there were no accidents or dramas.
“Jeremy and I are both mature people, who care deeply for each other and decided to formalise our union simply for legal purposes.
“Our families are 100 per cent supportive. It’s not that we needed to make any kind of declaration of our love.
“I’ve known that I was gay since my late teens, but I was advised early in the Eighties, by a seasoned ex-presenter, that it was best to keep quiet.
“I never told a lie, or took girls out to parties to throw people off.
“I was always true to myself and people who mattered knew.
“Still, there was always a worry I might lose my job if the public found out.
“But thankfully, times have changed and today no one is penalised for being who they are.”
Various other former Blue Peter presenters have received media attention due to their sexuality.
Stuart Miles, Gaydar radio DJ and nineties Blue Peter presenter, is an out gay man who this year took his one-man drag show, Pink Peter, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Blue Peter favourite Valerie Singleton, who presented on the children’s show during 1962-1972, recently denied rumours that she is a lesbian in The Mail on Sunday.
She told the paper:
“Every single friend of mine has at some point had to deny the rumour – it really is rubbish. I’m very honest and if I were that way inclined I’d have said so.”
