He taught a generation their maths times tables on much-loved BBC shows such as Think of a Number.
But Johnny Ball, 85, has accused the corporation of destroying children’s television by moving it to dedicated channels.
The presenter, who is the father of Radio 2 DJ Zoe Ball, pointed out that viewing figures for his shows regularly reached as high as five or six million.
Ball hosted Play School from 1967 before fronting a number of educational programmes up until the 1990s. In 2002, the BBC relaunched CBBC as a separate channel.
Ball said: ‘The BBC destroyed children’s TV by giving it its own channels. Blue Peter on one occasion last year recorded no viewers.’
Presenter Johnny Ball, seen here with his daughter Zoe Ball, has said the BBC is destroying children’s television
Ball hosted Play School from 1967 before fronting a number of educational programmes up until the 1990s
He also blamed 1990s dramas such as Byker Grove, starring Ant and Dec, for the decline in children’s viewing figures.
He said they ‘taught kids how to be naughty, which they already learnt for themselves’.
Ball told the Telegraph: ‘In our factual days, we were by far the finest children’s TV production unit in the entire world.
‘My shows might stand repeating even today.’ Ball served in the RAF as a radar operator on the border between East and West Berlin during the Cold War, but admitted he found television culture to be far more ‘cut throat’.
After leaving the industry in 1994, the presenter worked in the private sector producing promotional videos for energy companies.
He has returned to mainstream television on several occasions, including stints on Strictly and Gogglebox. But of pitching programming ideas to industry executives, he said: ‘The phone doesn’t ring as often as I’d like. People seem to want simpler and stupider ideas than I do.’
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