She joined the BBC in 1961 as a continuity announcer and in 1962 joined Blue Peter where she stayed until 1972. She then continued until 1975 in a part-time role as a 'roving reporter'. Along with John Noakes she continues to be more closely associated with Blue Peter than any other former presenter. (Singleton was for a long time credited for being the third presenter, but the disclosure in 1998 of Anita West as her predecessor meant she slipped down to fourth).
During her time on Blue Peter, Singleton accompanied HRH Princess Anne (now The Princess Royal) on her first solo trip overseas in a Kenyan Royal Safari in 1971. In 1998, the two women met to reminisce about the Royal safari for one of Blue Peter's fortieth anniversary programmes.
Although she stopped presenting Blue Peter full-time in 1972 she continued making regular appearances, and was credited as a presenter, through to 1975. The documentary on the Royal Safari led to a spin-off series, Blue Peter Special Assignment in which Singleton was solo presenter. It was shown at weekends and ran from 1973-81. Each edition focussed initially on European capital cities, but later covered Islands and well-known historic figures.
After making the last of her 'in studio' appearances on Blue Peter in the spring of 1975, Singleton returned in January 1976 for the last time to mark the death of the original Blue Peter cat, Jason. This was the first occasion she was not credited as a presenter on the show's titles and marked the end of her long association with the programme. Just a few weeks later, producer Edward Barnes wrote to tell her that as she was no longer associated with the show in any genuine sense, they were replacing her as the presenter of the Special Assignment series. Her fees were also deemed a factor in their decision. However, the programme continued to repeat items featuring Singleton for many years and she returned for a final series of the Special Assignment spin off in 1981 reporting on the Yukon and Niagara Rivers. For both the 20th & 25th Anniversary editions of Blue Peter, Singleton moderated the live-link ups from around the British nation to launch the anniversary badge balloon hunts. She presented the "Outstanding Endeavour" award to its young recipient on the programme's 30th anniversary edition. Richard Marson states in his Blue Peter 50th Anniversary book that "Singleton never really left Blue Peter".
During her time on Blue Peter, Singleton also presented another BBC children's show, Val Meets... The VIPS, a chatshow which ran for three series during 1973-74. Each edition featured an interview with a single public figure to which an audience of children were invited to put across their questions. A guest in March 1973 was the Secretary of State for Education, Margaret Thatcher, who when asked if she would like to be Prime Minister said that she did not have enough experience, nor would there be a woman Prime Minister in her lifetime.
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