DESPITE the trappings of fame that accompany being a children's television presenter, Matt Baker has always remained close to his North-East roots.

Rather than a glitzy celebrity wedding, he opted for the small but beautiful parish church of St Andrew, in Winston, near Barnard Castle, to host his marriage to long-term girlfriend Nicola Mooney.

Matt became the 28th Blue Peter presenter five years ago.

BBC producers offered him the role after he impressed them with a showreel featuring his life on his family's farm, near Lanchester, County Durham, which had been filmed by his father, Mike.

Matt cut short his acting degree at Queen Mary's University College to accept the role, which he described at the time as a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

As a youngster, Matt was a keen a gymnast and competed in the British Young Gymnastics Squad. One of his earliest ambitions was to compete in the Olympic Games.

The BBC website claims his next ambition was to become a Blue Peter presenter

In a Northern Echo interview at the time, he said the job offer was a dream come true.

He said: "When I was told I'd got the job it was in such a matter-of-fact way that it didn't sink in at first.

"Then I just couldn't stop laughing my head off.

"I was smiling and laughing all the way home...so goodness knows what the people in the street thought."

One of his first assignments as a Blue Peter presenter showed him on his family's 90-acre farm, near Durham City.

Footage showed him playing with his three collie dogs, feeding lambs and rabbits, operating a mechanical digger and other farm machinery and showing off a restored vintage car.

The North-East connection with the Blue Peter programme continued when Meg, a border collie from Westfield Farm, Wolsingham, followed in the paw prints of previous Blue Peter dogs such as Shep and Goldie.

Matt helped trained Meg to become a working sheepdog.

Other assignments with Blue Peter included a training course with the Royal Marines, training as a stuntman in Florida and training as solo hang-gliding pilot.