Blue Peter presenter was secretly expelled from school - but never told anyone

Blue Peter presenter John Noakes was expelled from school. Noakes, who died aged 83 in 2017, attended Shelf Council School, in Shelf, West Yorkshire, before moving to Rishworth School near Halifax.

It is believed he excelled in cross country running and gymnastics, but something happened which meant his time at the school was cut short. Despite never telling anyone, Noakes did admit this to another person when he returned to Rishworth School in 1982, decades after he was expelled.

The source who attended Rishworth exclusively told Express Online: "He used to go to the same school as me. It was called Rishworth near Halifax where he was born. He was a boarder there and one day he came back when he was famous.

"Nobody knew that he was there, he didn't announce it. None of the teachers even knew. He literally turned up in the car, went into the private study block and then came waltzing down the corridor and into my room because that's the room he had.

"But there was only me in the room and when he walked I recognised he was John Noakes. He said he'd come to look back around the school. We looked around and spent around an hour together."

The source revealed: "It turns out he had been expelled from our school. He didn't tell me why but was expelled from Rishworth."

When asked about their first impression of Noakes when they met, the source likened him to a burglar who wanted to get out of the school as fast as he could.

"It was like he didn't want to be there. He didn't do this, but my impression was it was like he'd broken it and wanted to get out as quickly as possible, but wanted to see as much as he could. It felt like he was in the wrong place," they said.

"He was not nervous, but he certainly wasn't at ease. He was looking around in a bit of a panic. It was quite odd really."

The source described Noakes as "a bit arrogant and dismissive", adding: "But he just walked around and I walked around with him. He knew exactly where he was, so I didn't have to show him around."

The former Rishworth student admitted pupils had heard rumours that Noakes had been expelled, but it was never confirmed. It spread that the reason for Noakes' departure was because he had relations with a member of the kitchen staff, however, there is evidence to suggest that actually happened.

"He told me he was expelled but not why," the source reiterated.

They also revealed that the late star missed out on a huge fortune after failing to visit his elderly auntie, who was nearing the end of her life. When Noakes decided not to visit, his auntie left her fortune to charity.