He co-presented the BBC children's magazine programme Blue Peter in the 1960s and 1970s and is the show's longest-serving presenter, with a tenure that lasted 12 years and six months.

The following year, his mother married Canadian big band trumpeter Alfred "Alfie" Noakes (1903–1982) and John took his surname.

[5][6] When Noakes decided to become an actor, he took lessons at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, which he paid for by doing a cleaning job and working as a hotel liftboy.

[7] After spending six months in the Broadway production of Arnold Wesker's Chips with Everything, Noakes moved back to the UK to work in rep in Surrey where he met his wife-to-be, Vicky.

[8] He followed this with the role of Anselme Popinot in mini-series The Rise and Fall of César Birotteau on BBC2, a four-part dramatisation broadcast in June 1965.

[9][10][11][12] His last dramatic role on television before joining Blue Peter was in an episode of the crime series Mogul later called The Troubleshooters, starring Barry Foster and Geoffrey Keen, broadcast on BBC1 in August 1965.

When Singleton began to diversify her television career, former Young Generation dancer Lesley Judd joined the team.

Highlights included changing the billboard name for the 1971 premier of Bedknobs and Broomsticks in London's Leicester Square,[16] free-fall parachuting with the RAF's Flying Falcons display team and bobsleighing (his sled hit a hole in the ice and turned over, injuring him).

[17][18] His 1977 unassisted ascent of the 51-metre-high (167 ft) Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square in London has been voted the greatest moment in children's TV programming.

After Patch's sudden death in 1971 he was given another pet dog, a Border Collie puppy, named Shep by viewers.

[31] Noakes refused to appear on a special edition of Blue Peter to celebrate its twentieth birthday in October 1978 because of his poor relationship with Baxter.

[31] Despite coming across as a natural presenter, he claimed his television personality was merely a role he played; one he once called "Idiot Noakes".

[34] In 1979, Noakes wrote a children's book, The Flight of the Magic Clog,[14] published by Fontana with illustrations by Toni Goffe.

In the book, Mr. Brooks takes John, Mickey the clever one, June the talkative one, Barbara the pretty one and Eric the clumsy one on an adventure against the international villain Baron Wilhelm Doppleganger and his secret arms factory, using a giant, magic flying clog.

[35] John Noakes also appeared in & voiced several television commercials throughout the 1980s, for products ranging from Andrex toilet tissue, Paper Mate pens, Everest Double Glazing & a public information film encouraging owners to keep their dogs on leads when in the countryside.

[4] On 30 June 2015, Noakes was reported missing from his home in Andratx, Majorca: he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease some years before.