SOOTY CELEBRATES HIS 65^th BIRTHDAY AT KATIE’S KIDS KITCHEN

• He might be turning 65 this month but Sooty has no intention of hanging up his magic wand just yet!
• Sooty celebrates his 65^th birthday at Shrewsbury based Katie’s Kids Kitchen
• With the current series of the Sooty Show riding high for CITV, he has just finished filming a new series at his home in the village of Brean,  Somerset and has no plans to retire when he gets his bus pass on 19^th July.

The perfect poster boy for the government’s drive to keep the nation working for longer, Sooty looks as good today as he did 65 years ago when Harry Corbett bought him for the princely sum of 7s6d on Blackpool’s North Pier.

Pre –school children at Shrewsbury based Katie’s Kids Kitchen had a very special visitor from a little bear yesterday.

His current show is CITV’s most popular pre-school show and with a new clothing range in the pipeline and a whole host of celebrities including Joe Pasquale, Amy Childs and Caroline Quentin lined up to appear alongside him, the little bear shows no signs of slowing down now that he has reached the age of retirement.

Unfortunately Sooty didn’t return our calls (although we did receive a few silent messages earlier in the week), but we did manage to speak to his current business partner Richard Cadell who stars alongside him in the Sooty Show “I don’t know where he gets his energy from.  I suppose in Teddy Bear years he is only 5 and having spent a lot of time with him lately filming the new series I think that’s probably an accurate reflection of his true age.”

“He just can’t help himself when it comes to practical jokes, only this morning I found him hiding one of Sweep’s bones in Soo’s bed and there’s never a day goes by when I don’t get caught out by a flying custard pie or squirt from his water pistol.  I guess that must be his secret, he’ll always be young at heart!”

True to form, Sooty has a packed summer ahead of him with residences at Pontins and Cadbury World, after which he’ll begin rehearsals for his hugely popular live Christmas show in London’s West End.