Blue Peter presenter Max Stahl has died at the age of 66.
The actor and broadcaster, who was known to millions of children for hosting the beloved series in the late 1970s, passed away in Australia after a lengthy battle with cancer.
Tributes soon poured in for Max, who after leaving Blue Peter went onto win awards for his coverage of global news events, including the massacre of 271 protestors in East Timor in 1991.
RIP: Max Stahl, Blue Peter presenter, has died at the tender age of 66. The children’s TV icon hosted by Max Stahl, an actor and broadcaster, from 1978 to 1981.
Max was known as Christopher Wenner during his time on Blue Peter, and fronted the show from 1978 to 1980 alongside stars including Lesley Judd, Simon Groom and Tina Heath.
He began his career as an actor, writer, and then he moved to children’s TV. But he left the show when his bosses refused to renew his contract.
After departing the show the father-of-four starred in the 1984 Doctor Who serial The Awakening and returned to Blue Peter on two occasions in 1983 and 1998.
Tragic news: The actor/broadcaster was famous to millions of children because he hosted the beloved series in the 1970s, before becoming a well-respected war journalist (pictured here in 2016).
Death news: Max passed away in Brisbane Australia after a lengthy battle with throat cancer. Max was first treated for the disease in 2012.
Max eventually became a war correspondent covering the Lebanon Civil War from Beirut in 1980s. He also covered the death of more 200 East Timor protestors.
He described the incident to BBC in 2016. The soldiers who arrived aimed their guns at a crowd numbering in excess of a few thousand young people.
“I could clearly see that it was only an issue of time before they came at me, and at that moment I thought, well, I should get out of here.
East Timor’s former President Xanana Gusmão shared a letter of condolence with Max’s wife Ingrid after his death was announced.
The letter was shared on Xanana’s Facebook. It stated that Max was someone I admired greatly and who was an inspiration to me during the most difficult times of our struggle. Max will always be remembered, and his work will remain a legacy for our country.
In 2000, under his name Max Stahl, he won the Rory Peck Award for Hard News, and he was known as one of the first Western journalists to recognise the scope of tensions in the Russian republic of Chechnya.
Max’s two-decade-long career on and off the screen was spanned by a variety of channels in the US, Australia and England.
Sophie McNeill, a journalist, was one of the many to pay tribute. She tweeted: ‘Very saddened to hear about Max Stahl’s death.
Max is one such person. Vale Max, RIP. You were a legend.