Entertainment

Builders at the O2 arena accidentally dug up and damaged the Blue Peter time capsule 33 years early

Builders at the O2 arena accidentally dug up and damaged the Blue Peter time capsule 33 years early
Builders at the O2 arena accidentally dug up and damaged the Blue Peter time capsule 33 years early Builders at the O2 arena accidentally dug up and damaged the Blue Peter time capsule 33 years early

Contractors at the O2 made an unexpected discovery whilst digging up land in East London – they’d accidentally stumbled across Blue Peter’s 1998 time capsule.

Presenters Richard Bacon and Katy Hill had helped bury it 15ft below what was then the building site of the Millennium Dome, and it was due to be unearthed in 2050.

The time capsule was inadvertently damaged by machinery, but its contents remain intact.

Now it’s sitting in an office at the O2 waiting to be repaired and reburied.The BBC have hinted that new objects will be added, saying: “Although a little earlier than anticipated, we’re looking forward to sharing these memories with our viewers and making new ones as we return the capsule to the earth so that it can be reopened in 2050 as originally planned”.

Planners at the O2 and Blue Peter had a bit of a problem up until now – no one could remember where exactly the time capsule was buried.“The team at the O2 and our contractors ISG have been searching for the Blue Peter time capsule since we started construction work in 2016,” a spokesman for the venue said.

Its precious cargo includes a Tamagotchi, a picture of Princess Diana (who had died the year before), some coins, a Spice Girls CD (Geri Halliwell left the band that year), and of course, a Blue Peter badge.