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Blue Peter star Max Stahl dies aged 66 as tributes pour in

Fans shared their tributes on Twitter

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Former Blue Peter star Max Stahl has died at the age of 66 as tributes poured in on social media.

The filmmaker died in Brisbane, Australia, on Wednesday (October 27) following a battle with cancer.

Max, who was known as Christopher Wenner during his Blue Peter stint, joined the children’s programme in 1978 until 1980.

blue Peter starChristopher Wenner - aka Max Stahl - dies aged 66
Max Stahl – aka Christopher Wenner – has died (Credit: Photo by Ken Towner/ANL/Shutterstock)

Blue Peter star Max Stahl dies

Tributes have poured in on Twitter for the star.

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One person said: “RIP Max Stahl. A hero of mine, a hero to many.”

Another wrote: “RIP Max Stahl legendary photo journalist who shot film of the Santa Cruz massacre in 1991 in Timor Leste.”

Another added: “Some career – from Blue Peter to war correspondent to hero of Timor-Leste. Christopher Wenner RIP.”

A fourth tweeted: “Gosh. Christopher Wenner from #BluePeter I know he had a difficult job taking over from an established team but he did a lot of action films whilst presenting the show.”

Meanwhile, following his Blue Peter days, Max starred in the 1984 Doctor Who adventure The Awakening.

He later returned to Blue Peter in 1983 and 1998 to celebrate the show’s birthdays.

However, he is best known for filming the horrific East Timor massacre when 271 protesters against Indonesian rule were killed in Dili’s Santa Cruz cemetery.

blue Peter starChristopher Wenner - aka Max Stahl - dies aged 66
Tributes have poured in for Max (Credit: Photo by Robin Nowacki/AP/Shutterstock)

Former East Timor President and Noble laureate José Ramos-Horta paid tribute to Max before his death.

Ramos-Horta said on Facebook: “We honour him as one of the true heroes of our struggle. There are only a few key points in the history of Timor-Leste where the course of our nation turned toward freedom. This was one of those points.

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“It was the first time our message broke through to the world. Human rights networks went into action.

“And this happened when one man was willing to risk his life to document up close what was happening and smuggled the message out of our country.”

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Rebecca Carter
Associate Editor (News)

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