When is the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup and who has won it the most times?

Blue Peter's Valerie Singleton speaking to camera

She said: "Well, there's another lion that I think you're going to see quite a lot about in the news this year. He's been chosen as the mascot for the World Cup football finals, which are being held in England this summer."

Camera cuts to World Cup Willie mascot

Pointing at the figure, Singleton continues: "And this is the one that I made for our Blue Peter shelves, and he's very simple to make. His head is made out of a woolly ball. He's got an egg carton for his face, felt clothes, and pipe cleaner body, legs and arms wrapped around with wool. Very simple to make.*

Cuts back Valerie Singleton demonstrating how to make your own World Cup Willie

"And if you want to make one, this is what you do. First of all, you make the shape of the man out of pipe cleaners like this, make them nice and firm. And we've done this quite a lot of times before, if you remember we used pipe cleaner bases for the horses that we made after the Black Beauty story.

"And when you've done that you then begin to wrap wool all the way around until it looks like this. And because you obviously want the body very much fatter than the rest of the figure, I started off by using a nylon stocking just on this part, saves using so much wool and of course the wool is a lovely fawn colour which is just right for a lion.

"Well then the next thing to do is to do the socks and I just cut up a bit of an old sock that I had and I folded it in half like that, sewed it up one side and along the bottom, turned it the right side out and there they are. And in fact, to make them look really realistic, just around the top I've put some red wool and then, leaving a gap for the white, I put some blue wool. So it gets that lovely ribbed look of the footballer's socks and, of course, the red, white and blue.

"And the next thing are his shorts - and, again, we've done this lots of times before. Here I've used felt, as I said, because you don'tneed to do any hemming and again, we make quite sure that it goes all the way round, just slightly overlapping for the seam, and reaches from his waist down to his knees.

"And then, if you remember, we cut a very tiny slit like that and sew up the two sides of the shorts and up the front for thetrousers, until they're like that. There they are.

"And those now slip on over the bottom like that. And if you're wondering why I'm doing the clothes first and I haven't got onto the head yet, it's because it's very much easier to dress him first and it's quite a good idea to just pin this in place like that back and front. Of course you'd sew it, i'm just putting a pin in it for now.

"That holds it nice and firmly there, so there he's got his shorts and his socks. Now for the top again I've used felt - this time it's lovely bright blue And again, I've cut a piece that goes from about one elbow across to the other elbow and reaches just over the top of the shorts.

"And you can see if I hold it up that I have, in fact, cut out the sort of arm shape here by cutting it in about a quarter of an inch and then bringing it out like that, so you get the curve of the arm. And I did two exactly the same. There they are.

"Leaving one as it is with the other one, we're going to make up a Union Jack on the front. And it's a very good idea when you're doing this to have a flag just by you so you make quite sure you do it properly. And using ordinary tape, first of all the white, we're going to do the smaller of the crosses, one of the saltire crosses.

"And, I'm just pinning this for the moment, that goes across there, that one goes that way. So you've got there the white running across and the red tape that I've used in fact is exactly the same width. But if you fold it in half and then put it across the middle, you can see there that it looks exactly right. Like that.

"And here, in fact, I have got one that I finished. There it is. And you see that the important thing to do, in fact, is to do the smaller, thinner cross that way first. Completely finish it with the white and the red. Then when you've done that, you can start building up the big cross on the front, which, of course, is the St. George's cross.

"Slightly wider white tape, and the red tape is exactly the same one as I use here, only this time, as it is not folded in half. Then at the sides you can see I folded it up or rather sewn it up here, leaving the gap for the sleeves and also on the other side and this slips again over his legs. I think it's the easiest way.

"Arms fitting in through there and again sew it along the shoulder seams like that. Don't forget to leave a gap for the head in there and there you've got him almost finished. In fact, the next thing, of course, he needs are his football boots.

"And for this, I used the ordinary ski boots that you can get for these teenage dolls. And if you cut them down, they are, in fact, rubber. If you cut them down, they look exactly like football boots. And these slip on his feet. One on that side and one on the other side.And there you are - he's completely dressed.

"Now, of course, the next thing we need is his head. And for this, I've made a woolly ball and this is rather interesting, actually, because it's completely different from the way that we've made them before. This time, instead of using two circles of cardboard, I've used just an ordinary square and wrapped it round and round and round like that. And you then slip this off like that.

"I'm just going to use the end bit there to tie it. That goes round the middle. Make sure that it does fit in the middle and pull it tight likethat and then simply cut through the loops. And when you've done that, make quite sure you cut through all of them, you can then begin to open it out. Ouch, snipping me there - careful you don't do that.

"And fluff it up and trim it until when you've done it, you've trimmed it nice and closely, you'll find it makes it look much softer until you've got that shape. And for the face, I've used an egg carton. And here I've used the bit where the egg fits in.

"You can just see the line that I've drawn round that, which in fact is the bit that we're going to use. And onto that, you paint a World Cup Willie face. There it is. It looks exactly like a lion. I've painted this, by the way, a sort of sandy colour rather than leave it the white. And this, we're going to stick onto, like that, onto the front.

"Should, if you push it on really firmly, stick on. There you are, like that. You can see it. Oh, well, it should do. I think it needs to be held for a few moments longer, in fact. And when you've done that, you then give him ears, again out of the egg carton, just painted the same colour.

"And by the way, the head is very slightly darker. And a cocktail stick, put that through there like that, and in turn, put that into the top.If you put a bit of glue on that, it should hold it nice and firmly.

"Finally, his tail, which again is just a pipe cleaner, curled round like that and just cut the ends so that you get the nice bushy tail. And, of course, that curls up like that.

"Put it up the back of the jacket and you can stick that. I find that it stays as it is, actually. Ease his head up a bit - there it is. You've got World Cup Willie.

"And, of course, all he needs now is his cup - his football. There it is. It's a ping-pong ball painted brown, and it says on it, 'World Cup.' Of course all he does need now is the cup as well.

"Well anyway i think he'd make a rather splendid mascot. I think he's fun to make - anyway let's hope you have a go."

End of Blue Peter segment