This was the first language I ever learned, and I think it was worth it. I still use it (occassionally) whenever I don't need Win-32 programs or the power of C/C++ I use QuickBASIC. It's also a good language if you plan to learn Visual Basic, because you get the basic ideas and commands without the complex structuring. Anyway, if your a newbie to the field of programming, it's a good language to start with because of it's simplicity.
Many programmers believe that because it's called BASIC, it's not a good language, or not worth learning or anything like that, but that's an error. BASIC stands for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code and if you spend enough time on it, it's great for instruction. You can get almost as complex with BASIC code as you can with 16-bit C and it provides an excellent jump-off language. You can create your own data types similar to the C structs, and sub-routines that approach the object-oriented structure of C++.
If you are seriously interested in learning BASIC, click here to download Microsoft QuickBASIC 4.5. This isn't the full version so you can't make excecutable files out of the programs that you write, but you can write them and run them, so it's definitely enough to learn the language with. I'll try to have a tutorial uploaded soon, but don't hold your breath.