Which presenter was sacked from Blue Peter after it was discovered he had taken cocaine?
"When a ""make"" was featured in the programme, the creator of the item (invariably the retired Margaret Parnell or Gillian Shearing) was credited first (until credits were discontinued in 2008). An example of this would be """"Dolls House make by Margaret Parnell"""". In October 1998, Richard Bacon became the first presenter to have his contract terminated mid-run, after he admitted to taking cocaine and punching a wall, following reports in a tabloid newspaper. Lorraine Heggessey, then the Head of BBC Children's programmes, apologised on air. However, before Bacon, four previous presenters had left the programme when their contracts were not"
"Richard Bacon (broadcaster) Richard Paul Bacon (born 30 November 1975) is an English television and radio presenter. He was a host of the children's show ""Blue Peter""—his first high-profile media role—until he was fired in 1998 after 18 months for admitting to taking cocaine. He has since worked as a reporter or presenter on numerous television shows, including ""The Big Breakfast"", and on radio stations including Capital FM, Xfm London and BBC Radio Five Live. In 2016 Bacon became the presenter of The National Geographic Channel's reboot of its documentary/panel discussion TV series, ""Explorer"". Bacon grew up in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire,"
"saw him being banned from the State Opening of Parliament, and having a beer thrown at him by Damon Albarn as he tried to interview him leaving a nightclub. Bacon's television break was as a presenter on the children's show ""Blue Peter"", which he joined on 21 February 1997. He presented alongside Romana D'Annunzio, Katy Hill, Konnie Huq and Stuart Miles. On 19 October 1998 he was the programme's first-ever presenter to have his contract terminated in mid-season, after the tabloid newspaper ""News of the World"" published a report of Bacon taking cocaine. His tenure on the programme lasted just"
"television programme ""Blue Peter"", Richard Bacon, was in the headlines when it emerged he had taken cocaine. He was released from his BBC contract immediately. In May 2003, the defence correspondent of the BBC Radio 4 ""Today"" programme, Andrew Gilligan, quoted a government official who stated that the British government had ""sexed up"" a dossier concerning weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, against the wishes of the intelligence services. A newspaper report claimed that Alastair Campbell (the Prime Minister's Director of Communications and Strategy), was responsible. The government strongly denied the claims and this prompted an investigation by parliament. A"
"a gay man was also rumoured to have been a factor. He presented his last show on 24 June 1985. Sundin was very unhappy about this decision, and made his feelings known in the tabloid press. In 2007 the former editor of ""Blue Peter"" Biddy Baxter was interviewed by journalist Mark Lawson, transmitted as part of BBC Four’s ""Children’s TV On Trial"" week of programmes. For the first time on television, Baxter was confronted about the departure of Sundin. In the interview Baxter blamed the press for the inaccurate coverage of Sundin's sacking from the programme because of his sexuality."
"it was his fortune that one of the audition items was to interview someone on a trampoline, and he presented his first programme on 13 September 1984. In October 1985, a newspaper printed photographs of Sundin dancing with a male stripper in London. After fronting 77 episodes, the editors and production team for Blue Peter decided not to renew Sundin's contract following the summer break, because they felt that he had little rapport with the viewers and it was claimed by the editor that some parents and children complained about his effeminacy. However, coverage in the press of him as"
"dancer in the video for Rick Astley's ""She Wants to Dance With Me"" (1988). In 1988 Sundin fell ill. At the age of 28, he died in the Newcastle General Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne. ""The Times"" newspaper reported (on 26 July 1989) that he had died of liver cancer. Earlier the same year Sundin had denied having AIDS. Michael Sundin Michael Sundin (1 March 1961 – 23 July 1989) was an English television presenter, actor, dancer and trampolinist. He was a presenter of the BBC children's programme ""Blue Peter"" presenter for 77 episodes between 1984 and 1985. Michael Sundin was"
"a ""Blue Peter"" Team Player who was visiting that day. The visitor pretended to be a caller from an outside line who had won the phone-in and the chance to select a prize. The competition was rigged due to a technical error with receiving the calls. In July 2007, ""Blue Peter"" was given a £50,000 fine, by the Office of Communications (OFCOM) as a result of rigging the competition. ""I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!"" is a reality television game show series, originally created in the United Kingdom, and licensed globally to other countries. In its 2009 series,"
"did not appear for six editions, and was eventually fired, leaving Christopher Trace on his own or with one-off presenters. Parkhurst was replaced by John Furness, and Anita West joined Trace on 7 May 1962. She featured in just 16 editions, making her the shortest-serving presenter, and was replaced by Valerie Singleton, who presented regularly until 1972, and on special assignments until 1981. Following the departure of Furness, a new producer who was committed to ""Blue Peter"" was required, so Biddy Baxter was appointed. At the time she was contracted to schools' programmes on the radio, and therefore unable to"
"July 2007, ""Blue Peter"" was given a £50,000 fine, by the Office of Communications (OFCOM) as a result of rigging the competition. In August 2007 while the programme was off air for its annual Summer Expedition, long-time presenter Konnie Huq was involved in a press conference to promote the health benefits of cycling along with Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. The Conservative Party accused the BBC of political bias as a result of one of its employees appearing at what was construed as a pro-Labour Party event. The BBC claimed to have turned down the offer for Huq to appear,"
"behaviour by the producer, the last of which resulted in the book making front page headlines in some tabloid newspapers. Richard Marson's son Rupert Marson, 14, died at their St. Albans home in 2008. Police were called to the house on the morning of 8 June, whereupon Rupert Marson was pronounced dead at the scene. At the inquest a verdict of ""accidental death"" was declared. Richard Marson Richard Marson (born c.1967) is an English writer, television producer and director, best known as a former editor-in-chief of the BBC's children's television programme ""Blue Peter"". In September 2007, Marson was sacked from"
"various ""Blue Peter"" pantomimes. His last appearance was on 21 June 1999. Miles controversially decided to leave ""Blue Peter"" after declaring that it was 'out of touch' with the then-current generation of children and needed to be modernized, and was frustrated at not being selected for its newly-vacant job of Programme Editor; he also felt that the sacking of co-presenter Richard Bacon had not been handled well. Stuart presented with Diane-Louise Jordan, Tim Vincent, Katy Hill, Romana D'Annunzio, Richard Bacon, Konnie Huq and Simon Thomas. Since leaving ""Blue Peter"", Miles has guest-presented such programmes as ""This Morning"", ""Holiday"", and ""Soap"
"of the investigators after their enquiries revealed he was a significant consumer of cocaine, purchasing large quantities of the drug. The same evening he offered an explanation for the events in a message recorded at the studios of France 2, a few hours after his release, during which he stated that he was receiving treatment for his drug use and apologised for setting a bad example. The following week France Télévisions took the decision to suspend Delarue for a provisional, indeterminate period so that he could receive treatment and rest and recuperate. Sophie Davant took over the role of presenting"
"before being sacked in September 2007. In October 2006, ""Blue Peter"" ran a competition called ""Whose Shoes?"". More than 13,800 people entered, with calls costing 10p each, including 3.25p for a Unicef charity. Because of technical difficulties the researcher was unable to access callers' details, and subsequently selected the winner from a guest in the studio without referring the decision to the editor, deputy editor, or producer. Along with this, ""Blue Peter"" staff ignored the result of the online poll to name a new kitten, ignoring the winning name – ""Cookie"" – and calling the pet ""Socks"" instead. According to"
"be published. She was the subject of ""This Is Your Life"" in 2001 when she was surprised by Michael Aspel. Earlier, in 1974, she had been the featured castaway on ""Desert Island Discs"". Valerie Singleton Valerie Singleton, OBE (born 9 April 1937) is an English television and radio presenter best known as a presenter of the popular children's series ""Blue Peter"" from 1962-1972. She also presented the BBC Radio 4 ""PM"" programme for ten years as well as a series of radio and television programmes on financial and business issues. She is the daughter of an ex-RAF wing commander from"
"""Blue Peter"" extensive correspondence, also retired early, and the two sisters travelled extensively in Europe and North America, until Hazel died of cancer in 2001. Rosemary Gill died in February 2011, aged 80. Rosemary Gill Rosemary Ffolkes Gill (7 December 1930 – 22 February 2011) was an English children's television producer connected with ""Blue Peter"", ""Multi-Coloured Swap Shop"" and ""Saturday Superstore"". Gill was born in London to a schoolmaster and former nurse; the family lived in Camden Town. Her parents had met at Craiglockhart, near Edinburgh, where her mother was then working, the building being used as a military psychiatric"
"""Blue Peter"" in the past year. However, Nigel Kendall of the same newspaper called the programme """"entertaining"""" and its contestants """"likeable"""", while Paul Hoggart said that it gets its point across. Website ""TV Scoop"" said that the programme was """"a great experiment"""", but did not approve of the inclusion of """"fame hungry"""" participants and compared the programme to the most recent series of ""Big Brother"". The website Hecklerspray gave the programme a negative review, calling the participants """"absolute fucking morons"""", and Orange gave the programme 3 out of 5 stars. Channel 4 controller Julian Bellamy commented on the programme's failure"
"the programme at Easter and moving away from London so she could spend more time with Dexter and the rest of her family. She was replaced by Zöe Salmon, who originally took Liz's place in December 2004 when she had her baby. During her six years on Blue Peter, Barker presented with Konnie Huq, Simon Thomas, Matt Baker, Zöe Salmon and Gethin Jones. On 11 April 2006, Barker left the programme with a special ""This Is Your Life""-style show devoted to her, featuring former presenters, family, friends and people she had met along her ""Blue Peter"" travels, including Kitty Hart-Moxon."
"BBC One programme was moved from 5 pm to 4.35 pm to accommodate ""The Weakest Link"", and as a result, ""Blue Peter""s ratings initially dropped to as low as 100,000 viewers in the age 6–12 bracket, before steadily improving. As with the previous decade, numerous presenters joined and left the programme. This included the exits of Thomas, Baker and Barker and the additions of Zöe Salmon, Gethin Jones and Andy Akinwolere. Early 2008 saw the departure of Huq, who had become the longest serving female presenter with over ten years on the show. Later that year, Salmon and Jones both"
"the show by the producers. Several well known celebrities condemned the show for broadcasting her audition. Mind, a charity that aids people with mental health issues, publicly condemned the decision with a spokesperson saying ""We want people with mental health problems to participate, but need programme-makers to be responsible"". During the live shows, Frankie Cocozza was asked to leave the competition for boasting about using cocaine. The rules of the series strictly prohibit drug use during the show. His mentor, Gary Barlow, said that he was ""hugely disappointed"" by Cocozza's behaviour, but wished him luck with his future. Cocozza was"
"to join ""Blue Peter"" on 28 April 1983. During her four-year stint, she co-presented with Simon Groom, Sarah Greene, Peter Duncan, Michael Sundin, Mark Curry and Caron Keating. During the run, she became the first civilian woman in Europe to free fall from - but not before breaking her leg during training. Her last show was on 29 June 1987. It is commonly believed that Ellis was sacked from the programme for being unmarried and pregnant with son Jackson, but in recent years Ellis has stated that she was fully supported by the ""Blue Peter"" production team and the decision"
"King was eliminated from the show's semi-final. Mollie guest presented legendary children's television show Blue Peter on 8 January 2018 in place of usual host Radzi Chinyanganya. In January 2018, she stood in for Dan Wootton for a week on breakfast show Lorraine with the showbiz news. Throughout August she presented This Morning alongside a variety of co-presenters including Ben Shephard, Matt Edmondson and Mark Wright and is now the senior female relief presenter on the show. It was revealed in 2009 that ""The Saturdays"" would be the new faces of hair removal product Veet. They later became the new"
"Mike Smith died on 1 August 2014 following complications after major heart surgery. In April 2017, Greene guest presented an episode of ""This Morning"" alongside Phillip Schofield. She returned to guest present the show in July 2017, and again on 4 August 2017 and on 18 August 2017, alongside Rylan Clark-Neal. Greene became Ambassador for ovarian cancer charity Target Ovarian Cancer in 2012. Sarah Greene Elizabeth Sarah Greene (born 24 October 1957) is an English television personality. She presented ""Blue Peter"" from 19 May 1980 until 27 June 1983, as well as ""Saturday Superstore"", and ""Going Live"" for six years."
"presenters. In April 1998, Walker was offered his own weekly show on Radio 2, Saturday from 3:30 to 5:30pm, then six months later, as well as Saturday afternoons, Walker took over from John Dunn from 5 to 7pm Monday to Thursday. Des Lynam presented Friday's edition. In early 1999, Walker came off his show having been the subject of a tabloid exposé over his cocaine problem. BBC Radio 2 bosses gave Walker back his drivetime show after he was fined £2,000 for possession of cocaine. He was suspended by the BBC when the drug allegations were published in the ""News"
"presenter Andy Akinwolere's shirt in a minute. In March 2007 she apologised to viewers after a competition on the programme was faked, saying, ""We'd like to say sorry to you because when this mistake happened, we let you down."" She was later reported as saying that this event contributed to her decision to leave the programme. On 31 May 2007, Huq announced that she would be leaving ""Blue Peter"". On 22 January 2008, Huq hosted her final ""Blue Peter"", with a clip show of her highlights through the ten years she had been on the programme. She is the third"
"and owns 3 Aston Martins, a Land Rover, a Range Rover and a London Taxi (which she uses in ""Ghosthunting with...""), Porsche 911 and a Porsche Chesil Speedster (which Karl, her husband, gave Yvette as a 40th Birthday present in America). Fielding has stated that she has vitiligo, a disorder that causes depigmentation in patches of her skin. Yvette Fielding Yvette Paula Fielding (born 23 September 1968) is an English television presenter, producer and actress. She became the youngest presenter on ""Blue Peter"" aged 18, and one of her episodes was subsequently voted the ""Favourite ""Blue Peter"" moment"" ever. With"
"increase viewership, by mid-2009. In September 2010, the show was moved from Wednesdays and Tuesdays to Mondays and Tuesdays at the same time slot. From Thursday, 12 January 2012 another episode was dropped, with the show coming full circle by only broadcasting one new episode each week. For the first time in the show's history, first run episodes were now broadcast on the CBBC Channel, at 5.45pm on Thursdays. However, a repeat was still broadcast the following day on BBC One. Eventually however, in December 2012, ""Blue Peter"" ended its 54-year run on BBC One and now airs only on"
"show began airing at 5pm, due to ""Newsround"" moving to a later slot. From 2006 the show's output began to be reduced, first by dropping the Friday edition, and initially moving the programme schedule to Monday to Wednesday, before moving again to Tuesday to Thursday. In May 2007, it was announced the show would lose a show a week and return to broadcasting twice weekly, leaving Tuesday and Wednesday the only days on which ""Blue Peter"" was broadcast on BBC One. At the time the BBC claimed that the purpose of returning to two shows a week was to increase"
"having been her owner for more than nine years. There is a bust of Petra in the ""Blue Peter"" garden. It originally stood in front of BBC Television Centre but was moved to the garden in 1984 due to redevelopment works and now stands in the current garden at MediaCityUK. It was later revealed that the original (unnamed) puppy had died of distemper a few days after her first appearance on ""Blue Peter"", broadcast just before Christmas 1962. Instead of informing viewers, and feeling there was no need to upset children needlessly, the programme's director and producer Edward Barnes and"
"Santa Claus on Zoe Salmon's first appearance. Many presenters are awarded the more prestigious ""gold badge"" when they leave the show. When Simon Thomas left in 2005, he was awarded a gold badge on his last programme. This has since become a tradition with Liz Barker, Matt Baker, Konnie Huq, Katy Hill, Joel Defries, Andy Akinwolere, Helen Skelton and Barney Harwood also being awarded gold badges on their final show. Conversely, when Richard Bacon was fired from the show for drug use, he was required to hand back his Blue Peter badge. Several former presenters have been awarded them when"
"Trace and Leila Williams were the first presenters of ""Blue Peter"" in October 1958, and since then, there have been 37 subsequent presenters. The current presenting team comprises Radzi Chinyanganya and Lindsey Russell, who both joined the programme in 2013. Other personnel who have played roles on the show include the zoologist George Cansdale, who was the programme's first on-screen veterinarian, and Percy Thrower who was the show's gardening expert from 21 March 1974 to 23 November 1987 and was presented with a Gold ""Blue Peter"" badge shortly before he died in 1988. He was followed from 1988 until 1991"
"She voluntarily resigned from the series because of her imminent divorce from the musician Ray Ellington and her own worries of the inappropriateness for a presenter of a children's programme in this era. West never divulged her reasons for leaving to the producers, who deemed her ""unprofessional"" for simply walking out on the show. The length of time West presented ""Blue Peter"" was so short that, for many years, she was not officially recognised as a ""Blue Peter"" presenter, only being added to the official list of presenters upon the show's fortieth anniversary in 1998. In contrast, her replacement, Valerie"
"and Ed Sheeran, who was presented with a gold ""Blue Peter"" badge. Former presenters returned for the show and contributed to the broadcast, including Leila Williams, Anita West, Valerie Singleton, Peter Purves, Lesley Judd, Sarah Greene, Peter Duncan, Janet Ellis, Yvette Fielding, John Leslie, Diane-Louise Jordan, Anthea Turner, Tim Vincent, Stuart Miles, Katy Hill, Richard Bacon, Konnie Huq, Simon Thomas, Liz Barker, Zöe Salmon, Andy Akinwolere, Helen Skelton, Joel Defries and Barney Harwood. Matt Baker contributed a pre-recorded message and Mark Curry was represented by a lego model as he had to cancel his contribution due to ill health. The"