On the latest episode of the Daily Mail's Tales From the Celebrity Trenches, Jamie East sits down with broadcaster to go behind the scenes of one of British TV's most varied and fascinating careers.
Showbiz
Cocaine Scandal Changed My Life for the Better
On the latest episode of the Daily Mail's Tales From the Celebrity Trenches, Jamie East sits down with broadcaster Richard Bacon to go behind the scenes of one ...
Bacon, 50, got his big break at just 21 years old after being offered a presenting role on in 1997. Less than two years into life as a children's TV regular, the broadcaster was unceremoniously sacked after being caught doing cocaine.
The News of the World ran a story about Bacon headlined 'Blue Peter Goody-Goody Is a Cocaine-Snorting Sneak', timing its release with the show's fortieth birthday for maximum impact. He was sacked virtually overnight, with the announcing his departure on 19 October 1998.
Reflecting on the scandal 28 years later, Bacon joked that if Blue Peter hadn't happened, he'd have ended up presenting a budget holiday show instead of finding fame on 's Big Breakfast.
On the latest Tales From the Celebrity Trenches, Jamie East sits down with Richard Bacon to go behind the scenes of one of British TV's most varied and fascinating careers
Bacon got his big break at just 21 years old after being offered a presenting role on Blue Peter in 1997
Advertisement
'It's changed the whole course of my life', Bacon told the podcast.
'When I got thrown off that show, the Big Breakfast came calling. The host Johnny Vaughan had been to prison for dealing cocaine, so it just seemed like a natural home. It made mine look like nothing.'
'I don't think you get out of a marriage contract by tearing it up? I mean, we'd all like to get out contracts that way, wouldn't we?
Advertisement
'So, in strict legal terms, I was married to Britney Spears.'
Bacon added that his practical joke got out of hand two years later, when Spears married dancer Kevin Federline in 2004.
On his own Xfm radio show around the time of their nuptials, Bacon retold his marriage story, jokingly referring to Spears as a bigamist.
'All of a sudden, there were news stories that ran with the headline: Spears a Bigamist', Bacon said.
Advertisement
'It was so fun seeing the NBC logo above a headline that said Britney Spears is a bigamist - she's married to British radio presenter Richard Bacon.'
Catch Bacon and East's candid chat in full by searching for Tales From The Celebrity Trenches, wherever you get your podcasts.
