She’s sometimes been criticised for her ‘aggressive’ approach to television interviews, but Naga Munchetty is even more pugnacious off screen.
The BBC Breakfast star has revealed that she once punched a teenage boy who pinched her bottom on a train.
‘Two young boys were there,’ she recalls. ‘They were probably about 15 or 16 and they were near the door as I went to get off. And they grabbed my bottom, pinched it, and I turned around and punched one of those boys and swore at them.’
Naga, who is now 50, adds: ‘I’m not saying that was right, but it was an instant reaction. And then, straight away after, was the fear that I was a woman on my own only a few years older than them and what would happen next.
‘I was fortunate enough that it shocked them and I was getting off the train and I was comforted by that. If I had been staying on the train I don’t know – I don’t think I would have wanted to be confronted by them.’
Her comments come after the presenter was placed ‘under review’, having been accused of bullying a junior colleague.
Naga Munchetty has revealed that she once punched a teenage boy who pinched her bottom on a train. ‘I’m not saying that was right, but it was an instant reaction,’ she adds
Munchetty was spoken to by executives after a junior staffer accused the journalist of bullying them, it was reported. Munchetty has not commented on the allegation.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘While we do not comment on individual cases, we take all complaints about conduct at work extremely seriously and will not tolerate behaviour that is not in line with our values. We have robust processes in place and would encourage any staff with concerns to raise them directly with us so they can be addressed.’
Naga was also reportedly hauled into a meeting after she made a sex jibe during an ad break on her radio show.
She is believed to have used a slang term for a sex act and reportedly asked a colleague if they had ever done it.
Ronnie’s girl is darling of shooting set
Country Life really is ploughing a new furrow. The house journal of the hunting, shooting and fishing set has broken new ground on its ‘girl in pearls’ page, featuring Leah Wood
Leah, who’s father is formerly hard-living Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, is the first daughter of a rock star to be featured
Country Life really is ploughing a new furrow. Just a week before Sir David Beckham becomes its first non-royal guest editor, the house journal of the hunting, shooting and fishing set has broken new ground on its ‘girl in pearls’ page.
It features Leah Wood, daughter of formerly hard-living Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood. ‘She’s the first daughter of a rock star to be featured,’ a source at the magazine tells me.
Artist Leah, 47, is wearing a red tulle ruffle dress alongside her dog, Bug, in front of her Northamptonshire home, where she lives with her husband, TV producer Jack MacDonald, and their two children.
He played a grown-up Ron Weasley in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in the West End, and Paul Thornley has suffered for his art. The actor reveals he was injured during a previous stage production. ‘A plaster of paris cactus fell on my head in the first preview of Noises Off at the National Theatre and split my head open,’ Thornley says. ‘The stage manager had to come on and tell the audience that the show was stopping.’
Duke attends brother-in-arms Guthrie’s funeral
The Duke of Kent turned 90 last week soon after losing his wife, Katharine, but is soldiering on
He attended the funeral mass for Field Marshal Lord Guthrie at Westminster Cathedral. The pair had regularly been on parade together
The Duke of Kent turned 90 last week soon after losing his wife, Katharine, but is soldiering on, as he showed yesterday when he attended the funeral mass for Field Marshal Lord Guthrie at Westminster Cathedral.
The two old soldiers had regularly been on parade together at Trooping The Colour, the Duke as Colonel of the Scots Guards, and Lord Guthrie as Colonel of The Life Guards. That role was poignantly symbolised by a riderless horse, motionless outside the Roman Catholic cathedral, with the Field Marshal’s boots facing backwards in their stirrups indicating that the old warrior would never ride again.
But always first in Guthrie’s heart, his elder son David told mourners including Queen Camilla’s first husband Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles, was the Welsh Guards, the regiment he was first introduced to by his mother’s cousin, Desmond Llewelyn – ‘Q’ for many years in James Bond films.
I’m no nepo sibling, says ‘McFly’ sister
West End star Carrie Hope Fletcher is fed up with people assuming that she owes her success to her brother, McFly pop star Tom Fletcher.
‘My first role as an adult was in Les Miserables and I didn’t tell anyone about the audition,’ she tells me. ‘The only person I told was my mum, so my brother only knew I had the part once I’d got it. The fact is that whoever opens a door for you, you still have to be the person to walk through it.’
The actress, 32, soon to appear in Elf the Musical at the Aldwych Theatre, adds: ‘Why would anyone hire someone famous’s sister to be in a show? Why wouldn’t they just hire someone famous?’
