Quite the headline, that
Richard Bacon, the former Blue Peter presenter, has denied the urban legend that he once snorted cocaine off the shell of one of the children’s show’s tortoises.
Bacon joined the show in 1997, but was dismissed 19 months later after reports claimed he had used Class A drugs.
The 45-year-old was asked about his dismissal from Blue Peter when appearing on Mel Giedroyc’s Dave comedy show, Unforgivable, recently
“I got fired for punctuality because if you take a lot of coke you’re always late,” he said.
Giedroyc then brought up the rumour that Bacon had once snorted the drug off one of the animals.
“Do you remember Fred and Frieda the tortoises? Big white lines,” she said, miming taking the white lines off the tortoise shells.
“I didn’t give any tortoises coke,” Bacon later explained. “I got fired for taking drugs.”
Bacon’s dismissal was major headline news at the time. He was, however, invited back to the show’s 60th anniversary celebrations.
