Richard Bacon (TV presenter)

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name = Richard Bacon
birthname = Richard Bacon
birthdate = Birth date and age|1975|11|30|df=yes
birthplace = flagicon|England Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England
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occupation = TV/Radio presenter
yearsactive = 1993–present
spouse = Rebecca McFarlane
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Richard Bacon (born in Mansfield, England, 30 November 1975) is an English television and radio presenter.

Biography

Richard Bacon grew up in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire and went to St Peter's CE Primary School on "Bellamy Road", then the independent school Worksop College where he studied Communication, Business and Politics A levels. His father, Paul, is a partner in a firm of solicitors, established in Mansfield in 1866, and has been a former President of the [http://www.nottslawsoc.org Nottinghamshire Law Society] . His mother is still a Governor of his old primary school, and Mansfield correspondent for Radio Nottingham. He briefly began university as a Politics student but dropped out. Bacon's first job in the media was as a reporter for BBC Radio Nottingham, notably on the programme [http://www.bbc.co.uk/beat/ The Beat] . In February 1996, Bacon joined L!VE TV as reporter, a risky job which saw him being banned from the State Opening of Parliament.

"Blue Peter"

Bacon's first major break was as a presenter on the children's show "Blue Peter", which he joined on February 21 1997. However, he is more famous for being the first ever presenter in that programme's history to have his contract terminated in mid-run, on October 19 1998, after the tabloid journal "News of the World" published a report of him taking cocaine; by this time his tenure had lasted just over 18 months. After his dismissal the then Head of BBC children's programmes, Lorraine Heggessey, went on air to explain the situation to CBBC viewers.

Bacon presented with Stuart Miles, Katy Hill, Romana D'Annunzio and Konnie Huq.

After "Blue Peter"

Bacon's career survived the scandal, and he has since presented such shows as "The Big Breakfast" (with Amanda Byram), "Top of the Pops", and the reality TV show "Back To Reality". He was previously a presenter on radio stations BBC Radio Five Live, BBC7, and Capital FM, in addition to presenting the previous shows he had held at Xfm London. He left XFM at the end of March 2007 to pursue other broadcasting interests, including presenting BBC3's "Castaway Exposed" and returning to "Fighting Talk".

Bacon also hosted ITV's "This Morning" during the summer of 2005, with Denise van Outen, while regular presenters Phillip Schofield and Fern Britton were on their holidays. The enormous irony of his career is that he remains much in demand as a radio and television presenter, across many stations and categories of programming, "because" of his scandal involving "Blue Peter", rather than despite it.

Bacon is also noted for an incident in August 2005, when the band The Magic Numbers walked out of the BBC show "Top of the Pops" after presenter Bacon made a joke which was perceived to be about the body shape of members of the band; during rehearsals, he referred to the band as a 'big, fat melting pot of talent' [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4135380.stm BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Music | Rock band's fury at TV 'fat' quip ] ] .

Bacon's most recent television appearances include guest appearances on BBC's "Newsnight", "Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive", the narration of BBC Three's "Annoying Pop Songs We Love To Hate", "Annoying Pop Moments We Love To Hate", and guest hosting "The Wright Stuff" on Five the week commencing 19th November 2007 in March 2008 and the month of August 2008. Also in March 2008 he stood in for "Something for the Weekend"'s presenter Tim Lovejoy on the BBC Two Sunday morning magazine programme.

Bacon presented BBC Radio 5 Live's "Fighting Talk – Any Other Business" (a politically oriented spin-off from the same station's topical sports show, Fighting Talk) in December 2006, having presented a current affairs phone-in show for the station two years previously. In 2007 he made a cameo appearance in Hotel Babylon playing himself and hiring escort girls to play Scrabble with him all night.

Bacon now enjoys a radio career having presented drive time shows on Capital FM and the British indie-pop radio station Xfm. Since October 2007 he has been the regular presenter of the late night show weekdays on BBC Radio 5 Live, where he has also presented a variety of programmes over the last few years.

Recently, he has presented "The Most Annoying People of The Year 2007".

Bacon also writes for the newspaper The People with his film review page "Bacon On Films". [http://www.people.co.uk/showbiz/baconatthemovies/tm_headline=superseth-at-double%26method=full%26objectid=20264552%26siteid=93463-name_page.html.]

He is a celebrity supporter of the British Red Cross [http://www.redcross.org.uk/standard.asp?id=80102British Red Cross profile] where he is interested in their National Flood Appeal and international messaging services.

Personal life

Bacon married Rebecca McFarlane on 17 January 2008 at [http://www.babingtonhouse.co.uk Babington House] at Babington in Somerset. He was in a relationship with fellow Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq from just after he left the show in 1998 until 2006. On [http://www.chad.co.uk/news/Media-star-victim-of-brutal.1696932.jp August 7 2006] , he was [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4776467.stm attacked] by an ex-boyfriend of his current girlfriend in the gentlemen's toilets of the [http://www.traditionalpubslondon.co.uk/garrickarms/index.php Garrick Arms] pub in "Charing Cross Road" in central London.

In April 2008 Bacon had an operation to remove a noncancerous polyp from his vocal cords.

References

External links

*
* [http://www.xfm.co.uk/article.asp?id=4735 Richard's XFM profile]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/presenters/bacon_biog.shtml BBC Radio Five Live – Richard Bacon]