Richard Paul Bacon is an English television and radio presenter, best
known as a former host of Blue Peter. Bacon's first high-profile media role
was as a presenter of the popular children's show Blue Peter, from which
he was fired in 1998 after 18 months. Following Blue Peter, Bacon worked as a
reporter or presenter on numerous television shows, including The Big
Breakfast, and on radio stations including Capital FM and Xfm London.
Early life and education Bacon grew up in Mansfield,
Nottinghamshire, and was educated at St Peter's Church of England Primary School
on Bellamy Road, followed by two independent schools, also in
Nottinghamshire: at Wellow House School, a preparatory school on Newark Road in
the village of Wellow, and then at Worksop College, a boarding school on
Windmill Lane in the town of Worksop. He studied Business Studies with
Electronics at Nottingham Trent University, but dropped out after a
year. Life and career
Bacon's first job before moving into media was working at a branch of
McDonald's restaurants. Bacon's first job in the media was as a
reporter for BBC Radio Nottingham, notably on the programme The Beat. In
February 1996, Bacon joined L!VE TV as reporter, which 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.
= Blue Peter= Bacon's television break was as a
presenter on the children's show Blue Peter, joining on 21 February 1997.
Bacon presented with 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 and cannabis. His tenure on the
program 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. = TV career since Blue Peter=
Bacon's television career survived the setback and he has since presented such
shows as The Big Breakfast, Top of the Pops, and reality TV shows Back To
Reality and Castaway Exposed. In August 2005, the band The Magic
Numbers walked out of Top of the Pops after Bacon made a remark that was
widely thought 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".
Since 2006, Bacon has narrated and presented BBC 3's Most Annoying People
series. Bacon guest hosted ITV's This Morning
during 2005, Channel 5's The Wright Stuff on several occasions during
2007–08, and BBC Two's Something for the Weekend from 2008 to 2009. He is the
narrator for series 1 to 3 of Sky's police documentary Brit Cops.
In late 2010, Bacon presented Richard Bacon's Beer & Pizza Club on ITV4. A
second series aired in late 2011. Just before the 2010 World Cup Bacon hosted a
show called World Cup's Most Shocking Moments, with Peter Crouch.
Bacon presented editions of BBC Three's Young Voters' Question Time. He has made
several TV cameo appearances as "himself", including Hotel Babylon in
2007, the episode "Video Killed the Radio Star" of the TV series FM, an
episode of The Thick of It both in 2009 and an episode of Psychoville in 2011.
In October 2011, Bacon hosted BBC Three's Up for Hire, an interactive
series over the course of five nights tackling one of Britain's biggest issues
– youth unemployment. In April 2012, he presented the Channel
4 television series Hidden Talent, where each programme featured ordinary members
of the public taking tests in certain fields or skills to identify any
previously unidentified talent. On 25 November 2013, Bacon hosted one
series of ITV game show Show Me the Telly. On 8 December 2013, he guest
presented an episode of Sunday Scoop. On 17 February 2014, Bacon hosted
one-off show Benefits Britain: The Debate for Channel 4. In 2014, he
presented the live Channel 4 programme How Rich Are You? about the UK economy.
In 2015, Bacon presented The Big Painting Challenge alongside Una Stubbs
for BBC One and sports show Eternal Glory for ITV. Bacon also joined Reena
Ninan as a substitute co-host of the American Broadcasting Company's World
News Now overnight and America This Morning news program.
= Radio career= Bacon joined BBC Radio 5 Live to present
the late-night show on Saturdays and Sundays. After this, he worked as an
announcer for BBC 7 and then a DJ for Capital FM followed by Xfm London.
Bacon returned to 5 Live and from November 2007 until December 2009
presented the late night programme, in which his sign-off copied that of Jack
Killian, the main character in the NBC television series Midnight Caller. Bacon
also stood in for Simon Mayo in the daytime film review programme on
occasion, and stated that his favourite film is The Apartment.
In January 2010, Bacon became the regular presenter of the BBC Radio 5
Live mid-afternoon show, where he replaced the departing Simon Mayo. The
show covered news, sport, celebrity interviews and special features. On
Tuesdays, there was a TV review with Boyd Hilton and another guest looking
back over the week's television and previewing future programmes. In the
Moan-In on Wednesdays, listeners could share their moans and receive marks out
of 10 from Bacon and a guest, often Dave Vitty. On Thursdays, the feature was
Chart The Week where two guests discuss the week's most talked-about news
stories. At the same time, he started to present a regular Saturday afternoon
show on BBC Radio 6 Music; he later left to concentrate on other commitments. He
returned to 6 Music in January 2012 for six weeks to present a Saturday morning
programme. Bacon's afternoon show attracted
criticism for its content, which was classified by the BBC Trust as "news".
Rival broadcaster Talksport made a general complaint in 2010 to the BBC
Trust, claiming the BBC Radio 5 Live station was not providing its mandatory
75% news output, "with many items falling outside of the remit, such as
'entertainment-based interviews' ... and listener-generated features."
Talksport's complaint "particularly singl[ed] out Bacon's two-hour weekday
afternoon show for criticism", finding in a poll that only 20% of listeners
considered Bacon's show to comprise "news". In their response, the BBC Trust
rejected Talksport's complaints, but admitted that a review was required to
develop "'a more nuanced method of monitoring the proportion of news
output' on 5 Live compared to the current system, which counts the whole
of Richard Bacon's afternoon show as news".
In August 2011, Bacon recommended that his listeners should watch a YouTube
video of comedian Doug Stanhope, in which he mocks Sarah Palin's disabled
son Trig. The Down's Syndrome Association complained to the BBC about
the broadcast, stating "the association is shocked that a BBC employee has
publicised the work of a comedian which is nothing more than a vile offensive
rant." Both Bacon and the BBC apologised for the broadcast, with Bacon writing "I
full well understand my responsibilities as a broadcaster and such a reference
fell below the standards I set myself personally in my broadcasting."
On 1 July 2014, it was announced that Bacon would be leaving BBC Radio 5 Live
later in the year. Bacon's last Radio 5 Live show was broadcast on 24 September
2014. = Personal life=
Bacon married Rebecca McFarlane in 2008 and lives in London. On 31 October 2011,
his wife gave birth to a son, Arthur, which Bacon revealed on his Twitter
account the following day. With almost 1.5m followers, he has one of the most
widely followed accounts of any British personality on Twitter. In October 2011,
Bacon announced on his podcast that he had been contacted by the Metropolitan
Police, who advised him that his phone had been hacked by the disgraced private
investigator Glenn Mulcaire. His wife gave birth to a daughter, Ivy,
in 2014. = Charity=
Bacon is a celebrity supporter of the British Red Cross and is particularly
interested in their National Flood Appeal and international messaging
services. References
External links Richard Bacon at the Internet Movie
Database Richard Bacon on Twitter