Friday, January 18, 2008

There are times when I'm ashamed to be a journalist. This is one of them. How is '75 year-old man goes shopping' a news story? I bet the photographer has a whole memory card full of pictures where Mr Bough's looking perfectly happy with his lot, but "Oooh, look. There's one where he's looking a bit pissed off because they're out of sun-dried tomatoes/his pound jammed in the trolley. Let's call it the tragic life of a forgotten broadcaster". I'm guessing that this sort of crap is exactly why he avoids the limelight. Sure, he did some foolish things back in the day, but his worst crime was getting caught. I'm sure that no Daily Mail journalists or executives have ever taken cocaine or paid for sex. Take no notice, Mr Bough. He was a consummate professional on Nationwide and Grandstand, and quite frankly no scandals can take that away from him. I hope that he and Nesta are having a lovely retirement.

3 comments:

Matthew Rudd said...

The 'surprise' appearance on HIGNFY did him everything but credit, as well. Angus Deayton had spent the previous one-and-a-half series using Frank Bough as the punchline for any gag about cocaine or stockings (to the extent that Ian Hislop got a bit annoyed about it), but when the man himself appeared, the host didn't have a single thing to say. It was left to Jo Brand to finally bring the subject up and for Hislop merely to point out the mild legal niceties. Bough laughed if off, and fair play to him for it, and there was never another gag that series about him.

This piece by the Mail is a colossal non-story.

bertieronbob said...

I'm with you on this one all the way.

Funnily enough, I've just written about the Daily Mail's continuing need to always refer to Richard Bacon as 'shamed former Blue Peter presenter', even though that happened 10 years ago and he has forged a successful career since.

I guess at least Bacon was lucky enough to get more work. Poor old Frank was sidelined into TV oblivion.

Bloody Daily Mail!

Louis Barfe said...

Frank was only sidelined into TV oblivion after he got caught a second time, as I recall it. He did the sackcloth and ashes first time, then was exposed for a second time and was dropped like a hot brick.