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Richard Bacon (born 30 November 1975) is an English television and radio presenter.

Richard Bacon grew up in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire and went to the independent school Worksop College. His father is a partner in a firm of solicitors, established in Mansfield in 1866. 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, a risky job which saw him being banned from the State Opening of Parliament.

Richard'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.

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

Richard'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 BBC Radio Five Live's Fighting Talk.

Richard 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.

Richard 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'^[1].

Richard's most recent television appearances include guest appearances on BBC's Newsnight, Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive and the narration of BBC Three's Annoying Pop Songs We Love To Hate and Annoying Pop Moments We Love To Hate.

Richard presented BBC Radio Five 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.

Richard 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 Five Live, where he has also presented a variety of programmes over the last few years.

Bacon had a long-term relationship with fellow Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq, which started just after he left the show in 1998. However, in August 2006, Bacon announced that his relationship with Huq had come to an end.

• Richard Bacon at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard's XFM profile
• BBC Radio Five Live - Richard Bacon
• Richard Bacon's Fictional Scientology God - Kabooboo - MySpace Profile