Richard Bacon denies snorting cocaine off Blue Peter tortoise

"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.