Scots broadcaster James Naughtie has apologised for an on-air gaffe on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme this morning in which he mispronounced Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s surname as the C-word.
The former Press and Journal journalist who then joined The Scotsman, was – say reports – mocked by the show's guests and also Hunt himself, who is said to have Tweeted: “They say prepare for anything before going on today but that took the biscuit… I was laughing as much as u Jim or shld I say Dr Spooner’.”
Naughtie apologised on the programme: “All I can say is, occasionally in live broadcasting, these things happen and I'm very sorry to anyone who thought it wasn't what they wanted to hear over their breakfast. Neither did I, needless to say.”
Reported The Guardian: “However, the culture secretary's patience was tested further just after 9.30am when [Scot, Andrew] Marr hosted a discussion about the Freudian slip as a follow-up to his colleague's mistake.
“'We're not going to repeat in quite the terms it happened,' Marr promised, before repeating exactly the same mistake Naughtie had made.
“Marr quickly corrected himself and apologised, saying: 'It's very hard to talk about it without saying it.'
“Both presenters may find some solace in knowing that they are not the first broadcasters to inadvertently blurt out the C-word.
“Their BBC colleague, [yet another Scot] Nicky Campbell has a track record of using the profanity on air, perhaps most memorably when introducing the 'master of the west Kent hunt'- with imaginable consequences.”
