HEARTBREAKING: BBC Breakfast Presenter Who Was Sacked Over a Scandal Before His D3ath.
Frank Bough was the original presenter of BBC Breakfast Time (Image: BBC)
Frank Bough was one of the BBC’s most recognisable presenters from the 1960s to 1980s. He joined the BBC as a reporter in 1962 and went on to front some of the broadcaster’s most popular shows, including Breakfast Time, which was later relaunched as BBC Breakfast. The programme launched on BBC One in 1983, becoming the first ever national breakfast television show in Britain. Bough was Breakfast Time’s main presenter alongside Selina Scott.
Bough made a name for himself as being a smooth operator and his clean cut image made him one of the most desirable TV presenters out there. TV legend Michael Parkinson once said: “If my life depended on the smooth handling of a TV show, Bough would be my first choice to be in charge.”
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However, his career at the BBC came to an abrupt end five years later after News of the World reported he had taken cocaine and engaged with prostitutes at parties.
The tabloid also reported that he frequently visited brothels, shattering his image as a relaxed, family-oriented man.
Reflecting on the scandal that emerged in 1988, Bough said: “I’m not a wicked man, nor do I mean any harm or evil to people. I’ve made mistakes, but everyone’s entitled to do that. No one suffered but my wife, my family and myself.”
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“It was a brief but appalling period in my life. Don’t condemn my entire career for a brief episode I regret.”
Throughout the scandal, Bough’s wife, Welsh physiotherapist Nesta Howells, stood by him, going as far as condemning the press for publishing the story.
Bough’s wife stood by him and they remained married until his death (Image: PA)
She said: “Everybody has a sex life and a sexuality and that should generally stay within the confines of the family. These newspapers are dismantling and destroying institutions and people and for what? How much further do we have to go before there is some control?”
Howells, who married Bough after he left the army in 1959 and shared three sons with him, admitted she did contemplate leaving her husband.
Speaking in a Sky News programme, she confessed: “We have been together a long time. We have brought up a family. We have still got a lot going for us. I do feel betrayed by it, but I do not feel that it is anything personal to do with me.”
However, Bough’s troubles with the tabloids did not end there. In 1992, he faced further embarrassment after being photographed leaving the flat of a sex worker who specialised in sadomasochism, with reports claiming he had spent 50 minutes in a so-called “torture chamber” containing a slave cage and school canes.
Appearing on TV with his wife the following day, Bough said: “I am feeling exceedingly stupid. I bitterly regret many of the things in my life, and if only I could undo them I would.”
Although he was sacked from the BBC, Bough continued working throughout the 90s, fronting ITV’s coverage of the 1991 Rugby World Cup tournament and presenting on LBC Radio.
He officially retired from broadcasting in 1998. In 2001, Bough underwent a liver transplant after doctors discovered a tumour and he went on to make a full recovery.
Bough lived out his final days in a car home before passing away in October 2020 at the age of 87, with his cause of his death is still unknown.
