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Wales Online
Wales Online
Lifestyle
Stephanie Colderick

BBC The Weakest Link: Tony Blackburn, from BBC sacking to Valium addiction

Appearing on The Weakest Link on Saturday, January, 22, is famous DJ and radio presenter Tony Blackburn who has suffered scandal with the BBC and battled a valium addiction.

Tony rose to fame with BBC Radio 1 as the first DJ to be heard on the station, on the morning show, when it began in 1967.

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He also hosted the popular TV music show Top of the Pops and later in his career moved over to present the BBC Radio Two morning show.

The 78-year-old suffered scandal in 2016 when he was dismissed from the BBC by Lord Hall, who was the Director-General at the time, due to the investigation into the sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile.

He was dismissed as Lord Hall stated that documents from the early 1970s were in conflict with evidence that Tony had given to Dame Janet Smith's inquiry into Jimmy Savile.

Tony believed he had been used as a scapegoat and wanted to take legal action against the BBC. However, later in 2016 Tony was reinstated to the BBC, presenting an hour-long show on BBC Radio Two on Friday evenings.

Tony is currently married to his second wife Debbie, with whom he has a daughter called Victoria. He also has a son, Simon, with his first wife, actress Tess Wyatt.

They married in 1972, after one year together, and divorced in 1977 after Tony had an affair with their neighbour.

After the breakup of the marriage, Tony became addicted to Valium, which he had been prescribed, and started taking more than his recommended dose.

In 2002 Tony entered the first ever series of I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! and became the first winner and King of the Jungle after facing snakes, frogs, and horrendous Busktucker Trials.

The radio star has also presented for Smooth Radio, Thames Radio and started his career on the offshore pirate radio stations, Radio Caroline and Radio London.

He currently presents Sound of the 60s on BBC Radio Two every Saturday and has a podcast with Kaiser Chief frontman Ricky Wilson called Ricky and Tony's Pop Detectives where they look at the myths and rumours about pop stars.

The Weakest Link will be aired on Saturday, January, 22, at 6.10pm on BBC One.

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