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Remembering when James Naughtie made a very rude spoonerism on Radio 4

James Naughtie will be leaving his role as a presenter on BBC Radio 4's Today programme to take up a new role at the corporation.

The veteran broadcaster was described as "the emotional heart of Today for a generation" by the BBC director general Tony Hall.

But as well as his sterling service over the course of a 21-year career on the programme, the Scot will also be fondly remembered for making a very, very naughty verbal error.

Naughtie replaced the H with a C when trying to say "Jeremy Hunt" on a Today episode in 2010 before barely being able to hold himself together in the news broadcast afterwards:


In case you missed it, here's a rough transcript of that broadcast:

Well first up, after the news, I'm going to be talking to Jeremy C---, erm, Hunt, the culture secretary, about (cough) broadband.

(Pause) It's 8 o'clock on Monday the 6th (gasp) of December.

American officials (inhale) have condemned WikiLeaks after the website published a list of hundreds of facilities said to be vital for American security.

Every community (choke) in Britain has been promised it will have access to the fastest broadband (choke) networks within five years (cough), excuse me.

And Egypt has called in international shark (gasp) experts to investigate a series of (inhale) attacks (cough cough) in the Red Sea (cough). Pardon me.

Nevertheless, an upbeat Naughtie apologised and later told listeners: "Sometimes things happen in live broadcasting that you deeply regret and anybody who was offended by what they heard I'm very sorry and I hope you all realise it was the most unintentional thing imaginable."

HT to Elena Cresci for the gif

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