Blue Peter stretch of track which, on 3 July 1938, saw the world speed record for steam locomotives of set by LNER A4 Locomotive no. 4468 "Mallard". In October 1998, Richard Bacon was sacked, following reports in "News of the World" that he had taken cocaine. This incident followed shortly after the show's 40th anniversary, when previous presenters returned for a special programme. Those returning included Leila Williams, Valerie Singleton, John Noakes, Peter Purves, Diane Louise Jordan, Anthea Turner, John Leslie, Tim Vincent, Yvette Fielding, Caron Keating, Mark Curry, Janet Ellis, Peter Duncan, Sarah Greene, Tina Heath, Simon Groome and Christopher Wenner.
Cocaine in the United States violent, cocaine-crazed fiend and pushed over the edge by a few violent episodes. It was an image of the cocaine-user that carried acute racial overtones. Before any substantive federal regulation of cocaine, state and local municipalities evoked their own means to regulate cocaine. Because of the initial lack of targeted legislation, on both federal and state level, the most typical strategy by law enforcement was the application of nuisance laws pertaining to vagrancy and disturbing the peace. Subsequent legislative actions aimed at controlling the distribution of cocaine rather than its manufacture. Reformers took this approach in part because of legal