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.
John Leslie (TV presenter) management, only to be locked out when they tried to return. By the end of the year, the radio station had become automated, with no presenters. On 28 March 2014, it was announced that Leslie would begin presenting his own Saturday (10:00 to 14:00) radio show across the Scottish Bauer Radio AM network, debuting the following day. In October 2002, Ulrika Jonsson had written in her autobiography, "Honest", that "an acquaintance" had raped her when she was 19. It became known that the man was a TV presenter after comments by Jonathan Ross on his chat show. Amid media speculation,