Richard Bacon had to stop Amazon Echo from telling kids about his Blue Peter cocaine sacking

The Amazon Echo can be a handy gadget for helping you find out general information - but presenter Richard Bacon has told how he had to act quickly when Alexa tried to tell his kids about some skeletons in his closet.

The TV star was a well-known face on BBC flag ship show Blue Peter, but he was sacked in the late 1990s after it was revealed he had took cocaine - something Alexa tried to share when Bacon’s children asked the device about their dad.

The 44-year-old, who now lives stateside with his wife and their two children, was appearing on Andy Coulson's Crisis What Crisis? podcast when he told of the incident.

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He said: “I am sitting in a room in my house in Los Angeles and there is one of those Amazon Alexas next to me and my kids said, ‘Oh Alexa, who is Richard Bacon?’.

“And it comes up straight away, ‘Richard Bacon is an English television presenter. He was fired from Blue Peter in 1998 for taking…’.

“I jumped in and said, ‘Alexa stop. Stop’.

“They said, ‘What are you saying stop for? Why did you get fired?’. And then they asked again.

“And so it is right there at the surface even though it was 21 years ago.”

Good luck getting out of that one, Richard!

Bacon had been on Blue Peter for less than two years when the now defunct News of the World reported he had taken cocaine.

The scandal led to his sacking, the first time ever time a presenter’s contract was terminated mid-season.

Read more: Richard Bacon admits ongoing alcohol addiction puts him in 'danger'

H was even forced to give back the much-coveted Blue Peter badge.

Despite the scandal, he went on to enjoy a career in TV and radio, with stints on Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast and Top of the Pops.

He know works behind the scenes in American TV.