Editing Angus Deayton (section)

===''Have I Got News for You''===
Deayton's suave manner as host of ''Have I Got News for You'' led to his being nicknamed "TV's Mr Sex", by a ''[[Time Out (company)|Time Out]]'' listings writer.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/2006399.stm
|title= Angus Deayton: Answering questions for a change
|work=BBC News|access-date=25 December 2006 | date=24 May 2002| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061206043653/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/2006399.stm| archive-date= 6 December 2006 | url-status= live}}</ref>

In May 2002, the British tabloid newspaper the ''[[News of the World]]'' reported he had taken [[cocaine]] and had sex with [[prostitutes]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2005881.stm |work=BBC News|first=Jonathan|last=Duffy |title=Deayton in the lion's den|date=24 May 2002}}</ref> He was ridiculed by [[Paul Merton]] and [[Ian Hislop]] in the following episode of ''Have I Got News for You'' but continued as presenter. Deayton began the episode with: "Good evening and welcome to ''Have I Got News for You'', where this week's loser is presenting it." He added later, "There is, by the way, no need to adjust your set, my face is this red."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2005881.stm |title=Sex Scandal |work=BBC News|date=24 May 2002 |access-date=30 May 2009 |first=Jonathan |last=Duffy}}</ref>

Following more allegations in October, Deayton was dismissed after two episodes of the new series. One online poll, on the BBC's own website, showed over three-quarters of respondents wanted Deayton to stay on as the programme's host.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/2371021.stm|title=BBC : Was the BBC right to sack Angus Deayton?|work=BBC News|date=4 November 2002 |access-date=20 December 2010}}</ref> In April 2003, [[Stephen Fry]] supported Deayton by refusing to appear on the show again.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2953181.stm |title=BBC : Fry boycotts 'pathetic' quiz |work=BBC News|date=16 April 2003 |access-date=30 May 2009| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090416123832/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2953181.stm| archive-date= 16 April 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref>

Responding to Merton's "I didn't stab him in the back, I stabbed him in the front" line regarding the episode, in 2016 Deayton said: "Yes, I've heard this and [his comment] is a way of not answering the question. But it's such a tangled web to describe what happened. And Merton and Hislop probably don't know what was happening in the background."<ref name=herald/>