Trevor McDonald slated for telling drinking tales about Bosanquet

Sir Trevor McDonald (pictured) has been accused of smearing the name of a former colleague. Earlier this year, in an interview with the wine magazine Decanter, the veteran ITN newsman recalled the antics of Reggie Bosanquet (inset), who for many years co-presented News at Ten with him, suggesting that he was an alcoholic who had to be dragged out of the pub five minutes before the programme went on air.

"There was a bar across the street and most people could be found there day and night," Sir Trevor said in the interview, which was primarily about his love of wine. "My co-anchor, Reggie Bosanquet, had to be dragged out at five minutes to 10 and persuaded to sit down. How we used to carry on working I'll never know."

It is true that Bosanquet, who died in 1984, had a reputation as a bon vivant, acquiring the nicknames "Reginald Beaujolais"and "Reginald Boozalot". But many of his former colleagues claim that Sir Trevor's remarks go too far. In this month's edition of the ITN's 1955 Club newsletter, past and present members of staff accuse McDonald of lying about his former co-anchor. Michael Nicolson, a former senior foreign correspondent at ITN, wrote: "It was cruel to say Reggie had to be dragged out at five minute to 10. His drinking habits were legendary, but can anyone remember this happening?" (Continued below)

Another senior reporter, Sam Hall, added: "Before I became a reporter I sat very close to Reggie four nights a week for the best part of six years. I never saw him drunk, or even tipsy. To my knowledge, he never missed a pre-programme rehearsal. For Sir Trevor to denigrate publicly the reputation of a much-loved colleague and to perpetuate the perception that Reggie was a hopeless drunk is unforgivable."

Frank Miles, who reported on the first moon landing for ITN, added: "To say, as Trevor does, that Reggie would be in the wine bar opposite until five minutes to transmission, is a lie."