BBC sacks Thatcher over ‘golliwog’ gaffe

The French tennis player who prompted Carol Thatcher's 'golliwog' remark – for which she has since been sacked by the BBC - turns out to be Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, not Gael Monfils as previously thought. The detail was released today by insiders on The One Show, the programme on which Thatcher dropped the clanger in an off-air conversation in the green room with members of the production team and the show's host, Adrian Chiles.

Thatcher was discussing the Australian Open, in which Tsonga (pictured) lost to Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the quarter-finals. In the absence of an unconditional apology, the BBC announced on Tuesday that she would no longer appear on the programme.

The journalist daughter of Lady Thatcher, the former Tory Prime Minister, still claims it was a "light-hearted comment". Her spokesman said she was only referring to the player's hairstyle resembling that of the 'golliwog' on the Robinson's jam pots she remembered from her childhood and that it was enough to say sorry to the producers of the programme, the presenters and the production team.

A source said: "The One Show had hoped that Carol would issue an unconditional apology to those whom she had offended, but she declined to do so." Because of that it was "no longer tenable" for her to continue working on the programme.

According to the Times, Chiles and others took "great offence" at her language, though it is not known who decided to report the matter to BBC executives. It may have been Chiles or the comedian Jo Brand, who was also appearing on the show when the remark was made. Her agent refuses to comment on the matter, however.