NewsBiscuit

Evergreen television presenter Sir Terry Wogan has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, becoming the 28th presenter currently employed by the BBC to be awarded the status.’They cost a fortune to maintain, but ruinous ancients are very important to us,’ explained Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC. ‘If we don’t keep investing in our national treasures, they could easily fall down. Just look at Oz Clarke.’

Wogan joins Stephen Fry and Sir Bruce Forsyth in being recognised as a unique example of early settled humans. ‘No-one is quite sure when they were first discovered, but it does feel like they’ve been around forever’, said Thompson. ‘We’ve even got records of some of them performing in black and white.’

The BBC is justly proud of its record on maintaining crumbling follies, and employs a team of preservation experts to keep them in top-notch condition. ‘We’ve nominated Anne Robinson on a number of occasions, but we couldn’t agree with UNESCO which parts were the original structure.’

‘Our heritage is important to us,’ continued Thompson. ‘They say history repeats itself, and I’m keen to continue that tradition – particularly in the daytime on BBC2.’