Ken Bruce has shared that after , all he got as a parting gift was a ‘hamper and a bottle of wine’.
The 72-year-old Scottish presenter had helmed BBC Radio 2’s mid-morning slot for more than 30 years but ended his show earlier this month.
While his contract had been , the broadcaster brought forward his , which he previously said left him ‘a little surprised and disappointed’.
Now he’s revealed what his final farewell entailed, and it was considerably low-key after decades of service to the company.
When asked about being thrown a send-off dinner ahead of his departure, he revealed his goodbye instead involved some gifts and messages.
‘Hollow laugh,’ he said when asked if a big party was thrown.
‘But they very kindly sent me a hamper from a well-known London store [Fortnum and Mason].’
Although he said it wasn’t a big one, he also got ‘a bottle of wine and a bunch of flowers’.
One of his bosses came down to the studio on his final day, but the others were away and sent text messages.
‘Both were apparently out of town at the time. I wasn’t looking for a big fuss,’ he added when speaking to the .
Attracting eight million listeners to the BBC, Ken said working on events like the funerals of both Prince Philip and the Queen had been a ‘great honour’, but at the end of last year he felt like it was time to move on.
‘I wanted it to be my decision. There was no pressure and I’ve been more appreciated in the last ten years at the BBC than I was in the first 25. But I decided to go,’ he said.
When he resigned he was told BBC had been planning on offering him another three-year contract, but it wasn’t enough to sway him to stay.
Not wanting to engage in a bidding war, he also didn’t feel comfortable taking more money when ‘a lot of people are losing their jobs.’
He added: ‘That’s not why I left anyway. I don’t do things just for money’.
However, Ken did say being pushed off air early was ‘disappointing’ and called it ‘unnecessary’.
But fans of the presenter will be able to hear him back on the airwaves soon when he starts at Greatest Hits Radio, with his first show lined up for April 3.
Metro.co.uk has contacted BBC for comment.
