After hearing Shakey's Merry Christmas Everyone every five minutes recently its got me thinking about some vague stories that I had heard about the latter part of his career. I think its generally accepted that he was fond of a drink or three however I was told once about a live TV special (possibly from Blackpool) where he was utterly legless on stage and they had to pull the plug on the whole thing. I think this was considered the last straw for the powers that be and he disappeared from the spotlight afterwards. Also I think he once got Richard Madeley in a headlock on live TV on a different programme.
Can anyone shed any light on these things? Are they total bullshit? I have had a look online and can't find much. I guess some video footage would be amazing. Maybe someone a bit older than me might remember (I'm 35) as I was just a bit too young for his heyday. My older brother was into Shakey a bit but can't remember anything.
