BBC Radio 4’s James Naughtie lived up to his name when he mispronounced his guest, Jeremy Hunt’s, name. No prizes for guessing which gem of the English language Naughtie slipped out with.

Oh the mirth!

Veteran presenter Naughtie made the gaffe as he was preparing to interview Hunt about his plans for universal broadband provision in the UK.

After realising his error, Naughtie apologised profusely telling his listeners he had got himself into a “verbal tangle courtesy of Dr Spooner.”

“Occasionally these things happen in live broadcasting,” said Naughtie.

“I’m very sorry to anyone who thought it wasn’t what they wanted to hear over their breakfast. Neither did I, needless to say.”

Hunt, however, took the mispronunciation in his stride, Tweeting:

“They say prepare for anything before going on Today but that took the biscuit. I was laughing as much as u Jim.”

“Or should I say Dr Spooner.”

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JpNravrwZc]

However the c-word was not be let lie today and broadcaster Andrew Marr repeated the word on Radio 4’s Start the Week programme later in the morning.

“We’re not going to repeat it in quite the terms it happened,” he told listeners, but went on to do so.

More apologies were forthcoming as Marr told the audience: “I should apologise for saying it again, but it’s very hard to talk about it without saying it.”

A BBC spokesperson said: “James and Andrew regret what happened and have both apologised for their verbal tangles on air.”