From rubbing shoulders with Page Three models to becoming one of the most trusted voices on radio, Tony Livesey’s career hasn’t taken the traditional route to becoming a household favourite.

20 years ago, the Burnley-born star was best known as editor-in-chief of the Daily and Sunday Sport – the raunchy, sexed-up paper known for its racy pictures and the documentary Sex, Lies and Aliens.

Now a staple of 5-Live’s driving schedule, the 60-year-old has transformed himself into a master of the airwaves and established himself as a staple of the broadcaster’s output.

But now all that could be at risk as he is moved from the site amid a furious row with his former co-presenter Clare McDonnell.

Livesey, who is married to wife Barbara with whom he has two children, found himself in hot water when he allegedly sent an email that “knocked off” his co-host’s presentation skills to her, instead of another colleague.

20 years ago, Tony Livesey was best known as the editor-in-chief of the Daily and Sunday Sport – the raunchy, sexed-up newspaper known for its racy images and the documentary film Sex, Lies and Aliens.

Livesey worked briefly at the Lancashire Evening Telegraph before joining the Daily and Sunday Sport

BBC Radio 5 Live hosts Tony Livesey and Clare McDonnell (pictured) have fallen out and refused to work with each other again after a ‘message mishap’, according to reports

The pair have not hosted a show together since May and Livesey will return to his 22 hour slot after McDonnel reportedly refused to work with him.

The veteran journalist started out as a young reporter at the Nelson Leader and is still a big fan of his boyhood club.

After qualifying, he went to work at Gulf News in Dubai in 1986 and stayed there for a year.

“I sound like a home bird, but I’m a big believer in making your brain work a million miles a minute,” he told pub podcast The Moon Under Water.

“A lovely guy came in on my first day and planted four tins of Fosters on my desk and said, ‘That’ll see you through to the end of Ramadan.'”

He added: ‘My brain was working a million miles an hour, I learned so much about people, about life in this year. It was worth ten years in the other jobs.

After returning to the UK, he worked briefly at the Lancashire Evening Telegraph before joining the Daily and Sunday Sport at the age of 22. He became editor after only six years.

He claims he got the job after a sports reporter refused to write that Elvis had been seen at a football game.

The publications were known for their eerie representations of life – covered in images of scantily clad women and surreal news headlines.

Now a staple of 5-Live’s driving schedule, the 60-year-old has transformed himself into a master of the airwaves and established himself as a staple of the broadcaster’s output. Pictured: Livesey and McDonnell together

Now a staple of 5-Live’s driving schedule, the 60-year-old has transformed himself into a master of the airwaves, establishing himself as a staple of the broadcaster’s output.

Insiders told The Sun that Tony Livesey (pictured), 60, sent a message that “knocked off” Clares introduced her by mistake

Notable titles include Donkey Robs Bank, Aliens Turned My Son Into a Fishfinger and 2 World War 2 Bomber Found on Moon. It established a “Big Breast Unit”, which created topless shots of women with enormous breasts.

Speaking to John Robins and Robin Allender last year, he said: “At the BBC, my career change has gone through the biggest 180 I think anyone has ever done, but I’m all for giving people second chances in life and I think I have earned it.

“I’m basically a journalist, I started as a young reporter back in 1983. Many people over the years have tried to attack what we did at the newspaper or what the newspaper represented and stuff like that, but I think they’re people who often didn’t read it, didn’t like it.

“It was a different time and I admit that and everything I do on the show now reflects how times have moved on.”

On Sex Lies and Aliens he was featured as the enigmatic editor – speaking down to his more respectable rivals.

He picked up a copy of the Independent and said: ‘I’ve probably doubled their readership today by buying this. I just can’t understand how anyone can enjoy this magazine. Inside it’s predictable – what’s the point. Don’t care.’

He admitted that the Daily Mail was “feeling very good at the moment.”

He stayed at the papers for 18 years, where he was editor-in-chief, and even wrote a book in 1998 titled: Babes, Booze, Orgies and Aliens: The Inside Story of Sport Newspapers.

His achievements included steering the paper into profit after the 0898 six lines were banned, causing their advertising revenue to plummet. He increased sales by 100,000 a week – an increase of a third – and turned his publisher, former West Ham co-owner David Sullivan, into the 50th richest man in Britain.

Speaking about the documentary, Livesey has explained that it showed his pride in his time at the paper.

He said: “What was important to me was that it showed that it was full of young people and that 40 per cent of the staff were women, which at the time was not a given, certainly in a national paper.”

The publications were known for their eerie representations of life – covered in images of scantily clad women and surreal news lines

‘And we started thinking – if we laugh, the readers will get a laugh. And that was the purpose of the thing. I don’t think I’ve had a proper job in my entire life.

He poured scorn on critics in his book, blasting “feminists,” “bleeding-heart liberals” and “heartless, politically correct boys” — who later recounted The Independent that half of the female models earn more than him.

But in the 1998 interview he admitted they had sometimes “gone too far” – including a scathing headline about comedian Jo Brand after she criticized the paper and the idea of ​​hiding a get well message hidden in a sausage for ‘Allo ‘Allo actor Gordon Kaye while he was recovering in hospital.

He said lessons had been learned – and refused to participate in future events where the issue of privacy was at stake.

But after leaving in 2006, he joined the BBC as a radio presenter and made his foray into the world of television.

The broadcaster is a long way from his former job – when the Daily and Sunday Sport merged in 2011 they said: “Building sites, men’s changing rooms, boys’ dormitories in public schools and other such male-only environments can mourn their passing. Feminists and those who prefer its news headlines unaccompanied by depictions of the female anatomy, perhaps not.

They stopped a withering obituary with the line: “No flowers.”

Livesey returned to familiar ground and presented two documentaries, Crumpet: A Very British Sex Symbol and Beefcake: A Very British Sex Symbol.

He even had a brief stint as a quiz show host, hosting a series of Traitor in February 2004.

It wasn’t until 2010 that he got his big break at the BBC, when he started hosting the late night show on BBC Radio 5 Live.

By 2013, he had left the spot to first present the weekend breakfast show and then the drivetime show, becoming a major voice for the radio channel.

Notable titles include Donkey Robs Bank, Aliens Turned My Son Into a Fishfinger and 2 World War 2 Bomber Found on Moon. It established a “Big Breast Unit”, which created topless shots of women with enormous breasts

He had a touching final conversation with cancer campaigner Deborah James shortly before her death on air, in which he refused to say goodbye to her, instead saying he had a “warm hug” ready for her.

He has made further appearances on shows including Have I Got News For You, Never Mind The Buzzcocks and The One Show.

But he could see everything collapsing amid a bitter row that has left the station in “absolute chaos”.

It was reported overnight that Livesey had written an email filled with criticism of co-host McDonnell’s presentation style – only to send it to her by mistake.

McDonnell was “terrified”, a source told the Sun, and has reportedly refused to work with him since.

That means their last show together was on May 7, where they alternated presenting days with stand-in co-hosts over the past few weeks.

But the BBC earlier this month announced a shake-up of its program – without giving a reason – which will see Livesey return to the 10pm slot where he started.

A source told The Sun: “She (Clare) no longer wants to work with him and it has caused total chaos at the station.

“People are being moved all over the store and to different locations, which is not going well.

“Clare is right to be angry – but it has made the atmosphere on 5 Live really frosty.”