Danny Baker admits he wasted his career

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Baker, who recently returned to work after being treated for cancer, said he felt "a distant shame" about his career in showbusiness.

In an interview to be broadcast on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs today, he said "this nitwit culture we have" allowed him to use his "gift for exploiting my personality".

Baker made his name as a journalist on the punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue before going on to work at NME and launching a career in television and radio.

He told Desert Island Discs presenter Kirsty Young: "I don't feel that's somehow lucky when you look around at some of the half-wits and boss-eyed bozos who people this business and they are running departments.

"So all of this is an anthill that somebody has kicked over and I happen to be one of the more bumptious ants."

He added: "Some of the television shows I've done have been an appalling waste of time... My mind is whizzing with them. A show called The Bottom Line that was no good, I've done a thing called Sitcom Showdown that was ridiculous.

"But anything you do, especially in this game, you stand out there with half a chance but you don't think 'That represents me'."

Baker described his illness as "a rotten disgusting time" but added it was a "very small portion of a wider life".

He said: "You don't battle it. You are the battleground, you are Normandy beach, you are Hastings in 1066. It's science that's fighting it."

:: The edition of Desert Island Discs will be broadcast at 11.15am on Sunday.