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Broadcasting legend Bob Harris has told the Echo that an infamous event involving himself and punk icons the Sex Pistols is ‘water under the bridge’.

The former Whistle Test presenter is coming to 17Nineteen, on a date yet to be confirmed, to present an evening called The Songs The Beatles Gave Away.

While “Whispering Bob” was chatting with the Echo, he mentioned the attack by Pistols’ bass player, Sid Vicious, with a broken bottle in a London bar in 1977. Vicious was among a baying mob who thought Whistle Test had an anti-punk agenda.

Bob had his back to the wall, but was “symbolically” saved by the road crew of psychedelic rock band Procol Harum. A friend was less fortunate; struck on the head by Vicious with a broken bottle, needing 14 stitches.

Former Whistle Test presenter Bob Harris has been telling the Echo about his encounter with a Sex Pistol.

Bob says: “It was choreographed. It was clearly organised to happen.”

However, he doesn’t bear a grudge and was recently in touch with Sex Pistols front man John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) on a much more serious matter.

Bob said: “I sent a text to John Lydon a little while ago, because he’d been looking after his wife of course. Your heart goes out him for what he must have been going through.

“Eventually you just move on. You just think ‘that was then and this is now’. I sent him a note saying I was sorry about his loss. It’s a bygones be bygones situation.”

He also spoke of his respect for punk rock, adding: “The Clash were a great band. There’s no denying how great they were.

“There’s been a slight re-writing of history as far as Whistle Test is concerned. People used to say we were anti-punk and anti-new wave. We absolutely weren’t.

TV legend Bob Harris bringing 'The Songs The Beatles Gave Away' to Sunderland

“The thing about Whistle Test at the time was that the BBC imposed on us that it was an album programme. Those bands in the very early moments of the explosion of punk in 76, weren’t releasing albums yet. That’s the reason they weren’t being featured on the show; not because we didn’t like them.

“How many years on from that are we? It’s water under the bridge.”

Bob is looking forward to returning to Sunderland. One of his previous visits was alongside Marc Bolan on a T Rex tour.

Sunderland-bound Whistle Test presenter Bob Harris says Sex Pistols incident is 'water under the bridge'