Few news events really shock me these days. You know, the type of news that make you sit up with a jolt and doubt that you have heard correctly. Well, this morning was such a moment. At about 4am I was busy working on my new blog featuring travel questions - www.peter-travel.blogspot.com - when I heard on the Fox channel that the CNN presenter Richard Quest had been arrested for drugs in New York's Central Park. My immediate reaction was: impossible! Had I heard correctly? Surely not? And at 3.40 in the morning (US time), with a packet of meths in his pocket - no, never!The image of the freshly-scrubbed upper-class Brit did not fit with that of a junkie hanging around a public park at dawn. If he'd been bust with a line of cocaine in a posh upper East Side apartment, maybe, but this was too incredible to believe.
I made sure that it wasn't April 1, then switched to BBC World to listen to their news broadcast. After all, he used to work for them. Well, the news came and went without a mention. Unfortunately, I don't have CNN, so no chance of checking there.
Thank goodness for the Internet. I googled 'Richard Quest Arrest' and there it was..."found with methamphetamine in Central Park'. The report went on to say that he had already appeared before a judge and had been released after agreeing to undergo drug counselling and therapy for six months. Wow - that was quick! So, those night courts I have seen on TV are real...
Apparently the 46 year-old TV star was only stopped because he was violating the park's 1am curfew and he was being escorted out of the park when he confessed to the meths in his pocket. Well, there we are. Now we know why he always so jumpy and excitable when he appears on TV. I wonder if he'll hold onto his job after this.
UPDATE: 29 July 2008
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - CNN reporter Richard Quest has returned to the cable news channel after a hiatus stemming from his drug arrest and court-ordered counseling, a spokesman for the Atlanta-based network said on Friday.
Quest, known for his boisterous and quirky reporting, returned to CNN International in late June and has been producing general news segments and working on the August edition of "CNN Business Traveler," the show he hosted before his arrest, said Nigel Pritchard, a spokesman for CNN.
"We're very pleased to have him back," Pritchard said.
Police stopped Quest, 46, in April for being in New York's Central Park past curfew, and they discovered a bag of methamphetamines on the British reporter. A judge ordered him to undergo six months of counseling in exchange for having the case dismissed.
