Presenter sacked for criticising royal speech

A British radio presenter was sacked after he called Queen Elizabeth II's Christmas Day speech "boring".

Tom Binns lost his job at Birmingham radio station BRMB when listeners complained about his interruption of the Queen's traditional message to Britain and the Commonwealth, AFP reports.

Binns pulled the plug on the broadcast before going on to make a joke about royalty.

"I then went into an old riff about how people say the royal family are good for tourism, but the French beheaded theirs and people still visit France," he said.

He acknowledged he was not trained to make editorial decisions, but said he had never heard the monarch's speech before and had been expecting a news bulletin.

"Two words: Bor-ring," he told listeners as he stopped the broadcast.

- NZHERALD STAFF