EAST Lancashire comedy legend Jim Bowen is returning to the airwaves for the first time since he quit the BBC over the use of the phrase "nig nog".

And in a pop at his former Beeb bosses Jim said his new show will be "politically totally incorrect".

Jim is to join The Bay radio station, based in Lancaster, on April 20.

He will do two mid-morning shows a week with co-host John Gillmore.

Jim, 66, resigned from Blackburn-based Radio Lancashire in 2002 in the wake of calling a female training officer a "nig nog" during his morning show The Happy Daft Farm.

But Jim has since continually defended the use of his remark as being totally innocent of racism. He said the term referred to a "daft" person.

And in January this year the former host of TV gameshow Bullseye launched a scathing attack on the tide of political correctness in society and the BBC.

But the former Billington and Padiham teacher is looking to the future and is excited about his new show.

He said: "I am really looking forward to starting. I had three of the happiest years in showbusiness on Radio Lancashire.

"Radio to me is theatre of the mind and is so much fun."

His new show will have the theme of a ship with celebrity guests coming 'on-board' and callers having to 'walk the plank' if they get a quiz question wrong.

But his experience of controversy will not make Jim become over-cautious.

He said: "The show will be politically totally incorrect.

"I have always, always on radio been aware of what I have said.

"With every expression I have used there has never been any malice in it. Naturally I am a decent guy and I don't hurt people."

But Jim admitted he would not use the phrase "nig nog" again.

Jim was the Master of Ceremonies at the Lancashire Evening Telegraph's Pride of East Lancashire awards last year.

He attended Accrington Grammar School before becoming a teacher at St Augustine's RC High School, Billington, and was deputy head at St Paul's Primary School, Caton.

In 1971 he left teaching and worked his way around clubs in Blackpool and East Lancashire and made his big break on Granada TV's The Comedians.

He got his own show in 1981 when he began almost 15 years of hosting Bullseye, the popular darts quiz show which attracted 18.9 million viewers at its peak and made him famous for the expression: "Super, smashing, great."

In early 1999 he began his stint as host of the Happy Daft Farm on Radio Lancashire.

And he is looking to steal East Lancashire listeners off his former station as he said The Bay can be received in the area.

He cheekily said he has listened to his replacement on Radio Lancashire Ted Robbins for "only 10 minutes".