Richard Bacon

Former BBC presenter Richard Bacon has said he quite likes having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), after being diagnosed as an adult.

The former Radio 5 Live presenter, who now works in the US, was diagnosed four years ago.

Bacon, 46, said he had “huge amounts of energy” and “fell in love” with whatever he was doing.

But he also said the condition had brought challenges, and that it affected people in different ways.

Charity ADHD UK said people were increasingly being diagnosed as adults.

Bacon, from Mansfield in Nottinghamshire, was advised to seek a diagnosis by a therapist.

“I went to a place in Orange County, California which specialises in ADHD,” he said.

“I filled in a very long questionnaire, which is a very hard thing for people with ADHD to do – it’s very counter-intuitive.

“I had a brain scan and even on the brain scan you can actually see a physical manifestation of it.”

He said he had welcomed the diagnosis, having not previously realised he had the condition. “When you find out about it, you understand yourself a bit better and how you conduct your life,” he said.

“I quite like having it really.

“The downsides are my chaos and disorganisation. But there’s a spectrum with all these things and they can show themselves in different ways.

“What I’ve liked about having it is that I’ve got a thing called hyper-focus, which you can get with ADHD.

“We all have that moment when you are doing something creative and you really, really love it and you focus more on it.

“Every single human has that capacity but I think with ADHD it’s beyond that.

“You fall in love with whatever you are doing. You can create stuff with ADHD. There’s an element of a superpower to it. I have huge amounts of energy.

“But I would caution that it does affect people differently.”

Mr Bacon, who has taken medication since his diagnosis, said ADHD had also brought him challenges.