Back in their hedonistic 90s heyday, the “Three Muska-Beers” were getting up to all sorts of debauchery.
Radio 1 Breakfast Show presenter Chris Evans was king of the airwaves and had teamed up with best pal Danny Baker to launch the hugely successful TFI Friday on Channel 4.
So it was a recipe for chaos when they formed a drinking gang with wild England footballer Paul Gascoigne.
“When you’re with Gazza, it seems you live a year in a day,” Chris claimed afterwards.
The trio would go on highly-publicised boozy benders that would result in some unbelievable stories – nearly destroying Evans’ career and costing Gazza his place in the England team.
The most outlandish of all was the time where Gazza hijacked a London bus on the way to a comedy awards that none of them were even invited to.
It was one for all and all for one with the “Three Muska-Beers”
With their taxi stuck in traffic at Marble Arch, Gazza spotted a double-decker bus stuck behind them and climbed into the driver’s cab.
“In fits and starts Paul Gascoigne drove the red double-decker London bus along the Bayswater Road,” wrote Baker in his 2009 book Classic Football Debates Settled Once And For All.
“He came dangerously close to the rear of the cab Chris and I were still in, helpless with laughter.”
The passengers were loving Gazza’s antics – and the footballer was convinced he had got away with it until he turned the TV on.
Recounting the story himself, Gazza said: “It was a real bus which was great because I was singing ‘We’re all going on a summer holiday’ and everyone started joining in.
“But then I thought ‘**** I’m in trouble here’ so went back to my hotel room. I thought, ‘phew, I got away with that’, but turned on Sky News and there were two reporters saying ‘apparently Paul Gascoigne was seen 20 minutes ago driving a double decker bus with 70 passengers on board’.”
Gazza, Danny Baker and Chris Evans enjoy a night out in 1998 (Image: MirrorPix)
That wasn’t the end of that day’s shenanigans, as Baker explained that two star-struck workmen agreed to give Gazza a go on their pneumatic drill.
“Gazza began randomly digging up sections of London several feet from where work had actually commenced. It was pure Harpo Marx.”
The trio made headlines the next day for a supposedly drunken appearance at the Television And Radio Industries Club awards, but Baker gave a very different account of what happened.
It was claimed they abandoned the bash to go drinking into the early hours of the morning, but Baker insisted Gazza actually told a waiter not to put any alcohol on their table.
Evans was seen leaving a bar at 2am and it was heavily implied that he had left Gazza inside.
In reality, Baker revealed he had taken the sober footballer back to his South London home to stay the night – and he was playing with his kids.
However, Evans and Gazza did have many debauched nights up in Scotland while he was playing for Rangers.
Evans and Baker were the minds behind TFI Friday (Image: PA)
The midfielder was at the peak of his career playing for the Scottish side and England, but Rangers manager Walter Smith had concerns.
Smith had some strong words with Evans during their first meeting, giving the radio host a “pretty stiff talking to” over his antics with Gazza.
When the Rangers boss told Evans to “stop leading Gazza stray”, the presenter replied: “He doesn’t need much encouragement”.
According to Evans, Smith told him straight: “Well don’t encourage him then,” but they got on well after their tense chat.
Their most notorious incident north of the border involved a car being driven into a loch.
Evans joined Gazza at training before heading off for Cameron House Hotel on Loch Lomondside with TFI Friday producer Will MacDonald.
But they had a slight change of plan on the way there that would prove disastrous.
Gazza was playing for Rangers at the time (Image: Getty Images)
They asked a family of complete strangers to drop the Mercedes they were driving off at the hotel then hitched a ride to the nearest garage.
We asked for the cheapest car you’ve got. It was a Vauxhall Astra,” recalled Evans in a 2009 interview with the Daily Record.
“The man said, ‘It’s a death trap’. We said, ‘Perfect’.
“We painted it black, drove it to Cameron House, straight down the jetty and into the loch.
“We were laughing and everyone in the hotel was laughing. We weren’t drunk – we’d just been at training.”
Obviously that wasn’t enough drama for one trip, as the lads got into another bizarre situation just 48 hours later.
It was all smiles for the lads back in the 90s (Image: ExpressStar)
Back on Loch Lomondside for a camping trip, Evans and Gascoigne hired a boat to visit an island and hopped on the first one they saw at the jetty.
However, it transpired that they had unwittingly got on the wrong boat with German man Heinz and his wife.
“We go out on the loch but when we come back, Heinz starts bashing into these other boats as he’s trying to park it up,” explained Chris
“We said to him, ‘Why can’t you sail this boat?’ and he got all arsey with us.
“We said, ‘Look mate, we’re paying you to do this properly and you’re going to wake people up and we’re going to get into trouble’.
“And he went, ‘You’re not paying me. This is my new boat. I don’t even know why you’re on it’.
“We’d got on the wrong boat. The guy has just picked up this brand new boat that day.
“Our guy had turned up, wondered where we’d gone all day and gone home.
“Heinz had recognised Gazza, didn’t have the heart to tell him to get off his boat and hadn’t a clue who the rest of us were but just went with it all day.”
Chris has kept in contact with Gazza (Image: Press Association)
The fun times came to a sudden end when snaps of Gazza eating a late-night kebab with Evans were published a week before the 1998 World Cup squad was set to be announced.
England manager Glen Hoddle didn’t pick Gazza for the tournament and smashed up Hoddle’s hotel room when he discovered he had been dropped.
In a 2010 chat with The Mirror, Gazza admitted: “Even though I had my rows with him, he probably made the right decision.”
Evans and Gazza were rarely seen in public again after the incident, but Evans supported his pal in private as he battled his demons.
In 2009, Evans told The Sun: “I don’t feel bad about it. If Gazza wants my help then he only has to ask. But I don’t know what to do.
“But you can’t change the past. I’ve done loads of things I shouldn’t have done, but all you can do is learn from them.
“The tragedy for Gazza is he’s more and more on his own. He’s more lost for a direction to take.”
Evans and Gazza were seen together after England’s 2002 World Cup defeat (Image: Matrix)
Evans stayed in contact with Gazza and the pair were seen together in London after England were knocked out of the 2002 World Cup.
“Paul needs some help but his friends have all held our hands out to him so many times,” he told the Daily Record in 2009.
“They always say that if you want to climb out of a hole, you’ve got to hold your hand up to be pulled out.
“I would do anything for Paul and so would a lot of other people.
“It’s never worked out but what can we do? If someone could tell us, we’ll do it.
He added: “But Gazza is not alone. He may be lonely, but he’s not alone.”
Paul Gascoigne has bravely opened up on his struggles (Image: PA)
Despite many setbacks, Gazza is now determined to beat his demons after undergoing an operation to have anti-boozing pellets sewn into his stomach.
“I’m in a better place – it’s the happiest I’ve been for many years,” he told The Mirror in January this year.
“I’m content now, happy in myself. I’ve just had my first holiday in 15 years in Tenerife, and I’m enjoying myself for the first time in a very long time.”
Gazza had the life-changing operation in Australia in 2018 – which means he can have a beer or glass of wine to socialise but feels sick if he has drugs or spirits.
He said: “I can walk down the booze aisle in Sainsbury’s – my arm doesn’t reach out to buy it so much now. I can control that urge.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
