It's been threatening to over-shadow the world events he's been covering over the past week so Jeremy Paxman has decided to shave off his infamous new beard.
The BBC Newsnight presenter has been sporting the beard over the past week saying that he decided to keep it after growing it while on holidays.
However he told The Mirror newspaper that he has now decided to go clean-shaven because his friends told him the new growth made him "look like Steptoe", a reference to Albert Steptoe, who was played by Dublin-born actor Wilfrid Brambell in classic sitcom Steptoe and Son.
"It was the beard, not dissimilar to my own, that made him plausible," said Paxman. "Would we have believed he ate pickled onions in the bath had he been clean-shaven? Of course not.
"I can't deny the pull of the razor. A friend said, 'It makes you look older'. If you're 63, that's not necessarily a good idea."
Paxman added that his (we think) fetching beard was down to easing his daily routine. He said: "Those five minutes every morning have devoured months of my life."
