Stars behaving badly hit headlines

From on-stage spats to a politician involved in a water fight, the Brit Awards have had their fair share of controversy.

In 2007 the show was televised live for the first time in a decade, and ITV received hundreds of complaints after host Russell Brand joked about the "friendly fire" death of a British soldier.

A year later Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne hosted, assisted by their children Kelly and Jack, and the famously foul-mouthed family were the model of decorum until comedian Vic Reeves arrived on stage.

His quip about Kylie Minogue, saying she was "all right, a bit of work there and she will be OK", was met with silence.

Reeves appeared to forget which award he was presenting, prompting Sharon to shout: "Shut up, you're p*****, piss off, you b******."

Perhaps the most spectacular failure as hosts were Mick Fleetwood and Sam Fox who stumbled their way through the 1989 ceremony.

Organisers played it safe in 2009 with the angelic Kylie along with Gavin And Stacey duo Mathew Horne and James Corden.

Peter Kay proved fairly uncontroversial, although he did describe the show as "20 minutes of entertainment stretched over two hours".

But the regular ingredients of rock stars, plenty of booze and massive egos mean chaos is never far away.

In 1992, The KLF, who were named best band, hatched a plan to throw buckets of blood at the audience.

They abandoned this on the advice of lawyers and instead fired blank rounds from a machine gun at spectators before leaving the stage with the message "KLF have left the music industry".

Later that evening they dumped a dead sheep at the official post-awards dinner.

Two years later, the band - renamed the K Foundation - attempted to burn ?1 million on a remote Scottish island.

It was Britpop which brought the Brits their most famous night of controversy in 1996, when Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker stormed the stage as Michael Jackson performed his Earth Song accompanied by a chorus of children.

Cocker was grabbed by security and arrested, but not before wiggling his backside at the audience.

Jackson said he felt "sickened, saddened, shocked, upset, cheated and angry" at the "disgusting and cowardly" stage invasion.

But after he was finally released from custody at 3am, Cocker stood by his protest, saying: "My actions were a form of protest at the way Michael Jackson sees himself as some Christ-like figure with the power of healing."

The lanky frontman accused the music industry of indulging Jackson's fantasies, "even though they know it's a bit sick".

He told Chris Evans's now-defunct Channel 4 show TFI Friday that comedian Bob Mortimer, a qualified solicitor, intervened with police on his behalf.

"Bob Mortimer used to work for Peckham Council in the legal department so he offered to speak in my defence and deal with the legal aspects of the case," he said.

"All the policemen kept asking him for his autograph."

At the same ceremony, Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher berated INXS singer Michael Hutchence, who was presenting the now defunct Manchester band with an award, saying "has-beens shouldn't be giving awards to gonna-bes".

In 1998, Danbert Nobacon, of the band Chumbawamba, almost got a Tubthumping after throwing a bucket of iced water at deputy prime minister and former amateur boxer John Prescott.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Liam Gallagher featured in another on-stage spat in 2000, when Robbie Williams upped the ante in their ongoing feud. After collecting an award, the former Take That singer challenged the Oasis frontman to a televised boxing match for ?100,000.

At the same ceremony, a clearly well-refreshed DJ Brandon Block mistakenly went up to the stage to collect an award while Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood was trying to present a gong.

The pair squared up to each other and traded insults before Wood threw a glass of water into Block's face.