The Brit Awards: Five of the most shocking moments ever

The Brit Awards are a chance to celebrate some of the best of British music.

But nobody is perfect.

From on-stage tumbles to bare backsides, and from swearing to more swearing, the Brit Awards has had more than its fair share of infamy.

Here are a five of the not-so-best moments in Brit Awards history.

Adele puts up a finger

Adele did not take too kindly to James Corden's interruption. Credit: PA

Adele was having the perfect start to the year in 2012.

Having just scooped up six Grammys in Los Angeles, she was back on stage for an award at the Brits just nine days later.

The legendary George Michael handed over her gong for album of the year and an emotional Adele spoke of how proud she was to be flying the flag for her home country.

But she didn't get to say much else after host James Corden apologetically cut her off for a performance from Blur.

Unimpressed, Adele turned to the crowd and said: "Can I just say, goodbye and I'll see you next time around."

She left with her middle finger raised.

Madonna drops the wrong kind of classic

There she goes... Credit: PA

Another whose time on stage was almost in danger of being cut short was music icon Madonna, whose performance in 2015 didn't quite go down in the way she had hoped.

In the middle of singing Living for Love, Madonna was stood at the top of a small set of stairs, seemingly trying to untie her rather large cape.

Her dancers, unaware of her struggles, then pulled at the cape - dragging Madonna down to the floor in one swift move.

While she wrote on Instagram afterwards that she was "fine", she would later tell the Jonathan Ross show that she did hurt her head in the fall.

A crack in the King of Pop's performance

As unlucky as Madonna may have been, there was nothing accidental about Jarvis Cocker's moment of infamy in 1996.

In what he would later explain as an act of protest against Michael Jackson's view of himself as a "Christ-like figure", the Pulp frontman rushed on stage during his performance of Earth Song.

At first Jarvis simply stood looking at the crowd, seemingly unimpressed with what was going on around him.

But to make his feelings clearer, he pulled his trousers slightly down, bent over and waved his hands over his backside.

Jarvis was arrested for the stunt but later released without charge.

A not-so model performance

Mick Fleetwood and Samantha Fox's presenting of the show was hit by issues in 1989. Credit: PA

It's not always the nominees who make headlines for all the wrong reasons at the Brits - as Page-3 model Samantha Fox and Fleetwood Mac co-founder Mick Fleetwood would find out in 1989.

The little-and-large pairing were chosen to present the live show that year and it would be a night remembered for a dodgy autocue, wrong introductions and a lot of uncomfortable viewing.

In one of the more embarrassing moments, Samantha triumphantly introduced Motown quartet the Four Tops... only for Boy George to step on stage instead.

"And then I looked at Mick Fleetwood and he was on another planet," she later said, looking back.

"I wanted the stage just to swallow me up."

She also claimed rehearsals were "fine" but that the autocue didn't work on the night.

Sweary Sharon

One co-host who certainly couldn't blame an autocue was Sharon Osborne, who took turns with husband Ozzy and children Jack and Kelly in 2008.

The night ran relatively smoothly until the time came for the MasterCard Album of the Year - to be presented by Vic Reeves.

Seeming to forget which award he was presenting, Vic turned to ask Sharon, who was not about to suffer Vic's apparent memory lapse.

"Get on with it you p******d, go on," ordered Sharon. And it didn't stop there.

"It's the MasterCard Album, it's the big one!"

Once a video ran through the nominees, Sharon decided to take control and grabbed the envelope from Vic's hands.

"P*** off you b*******," she exclaimed more than once, in more or less the same words.

But Vic still made sure he got to do his job and shouted out the winning act - the Arctic Monkeys - before Sharon could.