TV

Newscaster and journalist

John is one of the UK’s best known and respected newscasters and journalists.

During his career, he spent more than 30 years with Independent Television News, covering major events all over the world and he has been honoured with a number of industry awards, including the Royal Television Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Television Newscaster of the Year Award.

John left ITN in 2004 but he soon returned to television news when Channel Five invited him to present their daily flagship evening bulletin for four months. In the event he remained Channel Five’s senior news presenter for two years.

John’s final day at ITN was filmed by Granada Television’s This Morning programme, and the next day he was a guest on the show. The following week the editor’s office telephoned him to say they were so delighted with the interview, that they would like to invite him to present the programme! He subsequently presented the programme for a week. A new departure for John, and one that was widely considered to be a success.

TV

Newscaster and journalist

John is one of the UK’s best known and respected newscasters and journalists.

During his career, he spent more than 30 years with Independent Television News, covering major events all over the world and he has been honoured with a number of industry awards, including the Royal Television Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Television Newscaster of the Year Award.

John left ITN in 2004 but he soon returned to television news when Channel Five invited him to present their daily flagship evening bulletin for four months. In the event he remained Channel Five’s senior news presenter for two years.

John’s final day at ITN was filmed by Granada Television’s This Morning programme, and the next day he was a guest on the show. The following week the editor’s office telephoned him to say they were so delighted with the interview, that they would like to invite him to present the programme! He subsequently presented the programme for a week. A new departure for John, and one that was widely considered to be a success.

Familiar territory

Within weeks of leaving ITN, he was back in the familiar newsroom after ITN asked him to be their main commentator for live programmes to commemorate the 60th anniversary of D-Day. Soon after that he presented a live one-and-a-half hour programme on Channel Five, documenting the digging up of a Battle of Britain Hurricane from underneath the road of a busy London junction. The climax of the programme came when the pilot of the Hurricane, Ray Holmes, then 90 years of age, was reunited with the engine of his old aircraft.

A year later he again presented two live programmes for Channel Five, chronicling the rebuilding of an exact replica of Stonehenge and interviewing experts on location on Salisbury Plain.

He has also presented three programmes for Discovery Europe, from three of England’s oldest castles – Scarborough, Dover and Pendennis – entitled World War Two Experience. And more recently the classic quiz Going for Gold for Channel Five.