Renowned TV presenter dies aged 79

Stewart WhittinghamBBC North West andJamie WhiteheadBBC Information BBCThe presenter revealed his Parkinson’s situation in tv interviewsRenowned TV presenter John Stapleton has died peacefully in hospital on the age of 79, his agent has mentioned.The face of factual programming for a technology, Stapleton featured extensively on exhibits such because the BBC’s Watchdog and GMTV’s Information Hour, after starting his profession on the Oldham Chronicle.Paying tribute, former Good Morning Britain presenter Charlotte Hawkins described the broadcaster as a “sensible broadcaster” and a “genuinely pretty man”.His agent Jackie Gill mentioned his Parkinson’s illness was sophisticated by pneumonia, and that his son Nick and daughter-in-law Lisa had been “consistently at his aspect”.”He had an innate means to navigate any problem from breaking information to technical hiccups, whether or not within the studio or on location he was sensible,” mentioned Erron Gordon, Good Morning Britain co-creator and present BBC division head, describing Stapleton’s on-air versatility as “unmatched”.After starting his profession at native newspapers in north-west England, Stapleton moved into TV, becoming a member of the BBC’s Nationwide programme in 1975.He then turned a journalist for the company’s flagship present affairs programme Newsnight when it launched in 1980, reporting from Argentina through the Falklands battle.He then moved to ITV in 1983, the place he was a part of the group that launched the channel’s TV-am breakfast present, earlier than returning to the BBC three years later to entrance the buyer recommendation programme Watchdog together with his spouse, Lynn Faulds Wooden.Wooden died of a stroke in 2020, leaving Stapleton to return to phrases together with his Parkinson’s prognosis 4 years later with the help of their one son, Nick, who can be a BBC journalist.Getty ImagesStapleton co-presented the BBC’s Watchdog programme together with his spouse Lynn Faulds Wooden within the Nineteen Eighties On the time he was identified, Stapleton advised the BBC he was making an attempt to stay optimistic, “as a result of what is the level in not being?” A month after revealing his prognosis, Stapleton challenged himself to sing for Kids in Want, saying this had helped him with the signs, particularly his tremors. To learn to sing, he joined the solid of musical & Juliet.Following his time on Watchdog, Stapleton went to ITV once more to hitch GMTV, its successor to TV-am.There, he coated a spread of worldwide information tales, from the battle in Kosovo to Hurricane Katrina.Stapleton additionally interviewed large names of the time, together with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Princess Michael of Kent.He stayed with the channel after GMTV led to 2010, showing on each Dawn and Good Morning Britain, the place he made common appearances till 2015.PA MediaJohn Stapleton alongside Coronation Road star Pat Phoenix laughs alongside John Stapleton and Labour chief Neil Kinnock in a TV studioFormer LBC radio host Sangita Myska described Stapleton as “a fantastic journalist, position mannequin and gentleman”.She added in a social media publish: “I watched him on TV once I was rising up with admiration.”Born in Oldham in 1946, Stapleton was an enormous Manchester Metropolis fan. When requested by the Unbiased in 2008 what he would do if he didn’t work within the media, he replied he would “spend much more time travelling the nation watching Manchester Metropolis”. The seven-time Premier League champions mentioned the group was saddened to study of his dying, including: “He shall be missed.”