Stuart Hall (presenter)

69
Stuart Hall (presenter) bigraphy, stories - British television presenter

Stuart Hall (presenter) : biography

25 December 1929 –

James Stuart Hall, OBE (born 25 December 1929) is an English former radio and television presenter. He presented regional news programmes for the BBC in North West England in the 1960s and 1970s, while becoming known nationally for presenting It’s a Knockout and Jeux Sans Frontières. His later career mainly involved football reporting on BBC radio. He has been described as "eccentric, erudite, egotistical – a distinctive personality who could balance light entertainment buffoonery with sports and serious news".

In May 2012, after receiving an anonymous letter via a journalist, police began investing allegations that Hall had committed historic sexual offences against numerous prepubescent and adolescent girls. Hall was charged with multiple sexual offences in December 2012 and January 2013. He initially denied any wrongdoing, but in April 2013 he pleaded guilty to having indecently assaulted 13 girls, then aged between 9 and 17 years, between 1967 and 1986. When the guilty plea was made public in May 2013, the BBC immediately terminated his contract; it subsequently announced that it would launch an inquiry into his conduct while at the corporation. On 17 June 2013, Hall was sentenced at Preston Crown Court to 15 months in prison. Following sentencing, the attorney general’s office received complaints of ‘undue leniency’ and will examine the matter.

Early life

Hall was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, the eldest son of baker James Stuart, and his Irish-born wife, Mary Hall. He was brought up in Hyde, Cheshire, and Glossop, Derbyshire, attending the local grammar school where he stayed after school hours for voluntary extra English language tuition. He directed plays when at school, and chaired its debating society.. Retrieved 2 May 2013

While studying at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, he was offered a contract with Crystal Palace F.C., but turned it down because of the low wages.

Private life and honours

Hall married Hazel on 1 March 1958 and lives in Wilmslow, Cheshire. The couple’s first son, Nicholas, died shortly after birth due to a heart defect. They went on to have a daughter, Francesca, and a son, Daniel. They now have four grandchildren. His family are reported to be standing by him after his prosecution. Hall owns an extensive collection of clocks, including one that belonged to Napoleon.

In 1999 various Members of Parliament signed a House of Commons motion, congratulating Hall on 40 years in broadcasting.

Hall was appointed OBE in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to broadcasting and charity.

Prosecution and conviction

In May 2012, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a journalist and regular columnist for The Independent, received an anonymous three-page letter alleging that Hall had groomed and sexually abused the writer while she was a schoolgirl in the 1970s. The writer stated that she had been motivated to disclose her experiences by the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal and by her anger at Hall’s appointment as an OBE in the 2012 New Year Honours. Alibhai-Brown passed the letter to Ealing police, who in turn sent it on to Lancashire Constabulary, who then began an investigation.

On 5 December 2012, police arrested Hall and charged him with three historic counts of indecent assault, involving a 16- or 17-year-old girl in 1974, a 9-year-old girl in 1983, and a 13-year-old girl in 1984. Released on bail, he initially denied any wrongdoing, stating through his solicitor that he was "innocent of these charges". When he appeared at Preston Magistrates Court on 7 January 2013, he pleaded not guilty to all three charges. The prosecutor argued that the issues concerned were serious enough that Hall should stand trial at Crown Court, to which the defence did not object. He was released on bail on condition that he remained resident at his home address and had no unsupervised contact with children under the age of 17.

Media coverage of the case led to more women coming forward to state that they had also been sexually abused by Hall. On 22 January 2013, he was charged with raping a 22-year-old woman in 1976 and indecently assaulting 10 more girls, then aged from 9 to 17 years old, between 1967 and 1986. Speaking to reporters after an appearance at Preston Magistrates Court on 7 February 2013, Hall again denied any wrongdoing, calling the charges "pernicious, callous, cruel and, above all, spurious".