'Terrific presenter, great man, RIP Stapes'...tributes to TV consumer champion

TRIBUTES flooded in after TV host and consumer champion John Stapleton died yesterday aged 79.

- By Stephen Beech

The award-winning presenter, who was diagnosed last year with Parkinson's, died in hospital after being admitted with pneumonia.

Stapleton was a familiar face on TV for half a century, fronting the BBC's Watchdog, Nationwide, Newsnight and Panorama, as well as appearing on ITV's Good Morning Britain and GMTV's News Hour. He was also among the original Sky News presenters.

His journalist son Nick told BBC Morning Live last week his father had “a bit of a chest infection. That can be pretty nasty if you’ve got Parkinson’s.” Stapleton’s agent Jackie Gill said: “Nick and daughter-in-law Lisa have been constantly at his side.”

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Veteran TV presenter Nick Owen, 77, called his death “shattering”, adding: “Great times together during the dawn of breakfast TV back in the 1980s - the first days of Good Morning Britain.

“Standout memories of both being attacked by Emu and interviewing Eric Morecambe. Terrific presenter, great man. RIP Stapes.”