Gordon Henry Burns (born 10 June 1942) is a Northern Irish journalist and broadcaster. He was the host of ''
The Krypton Factor
''The Krypton Factor'' is a British game show produced by Granada Television for broadcast on ITV. The show originally ran from 7 September 1977 to 20 November 1995, and was hosted by Gordon Burns and usually broadcast on the ITV network on ...
'' for its original 18-year run (1977–1995) and was the chief
anchorman for the BBC regional news programme ''
North West Tonight
''BBC North West Tonight'' is the BBC's regional television news programme covering North West England and the Isle of Man. Produced by BBC North West, the programme airs at 1.30pm (as ''North West Today''), 6.30pm and 10.30pm, with shorter b ...
'' from January 1997 to October 2011. In November 2011, Burns moved back to Belfast where he was born.
Due to his work commitments with
Granada Television
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
on programmes such as ''
World in Action
''World in Action'' was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television for ITV from 7 January 1963 until 7 December 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its producti ...
'' and ''
Granada Reports'' and later
BBC Manchester for ''
North West Tonight
''BBC North West Tonight'' is the BBC's regional television news programme covering North West England and the Isle of Man. Produced by BBC North West, the programme airs at 1.30pm (as ''North West Today''), 6.30pm and 10.30pm, with shorter b ...
'', he resided in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
for over thirty years. Burns most recently hosted a Sunday morning radio show for
BBC Radio Manchester and
BBC Radio Lancashire. He is known for a
bona fide
In human interactions, good faith ( la, bona fides) is a sincere intention to be fair, open, and honest, regardless of the outcome of the interaction. Some Latin phrases have lost their literal meaning over centuries, but that is not the case ...
style of presenting which has made him popular with his audience.
Early life
Burns was born in Wellington Park, in Belfast. When he was a child his family moved to
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
where he attended the local primary school and then went to
Dulwich College in London.
The family then returned to live at Belfast's Belmont Road, where Gordon attended
Campbell College.
Career
He began his journalism career working on the ''
Belfast Telegraph
The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan. Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant po ...
'' and worked on BBC radio's long-running ''
Sports Report
''Sports Report'' is one of the longest-running programmes on British radio, and is the world's longest-running sports radio programme. It started on 3 January 1948, and has always been broadcast from 17:00 on Saturday evenings during the foo ...
'' before joining
Ulster Television as a sports editor and programme producer in 1967. Two years later, Burns began presenting the nightly news programme ''UTV Reports'', first as a stand-in for regular frontman David Mahlowe and later as a chief anchor, during the early stages of
The Troubles
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...
. In 1973, Burns joined
Granada Television
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
to anchor their nightly news programme ''
Granada Reports'' and to work on the station's current affairs output, including ''
World in Action
''World in Action'' was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television for ITV from 7 January 1963 until 7 December 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its producti ...
''.
In September 1976 he presented a edition of the North West Friday night
Football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
preview programme Kick Off covering for the regular presenter
Gerald Sinstadt who that weekend was covering for
Dickie Davies
Richard John Davies (born 30 April 1933) is a retired British television sports presenter, who anchored '' World of Sport'' from 1968 until 1985.
Early life
Davies attended Oldershaw Grammar School after passing his eleven-plus; he then did ...
on
World of Sport and was also covering the presenter and commentator roles for the Sunday Afternoon match highlights based version The Kick Off Match where he presented the programme and commentated on Sunderland v Manchester City at Roker Park which was being covered by
Tyne Tees cameras for Granada viewers which was the main match that weekend at the time he was the producer of both Kick Off and The Kick Off Match but this stint as presenter and commentator was a one-off
Burns' national profile began with his association of
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
's game show ''
The Krypton Factor
''The Krypton Factor'' is a British game show produced by Granada Television for broadcast on ITV. The show originally ran from 7 September 1977 to 20 November 1995, and was hosted by Gordon Burns and usually broadcast on the ITV network on ...
'' which he presented for eighteen years from 1977 to 1995. He was the presenter of ''
Password'' for
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...
, one of their few programmes shown throughout the ITV network, and also hosted a segment in several series of
LWT
London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...
's ''
Surprise Surprise''. During the 1980s, Burns also continued reporting from the political party conferences for the ITV network and presenting the Channel 4 current affairs series ''Irish Angle''. In the early 90s, he also presented two parlour game shows for the BBC – ''A Word in Your Ear'' and ''Relatively Speaking''. He has also appeared as a guest on ''
Noel's House Party
''Noel's House Party'' is a BBC light entertainment series that was hosted by Noel Edmonds. Set in a large house in the fictional village of Crinkley Bottom, leading to much innuendo, it ran from 23 November 1991 to 26 March 2000 on BBC One, an ...
'', and on ''
Shooting Stars'' as a member of
Ulrika Jonsson
Eva Ulrika Jonsson (born 16 August 1967) is a Swedish-British television presenter and model. She became known as a TV-am weather presenter, moved on to present the ITV show ''Gladiators'', and as a team captain of the BBC Two show '' Shooting S ...
's team.
From 1997 to 2011, Burns presented ''
North West Tonight
''BBC North West Tonight'' is the BBC's regional television news programme covering North West England and the Isle of Man. Produced by BBC North West, the programme airs at 1.30pm (as ''North West Today''), 6.30pm and 10.30pm, with shorter b ...
'', alongside its shorter lunchtime version, ''North West Today''. In 2007,
Ranvir Singh
Ranvir Singh (born 11 August 1977) is a British journalist and television presenter. She is the political editor and newsreader/deputy presenter for '' Good Morning Britain''.
Early life
Singh was born in 1977 in Preston, Lancashire, into a Si ...
joined as co-anchor of the previously single-headed main evening programme. Burns announced in April 2011 that he would be retiring from the role but would move on to present a Sunday morning show on
BBC Radio Manchester and
BBC Radio Lancashire in September 2011 with his last TV bulletin broadcast on 30 September.
He was the voice of "The Chain" feature and other features on the ''
Radcliffe & Maconie
''Radcliffe & Maconie'' is a weekend radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music in the United Kingdom and via the internet. It runs from 8-10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and is presented by Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie. The show origin ...
'' show on
BBC Radio 6 Music.
He appears as a guest on the show when The Chain reaches a significant milestone, for example, for the 5,000th (musically based) item on 3 March 2015 which was the single "
Dancing Queen
"Dancing Queen" is a Europop and disco song by the Swedish group ABBA, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, ''Arrival'' (1976). It was written by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson. Andersson and Ulvaeus al ...
" by
ABBA
ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...
.
In 2013, Burns retired properly after stepping down from his radio show.
Personal life
Burns is the second cousin of British singer/songwriter
Ed Sheeran.
Burns is married and has two adult children.
References
External links
*
Gordon at Wallace High school
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Gordon
1942 births
Living people
BBC newsreaders and journalists
BBC North West newsreaders and journalists
Game show hosts from Northern Ireland
Journalists from Belfast
Television presenters from Northern Ireland
People educated at Dulwich College
People educated at Campbell College
Television personalities from Belfast
UTV (TV channel)
People educated at Wallace High School, Lisburn