Stuart John Francis Cosgrove (born 12 November 1952) is a Scottish

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

, broadcaster and television executive. As a journalist Cosgrove served on the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' (Media Editor) and '' The Face'' during the 1980s, before joining

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

in 1994, serving for eight years as Controller of Arts and Entertainment and then as Head of Programmes ( Nations and Regions) until stepping down in 2015.

Education

Cosgrove graduated in Drama and English from the

University of Hull , mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £18.8 million (2016) , budget = £190 million ...

and has studied at George Mason University, Harvard’s

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

and

Wharton Business School The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...

. He has a Ph.D. in Media (the thesis published as part of the book ''Theatres of the Left, 1880-1935'') and a Doctorate in English and American Studies. He has been awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts by the

University of Abertay Dundee , mottoeng = "Blessed is the one who finds wisdom." , established = 1994 – granted University Status 1888 – Dundee Institute of Technology , type = Public , chancellor = Alice Brown , principal = Liz Bacon , head_label = Chair of Co ...

and honorary professorships by the

University of Stirling The University of Stirling (, gd, Oilthigh Shruighlea (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built ...

and Liverpool John Moores University.

Career

Cosgrove is the co-host of

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scotland, Scottish radio station, radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same na ...

's popular comedy football phone-in '' Off the Ball'' which he presents twice a week with

Tam Cowan Thomas Cowan (born 21 April 1969) is a Scottish football journalist and radio presenter who was previously also a television presenter. Early life He was educated at Braidhurst High School in Motherwell where he was one of the school captains ...

, and as the co-host of BBC Scotland's Saturday football ''

Sportscene ''Sportscene'' is the name of a range of Scottish sports television programmes produced by BBC Scotland. History ''Sportscenes predecessors were ''Sports Special from Scotland'' and ''Sportsreel'', which was broadcast every Saturday at around 5 ...

'' results show. Born and brought up in the Letham area of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, but living now in Dennistoun, he is an avid fan of the city's football club t Johnstone He also wrote a book, ''Hampden Babylon'', revealing the seedier side of the Scottish football scene. In 2005 he was named Broadcaster of the Year at the

Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards The Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards are annual awards given to notable Scottish people. It is sponsored by the Scotch whisky company Glenfiddich, in association with The Scotsman newspaper. Nine awards are given out for art, business, envir ...

. In 2007 and 2008, he presented ''Stuart Cosgrove's Floorfillers'' on

, dedicated to Northern Soul music, of which he is a fan. His "''Haha, Fantastic, ye cannae beat it''" quote is used by satirist and impressionist Jonathan Watson.

Personal life

Cosgrove's father, a

native, was killed in his early 30s in a road accident in 1960, when Cosgrove was eight years old."Channel 4 boss talks GBBO and soul"
- ''The Cumberland News'', 2 October 2016 A lorry driver for the Co-op supermarket, one of the tyres of the lorry he was travelling in as a passenger blew and the lorry hit a tree. His mother lived until she was 90. In August 1963, Cosgrove and his family were stuck on a train near

Carlisle railway station Carlisle railway station, or Carlisle Citadel, is a Grade II* listed railway station serving the city of Carlisle, Cumbria, England. It is on the West Coast Main Line, south-east of and north north-west of . It is the northern terminus of ...

for six hours. It transpired that all of the trains on the Glasgow line were stopped because the Great Train Robbery had just occurred in

Ledburn Ledburn is a hamlet in the parish of Mentmore, in Buckinghamshire, England. History The name Ledburn is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means "stream with a conduit". In manorial records of 1212 it was recorded as "Leteburn". The hamlet consists ...

, England. Cosgrove began supporting his hometown club St Johnstone because, before the Tulloch estate to the northeast came to be,"BROADCASTER STUART COSGROVE IS FULL OF NORTHERN SOUL"
- ScottishField.co.uk, originally published on 1 November 2019; photographs added in 2019 he could see their then-ground

Muirton Park Muirton Park (1924–1989) was the second of three football grounds the football club St Johnstone from Perth, Scotland, have occupied in their history. It was preceded by the Recreation Grounds (1885–1924) and succeeded by McDiarmi ...

from his Letham bedroom window."Si Ferry Meets... Tam Cowan and Stuart Cosgrove , 25 Years of Off the Ball"
- Open Goal, YouTube, published on 23 September 2019 For the first three or four years of his life, the family lived in Hillyland before the short move to Strathtay Road in Letham when he was about seven years of age. Cosgrove is married to Shirani, a TV executive of Sri Lankan Tamil heritage. They have a son, Jack. Cosgrove also has a daughter from his previous marriage (1992–1999) to Angie, a beautician. His two sisters are Alison and Marilyn."A man of two halves"
- ''The Scotsman'', 15 September 2002

Bibliography

*''Theatres of the Left, 1880-1935, Workers' Theatre Movements in Britain and America'', by

Raphael Samuel Raphael Elkan Samuel (26 December 19349 December 1996) was a British Marxist historian, described by Stuart Hall as "one of the most outstanding, original intellectuals of his generation". He was professor of history at the University of East L ...

, Ewan MacColl and Stuart Cosgrove. 1985 *''Flogging a Dead Horse: Heritage Culture and Its Role in Post-industrial Britain.'' Manchester: Cornerhouse, 1993. . With photographs by Paul Reas and an afterword by

Val Williams Val Williams is a British curator and author who has become an authority on British photography. She is the Professor of the History and Culture of Photography at the London College of Communication, part of the University of the Arts London, and ...

. *''Detroit 67: The Year That Changed Soul'', Polygon, 2016 *''Young Soul Rebels: A Personal History of Northern Soul'', Polygon, 2017 *''Memphis 68: The Tragedy of Southern Soul'' Polygon, 2018 *''Harlem 69: The Future of Soul'' Polygon, 2018 *''Cassius X: A Legend in the Making'', Birlinn General, 2020 *''Hey America!: The Epic Story of Black Music and the White House'', Birlinn General, 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cosgrove, Stuart 1952 births Living people Alumni of the University of Hull BBC Scotland newsreaders and journalists Harvard Kennedy School alumni Writers from Perth, Scotland Scottish radio personalities Scottish sportswriters Scottish television presenters