Stuart Hall (presenter)

James Stuart Hall (born 25 December 1929) is an English former media personality and convicted sex offender.
He presented regional news programmes for the BBC in North West England in the 1960s and 1970s, while becoming known nationally for presenting the game show ''It's a Knockout'' (which was part of the international ''Jeux sans frontières'' franchise). Hall's later career mainly involved football reporting on BBC Radio. In June 2013, he was convicted of multiple sexual offences against children, effectively ending his media and broadcasting career.

Early life

Stuart Hall was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, the eldest son of baker James Stuart Hall, and his Irish-born wife, Mary (née Hennessey). He was brought up in Hyde, Cheshire, and Glossop, Derbyshire, attending the local grammar school. Hall directed plays when at school and chaired its debating society. While studying at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, he was offered a playing contract with Crystal Palace F.C. but turned it down because of the low wages.

Career

Journalism

Hall joined the BBC in 1959 as a general reporter on ''Radio Newsreel'' and a sports journalist on ''Sports Report''. Between 1965 and 1990, he presented BBC North West's regional news programmes produced in Manchester, originally called ''Look North'', then ''Look North West'' and finally ''North West Tonight'', alongside John Mundy. During the run of '' Nationwide'' (1969–83), Hall became known nationally through live link-ups.

In 1990, Hall moved to ITV Granada's ''Granada Reports'', where he worked with Bob Greaves in a slot titled "Greaves and Hall". During the 2000s, he joined Channel M, a local television station in Manchester, presenting ''Hall's Heroes'' on Channel M News.

Entertainment

Between 1972 and 1982, Hall became particularly well known as the presenter of ''It's a Knockout'' on BBC1 and its European equivalent, ''Jeux Sans Frontières''. He would often be overcome by laughter at the slapstick antics of the competitors. This led to his becoming a popular subject for impersonation. After the series was cancelled, Hall presented the one-off '' Grand Knockout Tournament'' (also known as "''It's a Royal Knockout''") in 1987, and retained the rights to the programme and some costumes, which enabled him to host similar programmes and events in other parts of the world.

Hall also presented ''Quiz Ball'' (a BBC football quiz show) between 1971 and 1972; was the original host of the long-running sports quiz ''A Question of Sport'' (at that time only broadcast in the North of England); presented '' Going, Going, Gone'' (a BBC antiques quiz show) in the late 1990s; and provided the voice-over for '' God's Gift'' for Granada Television. In 2008, Hall provided his voice for a special segment on '' Les Dennis's Home Video Heroes''. In a typical episode, he would be shown a series of funny clips and there would be a 'laugh-ometer' at the bottom of the screen measuring how much he laughed.

Football

As a football reporter, Hall is associated with the phrase " The Beautiful Game", which he popularised, and which he reports he coined in his youth to describe football. As a lifelong Manchester City supporter, he admired prolific goal-scorer Peter Doherty's style of playing and consequently used the phrase "The Beautiful Game" to describe Doherty.

The first football match that Hall reported on was Sheffield Wednesday versus Leicester City at Hillsborough in 1958, where the teams shared eight goals. Despite his love of Manchester City, he has affectionately referred to their former home ground Maine Road as the 'Theatre of Base Comedy',City will be back
BBC Sport, 22 May 2001. an allusion to City's Manchester rivals Manchester United's home ground Old Trafford, which is known as the 'Theatre of Dreams'.

During the 1970s, Hall developed a relationship with Liverpool manager Bill Shankly and became a regular visitor to the Anfield 'Boot Room'. His relationship with Bob Paisley enabled him to pull off a coup, capturing the team's first European Cup final in 1977 in Rome. Smuggled into the ground as a club employee, Hall spent the match on the substitutes' bench wearing the No 14 shirt. This enabled him to get inside television footage of the team's 3–1 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach. As a television presenter with ''Look North'', Hall used to turn out for benefit matches, scoring twice against Gordon Banks in Eddie Hopkinson's testimonial at Bolton Wanderers.

Hall worked as a football reporter for BBC Radio 5 Live for some years. On 10 December 2009, Radio 5 Live presented a special programme, ''Stuart Hall Night'', broadcast live from the City of Manchester Stadium.

Controversies

Drugged policeman case

In 1978 Hall was called as a prosecution witness during the trial of a policeman, who was accused of driving "while unfit through drink and drugs". Prior to his arrest, the officer had stopped Hall on suspicion on speeding and Hall had invited him to his house for a drink. The officer later blamed his intoxicated state on Hall having laced his drink. Hall denied the accusation and was never charged.

Child sexual abuse 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 sender while she was a schoolgirl in the 1970s. The writer stated that she had been motivated to disclose her experiences by the reports of sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile after his death and by her anger at Hall's appointment as an OBE in the 2012 New Year Honours