Broadcaster and journalist John Stapleton has died aged 79, it has been announced.
John was a regular face on TV-am in 1983 and 1984, sharing the presentation of “Good Morning Britain” with Anne Diamond and Nick Owen. He also often presented the Sunday edition of the programme when David Frost was away.
John Stapleton was brought to TV-am by editor Greg Dyke as he worked to improve the ratings and beef up news and current affairs on the station. Previously he had been a presenter on the BBC’s Nationwide programme. His wife Lynn Faulds-Wood was already working at TV-am as the station’s Consumer Editor.
After leaving TV-am John had stint presenting the BBC’s regional news programme “London Plus” and returned to breakfast TV as one of the presenters on the more heavyweight revamped BBC Breakfast Time. He would later go on to be a regular face on GMTV and ITV’s Daybreak.
In recent years John had spoken publicly about his battle with Parkinson’s Disease and had appeared frail. Complications and pneumonia have been described in the media as his cause of death at the age of 79