John Leslie (television presenter)
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- For other John Leslies, see John Leslie
John Leslie - John Leslie Stott - (born February 1965) is a British television presenter, best known as a presenter of Blue Peter.
Leslie's first television job was a presenter on Yorkshire TV's The Music Box which he presented until the shows demise in 1987. In 1989 he captured a coveted role as a presenter of the BBC's flagship children's programme Blue Peter. He quit the show in January 1994.
A series of other roles on This Morning, Wheel of Fortune and Scavengers amongst others followed. In 2001, following the departure of Richard and Judy, Leslie became a full-time presenter of This Morning, alongside Fern Britton.
In October 2002, Ulrika Jonsson said in her autobiography that a famous television personality had raped her. Amid rife media speculation, Matthew Wright, a columnist for the tabloid Daily Mirror, said on his TV show, The Wright Stuff that Leslie was the man behind the allegations. Jonsson refused to tell the public or the police whether the correct person had been named. As a result of the publicity several other women made accusations relating to indecent assault by Leslie. He was arrested and charged with assaulting a woman twice between 25 May and 28 May 1997. He was never charged with offences against Jonsson. The police dropped the charge against Leslie on 31 July 2003, after the complainant brought additional information to the attention of the prosecution service. The information, which has never been made public, was sufficient to convince prosecutors to drop the case against Leslie. On the court steps after his clearing, Leslie said "that he had been to hell and back" and that he had "maintained [his] innocence throughout." The prosecution said that Leslie should leave the court "without a stain on his character".
Reports initially suggested that Leslie he would be offered a deal to present a talk show on Sky One. These turned out to be false. He was also unable to return to This Morning.
In January 2004, Leslie and his then girlfriend Abi Titmuss, a presenter for pornographic television channel The Fantasy Channel, faced another trial by media over allegations of drug use and taking part in sex orgies. Leslie obtained a court injunction to prevent the publication of photographs taken at his home. On 2 March 2004, Leslie and Titmuss announced that they were no longer a couple.
References
- Biography from the BBC's I Love Blue Peter website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ilove/tv/bluepeter/presenters/leslie.shtml)
- BBC News report on charges being dropped (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3112347.stm)
- BBC News report on Matthew Wright's accidental naming of Leslie (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2356231.stm)