Kate Garraway has led tributes to broadcaster John Stapleston who has died aged 79 after a battle with Parkinson’s disease.
John, who presented on programmes including Newsnight, Panorama and GMTV’s News Hour during a remarkable TV career which spanned nearly five decades, passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning.
His agent Jackie Gill said: ‘John had Parkinson’s disease which was complicated by pneumonia.Â
‘His son Nick and daughter-in-law Lisa have been constantly at his side and John died peacefully in hospital this morning.’Â
As the news broke, John’s celebrity friends paid tribute to the TV star.Â
His former colleague Kate took to Instagram to share an old picture of the duo presenting GMTV.Â
Kate Garraway has led tributes to broadcaster John Stapleston who has died aged 79
As the news broke, John’s celebrity friends paid tribute to the TV star. Kate took to Instagram to share an old picture of him presenting GMTV
Alongside the post, she penned:Â Absolutely devastated to hear of the passing of my dear friend and journalistic hero John Stapleston.’
‘Rock solid broadcaster and the ultimate gentleman. His experience stretched back to when he was a cub reporter on the Yorkshire Post.Â
‘On his first day alone in the office, he took a call from the police to say that they were starting to dredge the moors looking for what they feared were the bodies of murdered children. He found himself less than an hour later at the scene of one of our nation’s most horrific crimes.Â
‘Others will pay testimony to his incredible career better than I, and I hope they do but all I can say is he was most generous co partner, always lifting who was along side him up , never crushing or ramming that he knew better ( which he did!) down their throat, never taking over and always always fair , truthful and honourable. Huge fun too – no one told a story down the pub better than John.Â
‘We will not see his like again . Thinking of his son Nick and all who knew and loved him’
