Leon Hawthorne
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Leon Hawthorne (born 11 January 1966) is a British television executive, journalist and presenter. He was a
World News World news or international news or even foreign coverage is the news media jargon for news from abroad, about a country or a global subject. For journalism, it is a branch that deals with news either sent by foreign correspondents or news agenc ...
anchor for
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
(1996–1999) and a political correspondent for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in
Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...
(1999) before founding '' The Baby Channel'', the world's first parenting television network, of which he was CEO until July 2008. From 2007, Hawthorne has focussed on creating niche TV channels for the Internet, including ''Beauty Zone TV'', ''Book Zone TV'' and ''Theatreland TV''.


Early life

Hawthorne was born in
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
on 11 January 1966; and went to school in
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
and
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
before going to the
University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...
at the age of seventeen (1983–1986) and graduating with a BA Combined Honours degree in Politics and Sociology. Whilst at university, he was Deputy Editor of the student newspaper, the Guild & City Gazette and active in student politics.


Career

Hawthorne's television career started in August 1989 when he joined Thames Television as a researcher on a business and economics show, ''The City Programme''. A year later, he joined the BBC as an Assistant Producer on ''Business Breakfast'' and ''Breakfast News'', where he began appearing on camera as a reporter. He moved to Bristol, joining the ITV franchisee HTV West in order to work full-time as a reporter and get more on-screen experience. Here he produced short films on local current affairs and presented HTV News. He created a weekly business programme, ''Money Week'', which he presented. Hawthorne returned to London at the launch of ''
London Tonight ''ITV News London'' is a British television news service broadcast on both ITV London and the ITV Hub. It is produced by ITN. History London News Network The programme launched on Monday 4 January 1993 as ''London Tonight'', after Carlton ...
'' for Carlton Television and
London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...
in January 1993. There he was a regular face reporting on London news, covering a wide range of topics including IRA terrorism, crime, business and showbiz. In 1993, Hawthorne hired a
Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
lookalike for a report on the singer's alleged stay at London's Priory Clinic. Hawthorne's arrival with the fake Jackson in a limousine outside the clinic caused a stir, with hundreds of fans and TV crews mobbing the scene. In the frenzy, one radio station, LBC, reported extensively live on the "arrival" of Michael Jackson, only later to have to apologise for the mistake. In 1996, Hawthorne joined CNN as a World News Anchor, initially working from its London bureau before moving to the network's headquarters in Atlanta. His shows ran at 7.00pm, 8.00pm and 10.00pm and included coverage of the death of
Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...
; the murder of
Gianni Versace Giovanni Maria "Gianni" Versace (; 2 December 1946 – 15 July 1997) was an Italian fashion designer, socialite and businessman. He was the founder of Versace, an international luxury-fashion house that produces accessories, fragrances, make-u ...
; the commando raid on the Japanese Embassy in Lima, Peru and the resulting rescue of hostages held by the
Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...
(MRTA); and a live interview with Italian Premier
Romano Prodi Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Pr ...
. In 1998, US Vice President
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic no ...
, on a walkabout around the CNN newsroom mistook Hawthorne for one of his Secret Service agents, a fact which caused some hilarity among the assembled journalists and possible consternation for the Secret Service. Hawthorne returned to London to join the BBC as a Political Correspondent. He was a member of the "Lobby", the select group of journalists attending daily briefings at 10 Downing Street given by then Prime Minister
Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
's Press Secretary, Alistair Campbell. Hawthorne reported for BBC1's ''On The Record''; Radio 4's ''The Westminster Hour'' and ''Today Programme''; and he presented ''Despatch Box'' on BBC2. Whilst working for the BBC, Hawthorne became disillusioned by the bureaucracy and profligacy of the state broadcaster and remarked to a friend "this is no way to run a TV company". She challenged him to do something better and that planted the seed for creating his own TV channel.


''The Baby Channel''

Hawthorne left the BBC to front World News for CNBC Europe in London, which gave him the time to develop a business plan for a new satellite television channel. In 2000,
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
's
British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...
announced plans to give away free digital satellite boxes to anyone who wanted one, and Hawthorne recognised digital compression technology allowed for hundreds of new channels to launch on the back of Sky's distribution. Hawthorne looked at the array of niche magazines on the newsstand and zeroed in on parenting as a genre which nobody was doing on TV. The idea for the ''Baby Channel'' was born. However, the dotcom bubble burst in 2000-01 and other new niche TV channels like ''Channel Health'' and ''Money Channe''l went bust very quickly making it difficult to raise the venture capital to finance the ''Baby Channel''. Hawthorne personally financed its launch online in 2002, on HomeChoice (now Tiscali) in June 2004 and on Virgin Media's cable TV platform in September 2005. RDF Media Plc and Simply Media TV Ltd invested in the channel to launch it on the UK (Sky) satellite TV platform on 10 October 2005 with Hawthorne as chief executive officer and a 25% shareholder. The channel's programmes included tips on pregnancy, birth, child health, parenthood, cookery, exercise and family life. In 2006, Hawthorne became CEO of Simply Media's channels and production business, where he launched ''Simply TV'' as a satellite entertainment channel. Simply also launched a raft of niche web TV channels including ''Beauty Zone, Health Zone, Food Zone, Astrozone'' (for astrology), ''Avenue 11'' (a music and showbiz channel) and ''Simply Entertainment'' (movie news). Hawthorne also created ''Borders TV'', a web TV service for the UK book retailer; ''Boots TV'' for the pharmacy retailer; and all of the video channels on ''iVillage'' UK. Hawthorne sold his stake in both ''Simply Media'' and the ''Baby Channel'' and resigned in July 2008. Now working through his own small vehicle, Videobite, Hawthorne has launched ''Waterstone’s TV'' for the book retailer and created two channels of his own, ''Book Zone TV'' and a theatre channel, ''Theatreland TV''.


References

*
Theatreland TV site

Book Zone TV site

Brand Republic

Broadcast Magazine


External links


beautyzone.tvbookzone.tvtheatreland.tvbabychanneltv.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawthorne, Leon 1966 births British television executives Living people British television journalists