Paddy Haycocks is an experienced broadcaster and producer who has worked in the British media for over 25 years. Born in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, on 9 April 1950 his first brush with fame came when he was appearing on the ''Streetwise'' section of the ill-fated Channel Four Daily. Haycocks regularly interviewed a lawyer who represented

Ronnie Kray Ronald Kray (24 October 193317 March 1995) and Reginald Kray (24 October 19331 October 2000) were identical twin brothers, gangsters and convicted criminals. They were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in the East End of London, Engl ...

. The sartorially traditional Kray disapproved of Haycock's open-necked presenting style and sent him a beautiful silk tie, which Haycocks naturally wore at the first opportunity. He then went on to co-present

South Today ''BBC South Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the south of England, covering Hampshire, Isle of Wight, West Sussex, much of Dorset and parts of Berkshire, Surrey and Wiltshire. Since 2000, an opt-out of the main progra ...

. He is perhaps best remembered for a low-budget daytime show called ''As it happens'' where he was beamed live from a famous place waiting for something to unfold, a style many critics feel has been adopted by modern news channels. Haycocks himself was a pioneering presenter of Channel One, London's first digital news channel but from the late 1990s worked increasingly on the other side of the camera and was, until his resignation in February 2006, factual programming executive at

Talkback Thames Talkback Thames (stylised as talkbackTHAMES) was a British television production company, a division of Fremantle (part of the RTL Group, which in turn is owned by Bertelsmann). It was formed by the merger of Talkback Productions and Thames Te ...

. Haycocks is, in his spare time, a leading light in the Wokingham Choral Society.Society information
/ref> He has two children, Timothy and Elizabeth.

Notes

1950 births Mass media people from Portsmouth English television presenters Living people {{UK-tv-bio-stub