Years active 1960s-present Name William Stewart | Role Television producer | |
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Full Name William Gladstone Stewart Children Barney Stewart, Hayley Stewart Similar People Sally Geeson, Noel Dyson, Diana Coupland, Patrick Cargill, Natasha Pyne | ||
British game show host and television producer William G Stewart passed away at 82
William Gladstone Stewart (15 July 1933 – 21 September 2017) was an English television producer, director, and host, best known as the presenter and producer of the Channel 4 general quiz show Fifteen to One from 1988 to 2003.
Contents
- British game show host and television producer William G Stewart passed away at 82
- Fifteen to One host William G Stewart dies
- Career
- Personal life
- References
Fifteen to One host William G Stewart dies
Career
In the 1960s, he worked as private secretary to Tom Driberg, about whom he made a documentary in 2009.
Among the many shows he produced or directed were Father, Dear Father, Love Thy Neighbour, Bless This House, My Good Woman, Spooner's Patch, The Rag Trade, Family Fortunes, Don't Forget Your Toothbrush and The Price is Right. He also presented the short-lived 1992 quiz show Famous People, Famous Places, made by his company, Regent Productions (which also made Fifteen to One) for Thames Television and shown only in the London region. He later sold Regent to Pearson Television, (which also purchased Thames) and they have now been amalgamated (along with the likes of Grundy Productions) into Talkback Thames, the UK arm of FremantleMedia.
In 1998, he successfully sued the Fifteen to One contestant Trevor Montague, who had lied to reappear on the programme.
Personal life
In 1997, he married his third wife, Laura Calland, the voice-over artist from Fifteen to One. His first marriage was to Audrey Harrison (1960–76); his second wife was actress Sally Geeson (1976–86). His first child was Nick. He had two children with Sally Geeson, who starred in Bless This House, Barnaby and Hayley. Stewart also had two more children, by Laura, named Isobel and Hannah.
He was a long-standing supporter of the campaign to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. He joked that if, on an episode of Fifteen to One, too few contestants survived the first round to continue the game, he would give a speech on the Marbles to fill the time. This happened in a 2001 episode, where he gave a lengthy presentation stating the case to return them, for which the channel was criticised.
He died on 21 September 2017 at the age of 84.