GB News presenter Anne Diamond has paid tribute to her former colleague John Stapleton as ”one of the originals” who was “even nicer off screen than he was on”.
She said: “I can’t believe he’s gone. It’s really upsetting. I was speaking to my mate Nick Owen about it just a few moments ago, and he’s devastated too. John was, as you said, he was even nicer off screen than he was on.
“He was a real gentleman and combined with being a really good journalist. You didn’t often get that. He came to us at TV-am in 1983 I think, almost at the very beginning. He came from the BBC and he was rightfully well thought of as a serious journalist.
“I think at first he sort of felt like a fish out of water because he was expected to sit on a sofa next to Roland Rat and have a laugh as well as have a serious interview. But he warmed to that challenge almost straight away, because he was a very warm person.
“And of course, we already had Lynn Faulds Wood, his wife, doing a spot on TV-am in those days too. So we got to know them both really well, and they adored each other.
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“It’s very sad to hear him talk there of losing her, because we were all devastated when she went. She died during lockdown, so nobody could actually go and comfort him.
“It is a real loss. He had a wonderful life, though, I have to say, and his son, Nicholas, can be so proud of both his parents being such a force in broadcasting, both of them were,
“But I’m very sad because it feels like the end of an era. He was one of the originals. He really was.”
She added: “He came from that very old-fashioned school of being a good journalist first, a really serious good journalist, being able to meet anyone. And then suddenly he found himself in the world of breakfast television, where you could also show your relaxed side and your funny side. And he was right up to that too.
“I remember him having a real ding-dong one morning with, would you believe, Enoch Powell, where they honestly tried to tear two bits out of each other, because both of them were seriously educated and good at their jobs. And then, equally, as I said, he would talk to Roland rat, and he was very, very funny.
“We’re devastated. There are no words, because it’s a real, real pity to have lost him, but I know he had a good life, and he had a great marriage. And what more can you hope for somebody?
“There are so many clips where he was just chatting away with Margaret Thatcher, and, as I say, having a row with Enoch Powell and then it’s pulling birthday cards out of giant egg cups.
“He threw himself into absolutely anything breakfast has to throw at all of us, actually, anything from light entertainment to very serious interviews. But that’s why he was so good at his job and so valued.”
