Janet Street-Porter

Infobox journalist
name = Janet Street-Porter


caption = Janet Street-Porter in 2005
birthname = Janet Bull
birth_date = Birth date and age|1946|12|27|df=y
birth_place = London, England
age =
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Editor
alias =
gender = Female
status =
title =
family =
spouse = Tim Street Porter (1967-1975)
Tony Elliott (1975-1977)
Frank Cvitanovich(1979-1981)
David Sorkin (?-?)
children = None
relatives =
ethnic = English
religion =
salary =
networth =
credits = Editor of "The Independent on Sunday"Contestant on "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!"
URL = http://www.janetstreetporter.com/
agent =

Janet Street-Porter (born 27 December 1946) is a British media personality, journalist, television presenter and producer. She was for two years editor of "The Independent on Sunday". She relinquished the job to become editor-at-large in 2002. " [http://deadline.itv.com/page.asp?partid=56 Janet Street-Porter] " — deadline.itv.com. Retrieved 23 April 2007.] Her distinctive south London accent has been the butt of comedians.

Early life

Street-Porter was born Janet Bull in south London, daughter of an electrician and a Welsh woman who worked as a school dinner lady. She grew up in Fulham and Perivale. Her family, she says, were poor. She went to Lady Margaret Tudor Grammar School in Parsons Green from 1958 to 1964 and then spent two years at architecture school. Here she met her first husband, Tim Street-Porter. " [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/1052094/ Janet Street-Porter] " — screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 27 April 2007.]

Early career

She dropped out of college and found media work. After a brief stint at a girls' magazine called "Petticoat", she joined the "Daily Mail" in 1969, where she became the deputy fashion editor. [" [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=405389&in_page_id=1773 Janet Street-Porter: Sorry, I'm a shame free zone] " — dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 6 May 2007.] She became fashion editor of the "Evening Standard" in 1971.

With the launch in 1973 of the LBC local radio station Street-Porter co-presented a mid-morning show with Fleet Street columnist Paul Callan. [" [http://www.mediauk.com/the_knowledge/i.muk/LBC Media UK's LBC page] " — mediauk.com] The intention was to sharply contrast the urbane Callan and the cockney Street-Porter. Their respective accents became known to the station's studio engineers as "cut-glass" and "cut-froat". Friction between the ill-assorted pair involved constant one-upmanship that made for compelling listening, causing, it was claimed, more than one traffic accident.

In early 1975, Street-Porter was launch editor of "Sell Out", an off-shoot of the London listings magazine Time Out, alongside its publisher and her then husband Tony Elliott. This was not a success. [ [http://www.magforum.com/1975_89.htm#sel Magazine launches & events 1975-89, Magforum.com] ]

Television

Street-Porter went into television at LWT in 1975, first as a reporter on a series of mainly youth-oriented programmes, including "The London Weekend Show" (1975-79). She went on to present the late-night chat show "Saturday Night People" (1978-80) with Clive James and Russell Harty. She later produced "Twentieth Century Box" (1980-82), presented by Danny Baker.

She was editor of the innovative Channel Four "Network 7" show from 1987. The same year the then BBC 2 boss Alan Yentob appointed her head of youth and entertainment features. She was responsible for the twice-weekly "DEF II" and commissioned "Rapido", "Red Dwarf" and "Rough Guide". " [http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,2051490,00.html 'I am not an amateur'] " — media.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2007.] Her "Network 7" show was in 1988 awarded a BAFTA for its graphics.

Street-Porter's approach did not endear her to critics, who objected to her diction and questioned her suitability as an influence on Britain's youth. In her final year at the BBC she became head of independent commissioning. She left the BBC for Mirror Group Newspapers in 1994 to become joint-managing director with Kelvin MacKenzie of the ill-fated "L!VE TV" channel. She left after four months. In 1996 Street-Porter set-up her own production company.

She has appeared on numerous reality TV shows, including "Call Me A Cabbie" and "So You Think You Can Teach". The latter saw her trying to work as a primary school teacher. She was a contestant in the ITV series "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!". She finished fourth.

Street-Porter conducted numerous interviews with business figures and others for Bloomberg TV. " [http://www.janetstreetporter.com/jsp_TV.html TV&Radio] " — janetstreetporter.com]

In 2006 she appeared regularly in chef Gordon Ramsay's "The F-Word", where she was the "field correspondent." In this capacity, it was her job to locate outlandish or unusual food such as crocodile and then tempt diners to have a taste. In the third series of the show she caused controversy when she attempted to serve up horse meat at Cheltenham Racecourse. She was thwarted by the police, who described the stunt as highly provocative, and she had to dish the meat out elsewhere. Ramsay himself became the target of animal rights protesters, who dumped a ton of horse manure outside his restaurant at Claridge's. [" [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=455233&in_page_id=1773 The night Janet Street-Porter ate horse meat] " — dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 16 May 2007.]

In 2007 Street-Porter starred in an ITV2 reality show called "Deadline". She served as a tough-talking editor who worked with a team of celebrity "reporters" whose job it was to produce a weekly gossip magazine. The celebrities in question had to endure the Street-Porter tongue as she decided each week which of them to fire. [" [http://deadline.itv.com/ Deadline] " — deadline.itv.com]

In 2000 Street-Porter was nominated for the "Mae West Award for the most outspoken woman in the industry" at Carlton Television's Women in Film and Television Awards. In 2008 Street-Porter was host of "Celebrity Big Brother Hijack".

Her distinctive voice has made her a favourite of TV and radio impersonators. Pamela Stephenson mocked Street-Porter on "Not the Nine O'Clock News" and Kenny Everett also imitated her.

Newspaper work

Street-Porter became editor of the "Independent on Sunday" in 1999. Despite derision from her critics, she took the paper's circulation up to 270,460, an increase of 11.6 per cent. In 2002 she became editor-at-large, writing a regular column.

She has written for numerous newspapers and magazines.

Other activities

Street-Porter was president of the Ramblers' Association for two years from 1994. She walked across Britain from Dungeness in Kent to Conway in Wales for the series "Coast to Coast" in 1998.. She also walked from Edinburgh to London in a straight line in 1998, for a television series and her book "As the Crow Flies". ["As the Crow Flies", Metro Books, London (1998) ISBN 978-1900512718 ] on the last section of her round-the-world walk.

In 1987 Street-Porter commissioned a house from CZWG Architects. The building, its exterior a postmodernist mini-echo, conscious or not, of Broadcasting House, stands out among Clerkenwell's mainly Georgian houses.

In 1966 Street-Porter appeared as an extra in the nightclub scene in "Blowup". In 2003 she wrote and presented a one-woman show at the Edinburgh Festival titled "All the Rage". She publishd the autobiographical "Baggage" in 2004, about her childhood in working class London. Its sequel is titled "Fallout". 'Life's Too F***ing Short' is a volume which presents, as she puts it, her answer to "getting what you want out of life by the most direct route."

Personal life

A friend of the model Elizabeth Hurley, Street-Porter danced with Hurley and six others at Indian-style celebrations the night before the Hurley's marriage to Arun Nayar in 2007. [" [http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_m_z/janet_street_porter/article2347444.ece So there I was dancing for Liz, the biggest by three dress sizes... ] " — comment.independent.co.uk. Retrieved 6 May 2007.]

Street-Porter has been married four times:
* 1) Tim Street-Porter (photographer), the marriage ended in 1974 after her relationship with Tony Elliott
* 2) Tony Elliott (Time Out) which ended in 1977
* 3) Frank Cvitanovich (Canadian film-maker and 19 years older than her)
* 4) David Sorkin; this marriage lasted fourteen months and began when he was 27.

She is now with restauranteur, Peter Spanton.

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0834110|name=Janet Street-Porter
*
* [http://www.janetstreetporter.com/ Official personal website of Janet Street-Porter]
* [http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=404634200 Janet Street-Porter's personal Myspace profile]
* [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/janetstreetporter07/ Janet Yahoo Group]
* [http://www.asrecommended.co.uk/lifestyle/tips/?FaqID=61 "Janet Street-Porter 2008 Interview"]

Persondata
NAME= Street-Porter, Janet
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Bull, Janet
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Editor
DATE OF BIRTH= 1946-12-27
PLACE OF BIRTH= London, England
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=