John Leslie (television presenter)

Infobox Person
name = John Leslie


caption =
birth_date = birth date and age|1965|2|22
birth_place = Edinburgh
death_date =
death_place =
other_names =
known_for = "Blue Peter" and "This Morning"
occupation = Television presenter, property developer
nationality = Scottish

John Leslie (born John Leslie Stott on 22 February 1965) is a Scottish former television presenter, best known as a presenter of BBC One's "Blue Peter" and ITV's "This Morning". He also presented the ITV hit gameshow "Wheel of Fortune" and he was the roving reporter for the first series of the UK version of "Survivor". His current profession is that of a property developer in his native Edinburgh [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2190441/John-Leslie-From-scandal-hit-celebrity-to-obscure-property-developer.html John Leslie: From scandal-hit celebrity to obscure property developer] "The Telegraph"]

He is the brother of Grant Stott.

Personal life

John Leslie Stott was born in 1965 in Edinburgh. He attended James Gillespie's High School, but even then found his height (he is now 6'5") worked against him and he felt very much an "outsider".Fact|date=June 2008 He spent his early years in the church choir and studied music on leaving school, culminating in a stint as a DJ in Copenhagen. His main ambition was to be on television, so he used his time to send demo tapes of himself to nearly every regional network in the hope of getting a break. He finally did so on Yorkshire Television, and went on to host Music Box's all-night music show, "Formula One", in 1989.

In the move to television, Leslie dropped his last name of "Stott", as he was told that many people might have a problem pronouncing it. He became simply John Leslie.

Rape allegations

In October 2002, Ulrika Jonsson said in her autobiography that at the beginning of her career, a television presenter had raped her when she was his junior. Amid media speculation, Matthew Wright, a one time columnist for the tabloid newspaper "Daily Mirror", disclosed - supposedly by accident - on his television show "The Wright Stuff", that Leslie was the alleged person. Jonsson refused to tell the public or the police whether the correct person had been named. Shortly afterwards, several other women made accusations relating to indecent assault by Leslie, who was arrested, and charged with assaulting a woman twice between 25 May and 28 May 1997. He was never charged with offences against Jonsson. The police dropped the charge against Leslie on 31 July 2003, after the complainant brought additional information to the attention of the prosecution service. The information, which was alluded to at the time in the "Daily Express", is believed to have been a letter the complainant wrote to a friend in 1997 detailing the Leslie assault as well as a bad sexual experience she had had at an earlier time. The case was withdrawn because the complainant had not disclosed the earlier experience when she reported the alleged assault by John Leslie. On the court steps after his clearing, Leslie said that he had 'been to hell and back' and that he had 'maintained [his] innocence throughout'. in an interview with a newspaper, who paid him £500,000, Leslie claimed that he had no interest in bondage. Nonetheless, a home video surfaced shortly afterwards in which Leslie took part in a bondage-themed threesome, inviting a another man to grope the breasts of then girlfriend Abi Titmuss while she wore bondage gear, with the comment that "after all, I paid for them". [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1029237/ALISON-BOSHOFF-With-women-John-Leslie-trouble.html] Leslie's career never recovered, although he and Wright did make light of the situation by appearing together in the video for Bo' Selecta's Christmas 2003 single, "Proper Crimbo".

On 23 June, 2008, British media reported that he had been arrested again in relation to an alleged rape that happened in November 1995 [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7470653.stm Leslie quizzed on rape allegation] ] . However no charges were brought against Leslie. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7521522.stm BBC News report on second set of charges being dropped] ]

In January 2006, Leslie was interviewed for the BBC series "My Childhood", in which he analysed his childhood memories with psychiatrist Linda Treliving. In the programme, Leslie admitted that he "had never learnt how to treat women with respect" and "never learnt how to chat up women", admitting that he abused women and drugs but claiming that he did so as a result of childhood trauma. Shortly afterwards, in an interview with The Independent, he repeated this version of events, admitting that "my behaviour was at times inappropriate". [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/john-leslie-my-behaviour-was-at-times-inappropriate-467496.html] [http://www.ananova.com/entertainment/story/sm_1563952.html?menu=entertainment.television]

Football

Leslie is also known for his affinity for football. He played in goal for the Scottish team in the Celebrity World Cup Soccer Six tournament, which took place on 14 May, 2006 at St. Andrew's, the home of Birmingham City.

He is a supporter of Hibernian. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/h/hibernian/3506226.stm Beckham Backs Hibs Star] Retrieved 2008-06-26]

References

;Specific

;General
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ilove/tv/bluepeter/presenters/leslie.shtml Biography from the BBC's I Love Blue Peter website]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3112347.stm BBC News report on charges being dropped]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2356231.stm BBC News report on Matthew Wright's accidental naming of Leslie]
* [http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1319881,00.html Sky News report on his arrest on June 23 2008]

External links

*imdb name|id=0504127|name=John Leslie