William G. Stewart

William Gladstone Stewart (born July 15, 1935 in Habrough, North East LincolnshireFact|date=February 2007) is an English television producer and director of comedy and game shows, now best known as the former presenter (and producer) of the Channel 4 quiz show "Fifteen to One".

Career

Among the many shows he has produced or directed are "Father, Dear Father", "Love Thy Neighbour", "Bless This House", "My Good Woman", "Spooner's Patch", "The Rag Trade", "Family Fortunes" 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, ironically, also purchased Thames) and they have now been amalgamated (along with the likes of Grundy Productions) into talkbackTHAMES, the UK arm of FremantleMedia.

In 1998, he successfully sued a "Fifteen to One" contestant who had lied to get onto the programme. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4261082,00.html Police probe Millionaire winner] - The Guardian]

His catchphrase was: "that's it for today, we'll be back tomorrow, see you then."

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). He had his eldest child, Nick, by Harrison. He has two children by Geeson, who starred in "Bless This House", called Barney and Hayley. He also has two more children by Calland named Isobel and Hannah, and also has a nephew, Alistair, and two nieces, Lucy and Helena.

Stewart is a long-standing supporter of the campaign to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/peoplesquiz/about/william_g_stewart.shtml The National Lottery People's Quiz] - BBC.co.uk]

He is an avid Manchester United fan, and has been a supporter of the club since childhood. He attributes this to meeting a boy during the Second World War who claimed his father played for the club. Many years later, he met Sir Matt Busby, who checked the club's records and discovered that the boy's father had never played for the side. Nevertheless, he continued to support them.

He is known to be good friends with Nicholas Parsons. This was often referred to when a Nicholas Parsons related question was asked on "Fifteen to One". He is also a keen morris-dancer.Fact|date=April 2007

In 2007, he made a return to television on the new National Lottery show "The People's Quiz".

References

External links

*imdb name | id=0829903 | name=William G. Stewart
* [http://www.ukgameshows.com/index.php/William_G._Stewart UK Gameshows Page: William G. Stewart]