Stuart Hall (presenter)

Hall joined the BBC in 1959 as a general reporter on Radio Newsreel and a sports journalist on Sports Report.[2][6] Between 1965 and 1990, he presented BBC North West's regional news programmes produced in Manchester, originally called Look North, then Look North West and finally North West Tonight, alongside John Mundy.[2][6] During the run of Nationwide (1969–83), Hall became known nationally through live link-ups.[5]

In 1990, Hall moved to ITV Granada's Granada Reports, where he worked with Bob Greaves in a slot titled "Greaves and Hall."[2][6] During the 2000s, he joined Channel M, a local television station in Manchester, presenting Hall's Heroes on Channel M News.[2][6]

Between 1972 and 1982, Hall became particularly well known as the presenter of It's a Knockout on BBC1 and its European equivalent, Jeux Sans Frontières.[2] He would often be overcome by laughter at the slapstick antics of the competitors. This led to his becoming a popular subject for impersonation. After the series was cancelled, Hall presented the one-off Grand Knockout Tournament (also known as "It's a Royal Knockout") in 1987, and retained the rights to the programme and some costumes, which enabled him to host similar programmes and events in other parts of the world.[5]

Hall also presented Quiz Ball (a BBC football quiz show) between 1971 and 1972; was the original host of the long-running sports quiz A Question of Sport (at that time only broadcast in the North of England); presented Going, Going, Gone (a BBC antiques quiz show) in the late 1990s; and provided the voice-over for God's Gift for Granada Television. In 2008, Hall provided his voice for a special segment on Les Dennis's Home Video Heroes. In a typical episode, he would be shown a series of funny clips and there would be a 'laugh-ometer' at the bottom of the screen measuring how much he laughed.

As a football reporter, Hall is associated with the phrase "The Beautiful Game", which he popularised, and which he reports he coined in his youth to describe football. As a lifelong Manchester City supporter,[2] he admired prolific goal-scorer Peter Doherty's style of playing and consequently used the phrase "The Beautiful Game" to describe Doherty.[2][7]

The first football match that Hall reported on was Sheffield Wednesday versus Leicester City at Hillsborough in 1958, where the teams shared eight goals.[2][3] Despite his love of Manchester City,[8] he has affectionately referred to their former home ground Maine Road as the 'Theatre of Base Comedy',[8] an allusion to City's Manchester rivals Manchester United's home ground Old Trafford, which is known as the 'Theatre of Dreams'.

During the 1970s, Hall developed a relationship with Liverpool manager Bill Shankly and became a regular visitor to the Anfield 'Boot Room'.[3] His relationship with Bob Paisley enabled him to pull off a coup, capturing the team's first European Cup final in 1977 in Rome. Smuggled into the ground as a club employee, Hall spent the match on the substitutes' bench wearing the No 14 shirt. This enabled him to get inside television footage of the team's 3–1 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach.[2][3] As a television presenter with Look North, Hall used to turn out for benefit matches, scoring twice against Gordon Banks in Eddie Hopkinson's testimonial at Bolton Wanderers.[2][3]

Hall worked as a football reporter for BBC Radio 5 Live for some years. On 10 December 2009 Radio 5 Live presented a special programme, Stuart Hall Night, broadcast live from the City of Manchester Stadium.

At Preston Crown Court on 17 June 2013, Judge Anthony Russell QC sentenced Hall to 15 months in prison.[27][28] Later the same day, the attorney general's office announced that it had received complaints that the sentence was "unduly lenient". The shadow attorney general and Labour MP Emily Thornberry stated that she believed Hall deserved a longer sentence given the age of his victims and the fact that he had publicly denied the offences at first.[29] The attorney general subsequently referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal for review.[30] On 26 July, Hall's sentence was increased to 30 months.[31] Following his additional conviction for indecent assault in May 2014, Mr Justice Turner sentenced Hall to a further two years and six months in prison, to run consecutively to his existing prison sentence of 30 months.[32]

In a later ruling on the case of Max Clifford, the appeal court compared Clifford's case with Hall's; Clifford had claimed innocence, but did not directly impugn his victims. In contrast Hall had publicly denounced his victims and accused one of seeking “instant notoriety”. A lawyer commented on the Clifford ruling: "Nothing Clifford did resembled the disastrous approach taken by Stuart Hall who, prior to pleading guilty to abusing them as girls, denounced his accusers as gold-diggers and liars." Clifford's actions were deemed merely to show no remorse, and not to justify an increased penalty on appeal, although ruling out a reduction in sentence due to mitigating factors; in contrast Hall's sentence was increased on appeal.[33]

In July 2013, the media reported that 17 women were preparing to launch civil claims against Hall and the BBC, on whose premises a number of sexual assaults had allegedly taken place. Lawyers for the women confirmed that several of the claims related to alleged offences that were not part of Hall's criminal prosecution.[34]

Following Hall's arrest for child sexual offences, Land Registry records revealed that on 22 February 2013, he had transferred his home, which he and his wife Hazel had owned jointly since 1981, into his wife's sole name. Although Hall claimed that he was getting his financial affairs in order because of a heart condition that left him at risk of sudden death, lawyers acting for his victims said they would seek a court order to nullify the transfer of the property, worth an estimated £1.2 million, on the basis that he had relinquished ownership to avoid compensation claims.[35][36]

Hall was released from HM Prison Wymott near Preston, Lancashire, on 16 December 2015, having served half his sentence. He arrived home in time for Christmas and his birthday on the same day.[37] In a February 2016 interview with The Sun, Hall criticised his accusers, 'those who impugned' him, for bringing him down and says he hopes for 'fairness'. A woman Hall attacked when she was a teenage girl said, "To me he'll always be the lowest of the low, a vile paedophile who's ruined so many lives."[38]

When the news of Hall's guilty plea became public, the BBC immediately terminated his contract and stated: "The BBC is appalled by the disgraceful actions of Stuart Hall and we would like to express our sympathy to his victims."[21] Lord Patten, chairman of the BBC Trust, initially announced that Dame Janet Smith would extend her inquiry into the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal to include Hall's sex offences.[39] The BBC subsequently decided to launch a separate inquiry headed by a different individual.[40]

The Dame Janet Smith Review, released 25 February 2016, found that Hall had assaulted 21 female victims at the BBC, the youngest of whom was aged 10, between 1967 and 1991. The report found that some BBC staff members were aware he was bringing underage girls into his dressing room for sex, but his "untouchable" celebrity status stopped them from passing complaints to senior management.[41]

In 1999, various Members of Parliament signed a House of Commons Early Day Motion, congratulating Hall on 40 years in broadcasting.[45][46] Hall was appointed as Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to broadcasting and charity,[47][48] but the honour was formally annulled by the Queen in October 2013 due to his conviction for sex offences.[49]