John Craven

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John Craven OBE (born in Leeds, England on 16 August 1941) is a BBC television presenter and former news anchor, best known for his pioneering work in the field of children's news programmes.

He started his professional life in print journalism as a junior reporter on a local newspaper, the Harrogate Advertiser, before working for the Yorkshire Post and as a freelance correspondent and writer for national newspapers. He then joined the BBC staff in Newcastle upon Tyne, to work on local radio and television, before moving to the BBC in Bristol.

In 1972, he began a regular children's news programme, Newsround. The first such programme ever produced for British television, it drew on the full journalistic resources of the BBC. Craven became associated with children's TV and presented news items on other children's programmes, such as Multi-Coloured Swap Shop and Saturday Superstore.

In 1989 he left the Newsround team and began to present a countryside news programme, Countryfile, for the BBC.

He was awarded the OBE in 2000 for services to rural and children's broadcasting, and the Baird Medal in 2002. He is vice-president of the Waterways Trust. He is a Patron of SPANA (Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad).

[edit] Trivia

In popular slang, a John Craven is the act of drinking five pints of beer without going to the lavatory until the fifth is finished. According to different sources, the derivation is either due to John Craven's legendary drinking ability, or could refer to a spoof article about the news reader's drinking capacity in issue 28 of Viz magazine.^[1]

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