Phillip Leishman: on four decades of TV presenting…

Interview – 2012

Phillip Leishman had one of the longest presenting careers in New Zealand television. He began presenting sports news and events in the 1970s, and hosted major live events such as the Olympics and test rugby. Leishman also hosted long-running game show Wheel of Fortune, and the internationally-syndicated Golf Show.

Phillip Leishman died in February 2013. In this ScreenTalk interview from 2012, Leishman talked about:

Becoming Glyn Tucker’s "little shadow" on Turf Talk
How tech problems led to him commentating on the 1976 Olympic Games
The difficulties of covering the 1981 Springbok Tour
Loving the pace of production on Wheel of Fortune
Initially failing to notice David Tua’s infamous ‘O for awesome’ moment
Hosting the last televised Miss New Zealand contest
Missing the cool atmosphere of Weekend
Why The Golf Show has been his favourite gig
Traveling the world having a good time on Air New Zealand Holiday
Being proud of his 41 years on air

This video was first uploaded on 20 December 2012, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside

It's hard for me to appreciate that I've been doing this job for 42 years . . . I'm incredibly proud of the fact that both myself and my brother Mark have probably contributed to this broadcasting industry close to 80 years of television, and I don't think that anyone else can claim that.
– Phillip Leishman on he and his brother Mark's long run in New Zealand broadcasting

Phillip's Full Profile