Creegor, Vivien

Vivien was born in London and admits to being on the wrong side of 55.  She began her career at the BBC in 1976 as a production assistant in BBC Drama, where she also abridged books for BBC Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime.  Vivien was invited on to the BBC’s in-house broadcast training scheme and was taken on by BBC Radio 4 as an announcer (1980 – 1982).

She moved to television and presented BBC Bristol’s Points West (1983 – 1989), during which time she also read the national lunchtime news in London – News after Noon (1st August – 30th September 1983) and hourly news summaries.  She also co-presented, alongside Moira Stuart, News View (BBC Two, 28th March – 18th May 1988) and read the weekend news on BBC Radio 2.  Vivien was then seconded to the BBC’s sports and events department to co-present Transit with the late Mike Smith.  It went out live on BBC Two on Friday evenings and highlighted transport and travel leisure activities around the country.  Vivien further demonstrated her versatility by co-presenting The Small Business Programme – a 20-part series on BBC Two.  Vivien was then headhunted to be an original member of the Sky News presenting team (February 1989 – 2006).  After some seventeen years with Sky News, she was released from her contract “to make way for new faces”.  She is perhaps remembered for her crucial, high-profile presenting role on the 1995 O. J. Simpson trial, covered extensively by Sky.  Throughout her time with the channel, she had lengthy stints on many of the news slots, including Sky World Review (c. 1990) and Sunrise which was shown simultaneously on Channel 5.  But her main slot was in the evenings where she forged a long-term on-screen partnership with Laurie Mayer.  Due to her earlier association with A Book at Bedtime, she also fronted The Book Programme on Sky One.

Vivien has chaired major United Nations conferences (mainly for The World Health Organisation) including one in Beijing, where she introduced Hillary Clinton, Jane Fonda and the late Benazir Bhutto to more than 5,000 delegates.  As a direct result of this, she made a documentary about Cambodia which looked at the work of the World Food Programme and MAG (the Mines Advisory Group).  She also forged a close working partnership with the former first lady of Egypt, Suzanne Mubarak, and fronted conferences for Mrs Mubarak’s high-profile charity work in Cairo, Sharm El Sheikh and Vienna.  After leaving Sky News, Vivien had a cameo role as a news reporter in the 2006 British-made movie Stormbreaker and in the summer of 2007 moved to Los Angeles and studied to be an actress at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts, finding herself in a class full of 20-year-olds!

Back in the UK, Vivien has worked in fringe theatre and has starred in commercials for Mars Bars and Fosters Beer (nice when you have them together, she says). She has been a travel writer for The Mail on Sunday for more than 20 years, most recently going to Chile, Brazil, Alaska and Serbia.  She has written articles for the London Evening Standard and the Daily Telegraph. In addition, for several years, Vivien helped present The Child of Achievement awards alongside former Prime Minister John Major and was a co-presenter together with Angela Rippon, Selina Scott and Robert Powell of the Daily Mail’s Fundraising for Farmers show at the Royal Albert Hall in London where the Prince of Wales was the guest of honour.

Correspondence

Paul R. Jackson corresponded with Vivien in May 2018.

How Were You Selected to Present News After Noon and What Was It Like Getting a Big Break on National TV News?

“I was picked to stand in for Anne Diamond but always expected to go back to Bristol and Points West.  I was also considered for the newsreading job on Breakfast Time but it went to Jill Dando.”

What Are Your Memories of Working at Sky?

“Two of my rather unfortunate memories of Sky were when I announced the deaths of two people who were still very much alive: one being the Queen Mother and the other Bob Hope.  In the case of the former, the news travelled around the world before an irate BBC spokesperson called Sky to demand how they’d heard.  With the latter, Mr Hope’s daughter came on the phone to tell me her dad was fine.  Luckily I was entirely innocent of the debacle, with a producer and a VT editor getting the blame!”

Personal information

Clips of Vivien on The TV Room

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Online presence

Acknowledgements