Brian Henderson - 1931-2021

Melbourne/Adelaide variant

12 Likes

Sad to see Hendo go. May he Rest In Peace. Such a respected newsreader.

Good to see Ten News doing a piece for him too, especially from the Melbourne / Adelaide variant. No surprises that Sydney did a piece too.

6 Likes

Tribute seen at the end of WIN News

10 Likes

Does anyone know the name of the 50 years of television special Brian did in 2006 and if there is a copy floating around the interwebs?

From 1991:

4 Likes

In Seven’s report John Laws and Ann Sanders were interviewed by M Usher

13 Likes

Never really got to see Brian doing his thing because he never really was used nationally, but I guess safe to say he was like Sydney’s version of Kevin Crease, there from the medium’s infancy across multiple generations. Not many of that era around now.

3 Likes

Former Hendo colleague and longtime rival Roger Climpson might be the last “pioneering” Sydney TV newsreader still with us?

As a notable absentee from the reports we saw tonight (would’ve thought one of the networks would try and interview Roger if available), hopefully he’s currently going OK.

1 Like
15 Likes

“Television might always be evolving, but the greatest and most important reality program of all is the nightly news.” - Pete’s intro to their tribute report.

There’ll only ever be one Brian Henderson, however I think it’s possible that we’ll still be talking favourably about Peter Overton in 20 years time.

6 Likes

15 Likes

I’ve seen plenty of tributes for Hendo today, but Ray Warren’s one that just aired on WWOS was by far the stand out. It brought a tear to my eye. I’ll try and find it for those who missed it.

EDIT:

Beautiful.

18 Likes

Video Courtesy of: @SouthCoastTV

18 Likes

Nine News Late - long interview with Peter O tonight.



14 Likes

Some classy words from Ann Sanders on last night’s Seven News report. Goes to show the respect that she and Ross Symonds had towards a rival newsreader, and that they also knew they had a huge task ahead of them when they co-presented the Seven News Sydney bulletin together between 1998-2003 (though Hendo retired at the end of 2002).

10 Likes

Ann Sanders’ rivalry with Brian Henderson actually began in the mid-late 1980’s when she co-presented Ten Eyewitness News alongside Tim Webster.

She then would move to Seven and co-present first alongside Richard Zachariah, then with Roger Climpson in the early 90’s. She also had a stint of presenting solo for a few years (IIRC) before being partnered with Ross Symonds in 1998.

Going by that, Channel Seven literally threw almost everything to try and find a winning formula against Nine and Brian Henderson. But nothing prevailed, of course until a former Nine newsman joined (but that’s another story)

8 Likes

Don’t know if Ann Sanders had taken Katrina Lee’s spot by this point in time, but wasn’t it Ten’s success at 6pm during the Early-Mid 1980s (especially around the 1984 LA Olympics, etc.) which resulted in Nine moving their 6.30pm bulletin to 6pm in/around 1985?

Richard Zachariah was Ann Sanders’ co-reader in 1988, while it was Roger Climpson in 1989.

The first half of the 1990s would see Roger Climpson present Seven Nightly News solo…and he did briefly enjoy some ratings success against Brian Henderson during the 2nd half of 1993. But National Nine News’ position in the Sydney market would strengthen in 1994 with a better promotional campaign, stronger lead-in/out programs and new reporters/behind the scenes personnel to replace those that had left in '93.

Ann would present the news solo for a few years after Roger’s retirement before being partnered with Ross Symonds from 1998-2003.

I’m not aware of them ever attempting the ultimate move - poaching Hendo, although it was probably too late in his career by 1997/98 when Seven signed up Ian Cook, John Collis and Darren Curtis.

1 Like

I think it was 1985 or 1986 that Katrina retired from TV and then Ann Sanders moved up from reporter status to weeknight news reader.

Don’t think I ever heard that one

1 Like

She didn’t retire and Ann Sanders had been the weekend newsreader and consumer reporter before she replaced Lee.

They tried to spin Katrina’s exit by telling the press she’d be Ten’s answer to Jana Wendt and would be devoting time long form current affairs. She’d be promoted as one of the faces of Page One, Ten’s answer to 60 Minutes.

Ten had attempted to poach Brian Henderson in 1987 when Frank Lowy’s Northern Star acquired the network from Murdoch. Newspaper reports suggested Lowy had dangled a rather large carrot in front of Hendo to get him to make the switch but he remained loyal to Nine. No doubt Packer was aware of his value to the network and was willing to pay to keep him. Ten ended up with Steve Liebmann instead. Ian Cook probably attempted to get Hendo over to Seven when he became News Director in the late '90s.

5 Likes

Nine Late News tonight aired an old, 2006 segment (from the “50 Years of Television” celebrations) of Brian Henderson looking back on some of the biggest news stories of his career. Good to see further acknowledgement of his legacy by Nine, although it would be great if a new television special was produced in his honour.

19 Likes