Janet Street-Porter

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Janet Street-Potter
Janet Street-Porter in 2005
Born	Janet Bull 27 December 1946 (1946-12-27) (age 61) London, England
Occupation	Editor
Ethnicity	English
Notable credit(s)	Editor of The Independent on Sunday Contestant on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!
Official website

Janet Street-Potter née Bull^[1] (born 27 December 1946) is a BAFTA Award-nominated British editor, journalist, media personality, television presenter and producer. She worked for two years as the editor for The Independent on Sunday newspaper but abandoned the post to become the editor-at-large in 2002.^[2] She has been credited with bringing The Independent on Sunday's circulation up to 270,460 with a sales increase of 11.6 per cent.^[1]

Contents 1 Early work 2 Television 3 Newspaper work 4 Other activities 5 Personal life 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Early work

She was born Janet Bull in south London, the daughter of an electrician and a Welsh woman who worked as a school dinner lady.^[1] Growing up in Fulham and Perivale, her parents and relations were extremely poor. She studied at Lady Margaret School in Parsons Green from 1958 to 1964 and then spent two years at architecture school. It was there that she met her first husband Tim Street-Porter.^[1] She dropped out and immediately moved into media work. After a brief stint at a girls' magazine called Petticoat, she joined the Daily Mail in 1969 where she became the deputy fashion editor^[3] and then moved to the Evening Standard in 1971 as fashion editor.^[1]

Street-Porter and the noted journalist Paul Callan are credited with inventing a new form of radio, albeit unintentionally. At the launch in 1973 of the London Broadcasting Company (LBC) the pair were pitched as co-presenters of the mid-morning show.^[4] The intention was to contrast the urbane Callan with the cockney Street-Porter, whose accents were respectively known to studio engineers as "cut-glass" and "cut-froat".

In the event friction between the ill-assorted pair led to an entertaining stream of one-upmanship that became required listening for many Londoners, the sharper put-downs being blamed for several collisions by motorists incapacitated with laughter. The programme was the first in the UK to combine interviews with celebrities and heavyweight political figures on the same show, blurring the line between classic British comedy and analysis of international affairs.

In early 1975, she was launch editor^[5] of Sell Out (the first issue had an April cover date), a spin-off from Time Out — alongside publisher, Time Out founder and her then husband Tony Elliott — but this was not a success.

[edit] Television

Street-Porter broke into television with LWT in 1975, working as a reporter on a series of often youth-oriented programmes, including The London Weekend Show (1975 to 1979) and from LWT's teenage showcase, she went on to present the late-night chat show Saturday Night People (1978-80) with Clive James and Russell Harty. Subsequently, she produced Twentieth Century Box (1980 to 1982), which was presented by Danny Baker.^[1]

She advanced into production work after joining Channel 4 in 1986. She was editor of the innovative Network 7 from 1987, writing its five rules. The same year she was enticed to BBC 2 by Alan Yentob to become Head of Youth and Entertainment Features, and directed the wildly varying output of the twice-weekly DEF II and commissioned Rapido, Red Dwarf and Rough Guide.^[6] In 1988 the Janet Street-Porter produced Network 7 was awarded a BAFTA for Graphics.

Street-Porter's approach did not endear her to critics who argued that her diction was below standard, questioning her values and the suitability of someone thrice-married-before-40 as an influence on youth programming.^[6] When at the beginning of April 1991 it was rumoured that she had been quietly selected for the post of Head of Art and Culture at BBCTV, the Conservative Monday Club caused a public outcry and subsequently she did not get the post.^[6] She became Head of Independent Commissioning in the last year she spent at the BBC, but finding her advancement had halted, she left the BBC for Mirror Group Newspapers in 1994 and as joint managing director with Kelvin MacKenzie^[6] and shared responsibility for the disaster of the L!VE TV channel in 1995, leaving after four months.^[1] In 1996 she set-up an independent production company.

She has appeared on reality television programmes, including Call Me A Cabbie and So You Think You Can Teach, which saw Street-Porter trying to work as a teacher in a primary school.^[7] More recently, Street-Porter took part in the series four of reality television series I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! on ITV in the UK. Finishing fourth, she was the last female to be voted off the show, with comedian Joe Pasquale eventually being crowned King of the Jungle.

Street-Porter regularly interviewed celebrities, newsmakers, artists, architects, businessmen, broadcasters and politicians for Bloomberg TV. The shows were broadcast in over thirty countries and shown six times every Saturday and six times every Sunday.^[7] In 2006, Street-Porter regularly appeared on the second series of Gordon Ramsay's The F-Word where she was the field correspondent. During the show, Street-Porter would have to find some alternative and more unusual food, such as crocodile, and tempt diners in Ramsay's restaurant to try the food. Street-Porter also appeared in the third series of The F-Word and caused some controversy in the second episode, when she attempted to serve horse meat to people at Cheltenham Racecourse, but was subsequently thwarted by police who described the stunt as "highly provocative", which forced her to serve the meat from a private property. Ramsay's restaurant was then subject of protests by representatives of animal rights group PETA, who took action by dumping a tonne of horse manure outside Ramsay's restaurant at Claridge's in central London.^[8]

Street-Porter is also featured in the fourth series The F-Word, where she is currently raising a pair of veal calves.

In early 2007, she appeared in a new reality television series that aired on ITV2 called Deadline. She participated in the show as a tough-talking editor-in-chief working with different celebrities. The celebrities were required to work together to produce a weekly celebrity-based magazine, with the help of editor Street-Porter, which came as a supplement inside Closer magazine. The celebrities however, had to face criticism from Street-Porter who ultimately decided which celebrity was fired each week.^[9]

In 2008 Street-Porter appeared as a host on Celebrity Big Brother Hijack.

[edit] Newspaper work

In 1999 Street-Porter was the appointment as chief editor of the Independent on Sunday. Checking her propensity for excessive innovation she put in a solid performance during the two years that she held the position despite derision from her many critics. Street-Porter was a lead participant in taking the struggling newspaper's circulation up to 270,460 which meant a sales increase of 11.6 per cent.^[1] In 2002 she moved to a specially created role as editor-at-large, writing a regular column for the newspaper, and undertook other media work.

She has also been a travel writer for The Observer as well as the Mail On Sunday and was previously a restaurant critic for Vogue. Street-Porter has also written for the Sunday Times regarding walking, and has also written The Rambler magazine.^[2]

She currently contributes two columns each week to The Independent and The Independent on Sunday, also writing a monthly celebrity interview for Marie Claire magazine.^[2]

[edit] Other activities

Street-Porter was president of the Ramblers' Association from 1994 to 1996 and has also been vice-president.

In 1994 she accompanied the long distance walker, Ffyona Campbell, on the last part of her round-the-world walk for the documentary series The Longest Walk. She embarked on a walk across Britain from Dungeness in Kent to Conway in Wales for the series Coast to Coast in 1998.^[1]

In 1987 she commissioned a house from CZWG Architects in Clerkenwell. The house is notable among the largely Georgian houses in the area. Her distinctive voice made her a favourite for impersonation. Pamela Stephenson appeared as Street-Porter on Not the Nine O'Clock News and Kenny Everett also impersonated her.

In 2000, Street-Porter was nominated for an award at the Carlton Television's Women in Film and Television Awards. The nomination stood as the "Carlton Television Mae West Award for the most outspoken woman in the industry".^[1]

In 1966 Street-Porter appeared as an extra in the nightclub scene in Blowup. In 2003 she wrote and presented an acclaimed one-woman show at the Edinburgh Festival entitled All the Rage.^[2] She released her book, Baggage, in 2004 which was about her childhood in working class London. Fallout, which is the follow up book to Baggage, is due to be released May 2007 and continues the story from the end of her previous book.^[2]

As a friend of Elizabeth Hurley, Street-Porter agreed to perform a dance at a sangeet for Elizabeth Hurley and Arun Nayar's Indian wedding celebrations. The night of the sangeet which took place the day before the Hindu wedding was a traditional evening of musical entertainment, where Street-Porter danced alongside Hurley and six others including Trinny Woodall.^[10]

[edit] Personal life

Street-Porter has been married four times:

• 1) Tim Street-Porter (photographer)^[1]
• 2) Tony Elliott (Time Out)
• 3) Frank Cvitanovich (film-maker)
• 4) David Sorkin; this marriage lasted fourteen months.

She has recently released 'Life's Too F***ing Short', a book which is her answer to getting what you want out of life by the most direct route.

In a recent episode of the F-Word by Gordon Ramsey, Street-Potter claimed that her veal were raised ethically in living conditions larger than that of a human.. This was consequently on the same episode as Gordon Ramsay claiming he had found the best looking tart in England... this is widely contested in South London.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Janet Street-Porter at the Internet Movie Database
• Janet Street-Porter at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
• Official personal website of Janet Street-Porter
• Janet Yahoo Group
• Janet Street-Porter 2008 Interview

Media offices
Preceded by Kim Fletcher	Editor of The Independent on Sunday 1999-2002	Succeeded by Tristan Davies

Persondata
NAME	Street-Porter, Janet
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Bull, Janet
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Editor
DATE OF BIRTH	1946-12-27
PLACE OF BIRTH	London, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH