John Martin Stapleton is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 and presenter

Presenter

A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...

. He is currently working as a freelancer

Freelancer

A freelancer, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term. These workers are often represented by a company or an agency that resells their labor and that of others to its clients with or without project management and...

 with various media outlets.
Stapleton is an award winning journalist with more than 40 years experience in newspapers and television. His career began on local newspapers in the North West of England before becoming a staff reporter on the Daily Sketch in Fleet Street.
His first job in television was as a researcher and script writer on "This is Your Life" presented by the late Eamonn Andrews.

He subsequently worked as a reporter on the Thames TV regional news magazine show Today from 1971 until 1975.