Ian Leslie

Ian Craig Leslie^[1] OAM (born 6 July 1942) is an Australian television journalist and corporate communicator. He is best known for his 12 years (1977-1989) as a member of the original team on 60 Minutes.

Biography

Ian Craig Leslie was born in Java,^[2] Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1942. His father was from Aberdeen, Scotland and mother was born in Gnadenfeld, Ukraine. In 1950 they moved to Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. He is a member of the Australian branch of Clan Leslie.^[3]

He commenced his journalism career in Toowoomba in 1962. He moved to Sydney in 1972 as senior reporter with the Ten Network. In 1977, the Australian edition of 60 Minutes was launched on the Nine Network, with Ian Leslie, Ray Martin and George Negus as the journalistic team. He remained in that role for the next 12 years, until 1989.

Among many journalistic achievements, he is the only Australian journalist to have interviewed the then Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.^[3]

In 1989 he rejoined the Ten Network to undertake documentaries and special projects. He then became the main presenter of the Ten Evening News.^[3]

In 1990 he formed his own production company specialising in corporate communications.^[3]

In 2005 Leslie became the anchor for Fox Television's documentary series Running On Empty.^[4]

Honours and awards

Leslie has won six awards for distinguished journalism, including a Walkley Award.^[3]

He is a three-time winner of the Logie Award.^[5] He won Logies for:

• Best News Coverage in 1974
• Outstanding Public Affairs Report in 1982
• TV Reporter of the Year in 1986.

In the Queen's Birthday Honours of 2009 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), for services to the media, particularly current affairs journalism, and to the community.^[1]

References