Phillip Leishman

When Phillip Leishman passed away in late February 2013, fellow sports broadcaster Brendan Telfer paid tribute to his long career, and naturalism in front of the camera. "It's [presenting] the most difficult thing to master because you're sitting in a big studio and all you're talking to is a piece of metal three or four metres in front of you. So it's very hard to act natural in a television studio but Phillip was always able to do that. He unashamedly liked the camera but more importantly the camera loved him."

Leishman was a feature of New Zealand broadcasting for more than four decades. After beginning in radio in 1970 — for the first eight months in the personnel department, then as an announcer — Leishman got his first taste of television a year later, when he went to Dunedin as a relieving sports officer. His first TV appearance was on regional station DNTV-2’s news show in 1971. It was the first of many.

Moving to the nightly network bulletin as sports news presenter he appeared alongside all the then-big names of TV news broadcasting: Dougal Stevenson, Bill Toft, Angela D'Audney, Jenny Goodwin and Richard Long to name a few.

Leishman’s profile in sports broadcasting gathered pace in 1975. He hosted coverage of the New Zealand Games, a follow-up to the previous year’s Christchurch Commonwealth Games, and also began his long association with horse racing. The show was the hour-long Turf Talk, which he co-hosted with the larger than life Glyn Tucker, a horse programme that included a quiz featuring sports celebrities. Turf Talk ran until 1979.

His first big assignment came in 1976 with the Montreal Olympics. For the first time Television New Zealand covered the Olympics live, although they concentrated on only the opening and closing ceremonies and events in which Kiwis were expected to do well. Leishman co-hosted the show with Keith Quinn, but as Leishman described in this video interview, technical problems early in the opening ceremony meant he had to deliver most of what was planned to be Quinn’s commentary from back in the Wellington studios.

But he was now established as host of Olympic and Commonwealth Games coverage. That continued until the 1998 Olympic Games in Kuala Lumpur. He was named Sports Broadcaster of the Year in 1978. He was also to be seen hosting many other sporting and racing broadcasts between his Games duties, from test match rugby (including the 1981 tour), and rugby league to Davis Cup tennis and yachting.

In 1997 Leishman joined up with another Phillip, Phil Smith, to form a new company, Uplink (later known as Sportinc). Smith had won the rights to a golfing show for a legendary one dollar fee. The two set about becoming partners in creating the long-running Golf Show, now called HSBC Golf Club. Leishman described it in 2012 as probably "the most satisfying role that I've had". HSBC Golf Club screens on Sky and TV3, and can be seen on several channels around the world. Over the years Leishman developed relationships with many of the world’s greatest players including Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Colin Montgomerie and Michael Campbell.

It wasn't just about sport; entertainment also got a look in. From 1991 to 1996 Leishman hosted an impressive 1250 episodes of quiz show Wheel of Fortune alongside Lana Coc-Kroft, recording 15 shows in each three day recording session. He was hosting when boxer David Tua famously seemed to ask for the letter "O for awesome."

Phillip also hosted one-off entertainment specials including the Halberg Awards and the last ever live televised Miss New Zealand Show. He hosted the New Zealand Cricket Awards from 2008 to 2010.

There were also enjoyable stints on travel show Air New Zealand Holiday, and filling in for Gordon McLauchlan on Sunday current affairs showWeekend.

Off-screen, Leishman was involved with children’s charity Variety from its inception in 1989. He was Chief Barker, or president, from mid April 1994 until late 1997. The Chief Barker is named after the person who drummed up customers at the fairground.

Leishman was also a sought-after guest speaker and event MC with a popular corporate entertainment package, 'Appointment at Ascot'. He also regularly fronted the racing industry’s Hall of Fame nights. In 2011 he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for his services to broadcasting and the community.

Leishman reflected on his career in a 2012 ScreenTalk for NZ On Screen — his final interview:

"42 years is a terribly long time. I'm incredibly proud of the fact that both myself and my brother Mark have probably contributed to this broadcasting industry close to 80 years of television. I feel proud that I started hosting a show in September '71 and I was still capable of hosting a show in 2012, December ... My legacy is [that] I've lived the life of television in this country, and I'm pretty proud of that."

Leishman died on 25 February 2013 at the age of 61, after a battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife Michelle and three children.

Profile written by Keith Tannock
Originally published on 3 May 2012; last updated on 22 January 2019

Sources include
Phillip Leishman
'Phillip Leishman: on four decades of TV presenting...' (Video Interview) NZ On Screen website. Director Andrew Whiteside. Loaded 20 December 2012. Accessed 22 January 2019
Newstalk ZB and Radio Sport staff, 'Broadcaster Phillip Leishman dies' (broken link). Radio Sport website. Loaded 26 February 2013. Accessed 26 February 2013