Annie St. John

Ann Florence Heywood - who was born on September 8th, 1954, in Blackpool, Lancashire, England - was a British television presenter.  Growing up in Blackpool, Lancashire, she attended Blackpool Collegiate Grammar School for Girls and the Rose Bruford Drama School.  As a young woman, she worked as a mahout (an elephant rider, trainer, or keeper) at the Blackpool Tower Circus, and performed at repertory theatre in Bolton, Salisbury, and at the Young Vic in London.  In 1976, she married the actor, Michael St. John.  Annie first made her name on television in 1978, working as a hostess on the first two series of the networked Yorkshire Television gameshow, 3-2-1, before joining HTV West in 1981 as a newsreader and continuity announcer.  Her popularity in the West-Country was such that viewers launched a Save Our Annie campaign when she left the station in 1983 to join Tyne Tees Television in Newcastle.  During her time at Tyne Tees, St. John continued to freelance for HTV West and also for London Weekend Television.  As well as announcing duties, she presented various regional programmes, including Ask Oscar; a weekly What's On programme; It's Nearly Saturday; and the advice series, Problems.  By the late 1980s, St. John had become one of the main anchors of the nightly regional news programme, HTV News, alongside Bruce Hockin and Richard Wyatt, whilst still pursuing her continuity role.  She also presented a request show for the local independent radio station, Radio West.  In November of 1990, after colleagues became concerned when she failed to turn up for work, HTV director of programming Derek Clark and a staff rigger went to her flat in Baltic Wharf, Bristol, where they found St. John naked and semi-conscious on a bed, clutching a teddy-bear, having taken an overdose of champagne and drugs.  She was able to confirm to an ambulanceman that she had taken 80 tablets from two bottles that were found by her bed.  Apparently, St. John suffered a heart attack shortly after arriving in hospital, which left her in a vegetative condition.  On Monday, December 10th, 1990 - 38 days after taking the overdose - she died in hospital.  St. John's funeral was held at St. Mary Redcliffe Church in Bristol, and she was cremated in the city.  Her grave is located at Carleton Cemetery in her hometown of Blackpool.  Survived by her husband of 14 years, Michael, an inquest later recorded a verdict of suicide.  It also transpired that St. John had been having an affair with Nick Kerswell, an HTV journalist, for six months before her death; although, on the evening of her overdose, she had been sharing a drink for forty minutes with her estranged husband.  Her husband later said that she had mentioned having a row with someone, but didn't want to dwell on it, and otherwise she seemed fine.  A briefcase found in her house contained several letters and photographs addressed to Kerswell, which he claimed to have destroyed after reading.  Pathologist Nicholas Rooney attributed St. John's death to bronchial pneumonia caused by a cerebral haemmorhage.  Annie St. John was just 36 years old.