Ian Leslie

Ian Craig LeslieOAM (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,Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in 1942. His parents were from Aberdeen, Scotland. In 1950 they moved to Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. He is a member of the Australian branch of Clan Leslie.

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.

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