1. Richard John Sinclair Laws CBE was born on 8 August 1935 and is a retired Australian radio announcer who had a broadcasting career that spanned 71 years.
39 Facts About John Laws
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Best known as a talkback radio broadcaster, Laws was one of Australia's highest-paid radio personalities and was involved with Australian talkback radio broadcasting much longer than any other presenter.
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John Laws was nonetheless one of the few commercial radio personalities whose interviews with state and federal political leaders are considered to have a significant influence on the course of politics in New South Wales especially, and Australia in general.
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John Laws has often appeared as a television show host and enjoyed a long recording career.
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John Laws' radio show was syndicated throughout Australia for many years and was consistently one of the most popular and influential programs in the Australian media.
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John Laws is a familiar voice for generations of Australians through his large and varied body of work as a voice-over artist for commercials, and as a celebrity endorser of commercial products, notably Valvoline motor oil, with his popular catchphrase "Valvoline, you know what I mean" and Oral-B toothbrushes.
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John Laws began his radio career in 1953 at 3BO in Bendigo before working at several rural radio stations and joining 2UE in 1957, the first of four terms at the Sydney radio station, during which time he became one of the first Australian disc jockeys to play rock 'n' roll music.
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John Laws pioneered the practice of using contacts in the airline industry to supply him with the latest international pop releases, giving him an edge at a time when Australian releases of many British and American pop records might be delayed for months.
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John Laws left 2UE in 1959, and moved to the Hunter Valley, where he ran a farm.
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John Laws returned to 2UE in 1979, this time for another five years.
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John Laws then moved to 2GB after a highly publicized bid for his services, but returned to the 2UE fold when the station was number eight in the ratings.
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The return of John Laws was the primary cause of the station becoming number one in Sydney for many years.
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Capital city stations taking John Laws included 4BC in Brisbane, 2CC in Canberra, 7HOFM in Hobart and Mix 104.9 in Darwin.
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John Laws's early 1960s show Startime assisted in introducing mainstream Australia to Dame Edna Everage at which time Laws claimed Everage was "a very close friend of mine".
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John Laws told columnist Valda Marshall in 1970 that he was 'not basically a TV star' and didn't 'feel altogether happy with the medium'.
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John Laws was a judge on Australia's New Faces in 1969 and took over as host from Noel Ferrier on the panel advice show Beauty and the Beast in 1970.
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John Laws appeared on television in 1970 in an acting role in the children's drama Skippy.
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John Laws quit Beauty and the Beast in 1971; a spokesman for the station which produced the show, Channel 7, claimed John Laws had asked for a higher salary.
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John Laws announced on 25 June 2007 that after 55 years on the air he would retire at the end of the year.
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The ABA subsequently found that John Laws' deal constituted cash for comment but Jones' did not.
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John Laws, apparently angered by what he saw as inequitable treatment, launched stinging attacks on Jones and the ABA's head, David Flint.
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John Laws had previously apologised for another incident in which he called gay TV personality Carson Kressley, of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy fame, a "pillow-biter" and a "pompous little pansy prig".
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John Laws subsequently switched to another gold plated microphone; a Rode NT2-A presented to him for his 40th anniversary.
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John Laws promised charges would not be laid if the Sennheiser was returned.
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In December 2007, during a long lunch at Sydney's Otto Ristorante to farewell his former personal assistant, John Laws was informed of the presence of rival broadcasters Derryn Hinch and Bob Rogers at another table nearby.
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John Laws went over to their table and immediately spouted forth a tirade of invective, calling them 'the two most despicable cunts' he'd ever met in the industry.
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Hinch and Rogers traded insults with John Laws, insisting Hinch was a 'hypocrite' and a 'failed alcoholic'.
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Hinch replied that that must mean John Laws was a 'successful one' and that if John Laws was not in fact an alcoholic then he was a 'bloody good actor'.
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On 7 May 2009, John Laws made a statement on the 20th anniversary special edition of the ABC's Media Watch program, in which he exhibited no remorse for his role in the Cash-for-Comment scandal, instead implying that the whistleblower was the wrongdoer and that the people involved were only jealous of his success.
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Nevertheless, the suggestions that John Laws would be returning from retirement in 2010 ended shortly thereafter, when 2UE management revealed that their contract with John Laws precluded him from competing with their station until December 2010.
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John Laws' management confirmed in November 2010 that he would be returning to radio, following the expiry of the no-compete clause that prevented him from signing with a new network.
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On 31 January 2011, Laws debuted in the morning slot on 2SM, presenting the John Laws Morning Show on that station and networked to the Super Radio Network.
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John Laws proceeded to ask the woman if the abuse was in some way her fault and whether she had been provocative.
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In March 2020, John Laws addressed on air an email received from a listener which was critical of both John Laws and various items of content broadcast on the show.
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John Laws announced on 8 October 2024 during a listener message, that after 71 years on the air, and 13 years with 2SM, he would retire from radio on 8 November 2024, for the final time.
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John Laws has authored numerous books, many of them poetry collections.
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John Laws recorded nine singles between 1959 and 1962, including many songs he wrote himself.
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In Love is an Expensive Place to Die is an album of John Laws' poetry set to music.
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Additionally, John Laws appears recorded as part of the cast of Side By Side By Sondheim and reading his poems to accompaniment by the Henry Mancini Orchestra on an album entitled Just You and Me Together, Love.