By Meghna Amin

Copyright walesonline

Good Morning Britain presenters Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid joined Richard Arnold in paying tribute to John Stapleton. The legendary broadcaster died aged 79 on Sunday , with his agent sharing in a statement: “John had Parkinson’s disease, which was complicated by pneumonia. “His son Nick and daughter-in-law Lisa have been constantly at his side, and John died peacefully in hospital this morning.” The presenter had a distinguished career spanning more than 50 years, working on shows such as Daybreak, GMTV, Newsnight, and Panorama. “We go on air this morning on Good Morning Britain, holding in our hearts the family of John Stapleton,” Susanna began. “He was a part of this programme’s history and a part of breakfast television history.” Madeley added: “He was a major figure at the BBC and a major figure at ITV . He was huge.” Later in the show, Madeley went on: “The lights dimmed for many of us yesterday morning, when we got the news that Stapes, John Stapleton, our good friend and colleague, had very quietly slipped away.” “Very sad news,” Arnold replied, remembering Stapleton as “the ultimate gentleman” and “a fantastic journalist”. “I remember him hugely fondly,” he went on. “For the best part of about 30 years, when I started in the business, my first ever boss,” he continued, saying, “John took me under his wing.” “I found myself in a daily orbit when I started on breakfast television in 1997, and you always wanted to be with John whenever you were out and about, having a bit of a do at an awards do. I would always be with John, because his stories were absolutely phenomenal. “You’d look up in awe at this man who’d obviously seen it all, we learnt so much at his knee.” He added: “On a personal note, whatever you brought to the table, showbiz wouldn’t necessarily be his patch, that was my patch, he always respected what you brought to the table. “Whenever we’d have a debrief afterwards, he always had the backs of every member of the team, regardless of who they were. “As we know in television, it can be a fraught arc, light and shade, a lot of changes can happen, but he always had the backs of people left, right, centre, below stairs, front of stage, anywhere.” “And he always had the backs of the viewer,” Susanna added. Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV1 and ITVX.