[ John Maguire ]

Of Irish descent, John was raised in the midlands and makes no excuses for his soft ‘Black Country’ tones. Educated at Oldbury Grammar School his career has been colourful and varied resulting in a broad minded, highly successful and determined individual.

 

Following school John qualified and worked as an industrial pipe fitter before moving to France for three years. He spent two years in a monastery and one industrial pipefitting. John is fluent in French with a broad monastic and Industrial vocabulary! He’s been nicknamed ‘Friar Maguire’ by his friends.

 

In the early eighties John re directed his career spending six years in commercial sales. He began on ‘cold call’ commission then through ambition and hard work progressed to Northern Sales Manager for Panasonic Industrial who ‘head hunted' John to establish their dealer network for electronics and word processors in the north of England.

 

In the late eighties ready for another career challenge John enrolled at the University of Wolverhampton; two years later he graduated with honors in ‘Design Communications’. 

 

Weeks after leaving university, and in somewhat unprecedented fashion, John secured his first BBC 1 contract with Pebble Mill studios to Produce and Direct a half hour documentary for the 1991 network Christmas schedule. He completely by-passed an ‘up through the ranks’ system normally required by the BBC. …“Self belief, cold canvassing and a hard sell” as he puts it!  

 

In 1994 John moved to London as a director on ‘Holiday’ he worked with the late Jill Dando, Carol Smillie, Sankha Guha, and Monty Don amongst many other well-known presenters.

 

By early 1995 he had joined up with Bob Geldof to produce the first anniversary programme of ‘Live Aid’ and since then he has worked in over sixty countries and varied locations from the frozen Arctic Ocean to the South Pacific seas. John has led the likes of Neil Morrissey, Donal MacIntyre, Jeremy Clarkson and Sir Bob Geldof through some of the most exciting and dangerous experiences of their life. He recalls:

 

“Once, on a recce in Somalia, I had to meet a general in his Kurtz like compound of rock & roll rebels. While finalising our meeting there were gun shots, the mayor was assassinated outside the compound! You can imagine all hell broke loose ...I crawled across the floor to get out in one piece myself. I  did get out with the help of Abdi my fixer and left on the understanding that our passage was clear for a future film visit... if we returned! 

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We did return two months later and to my surprise we were met by many soldiers in two technical vehicles, our passports were confiscated.

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Encouraged by the many large guns pointed in our direction Geldof and the film crew were carted off to a safe house, while I was bundled into a van and escorted away by four men with their modern day spears... AK47's.

 

I was once again taken to the generals compound where, after a tense grilling, it was suggested I make a ‘generous’ offer to the Puntland state for safe passage and a permit for the BBC.  I politely acknowledged the ministers in the room and handed over an uncomfortably large wad of dollars.

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We were then free to go filming …albeit shadowed by 36 armed rebels” …I guess something got lost in translation during our first meeting” muses John.  “…quite normal for certain parts of Africa”.

 

Acknowledged ‘safe hands’ by the BBC John has become a highly trusted and respected award winning Director. He has worked with and is respected by some of Britons biggest talent in Film, TV and the music industry, from both behind and in front of the camera. He has featured twice himself as the subject in ‘making of’ programmes.

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“He’s the only man in TV who can work with Geldof, an achievement that brings no awards but should win many” …Dr Alex Connock.

 

John’s strengths include an ability to take big thoughts, complex issues and simplify them for a mainstream audience.

 

As well as producing and directing John also keeps his hands firmly on the business and commercial side of his productions. He has negotiated international distribution deals, DVD and CD soundtrack production & distribution agreements and his photography has featured in and on the front cover of national and international broad sheet/tabloid newspapers, magasines, front cover Radio Times and in coffee table books accompanying TV series.

 

John is a motivator and born leader who has the ability to command people’s attention.  As well as numerous light-hearted and amusing tales from his extensive travels he is happy to bring his vast production experience to any content production market be it with a corporate team on fine-tuning a script or as a Series Producer from inception to broadcast.

 

John is a confident performer able to present technical and complicated material with passionate precision, humility or humour.  With his extensive background in entertainment, coupled with his ‘feet firm on the ground’ approach to life, challenge is something he thrives on and realising ideas something he loves.