TV presenter Maria London: biography, personal life, career

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Today, this article will consider a personality - Maria London, her biography, career, personal life. Modern Russian television in the regions is not at all rich in star names. It is possible that each region or region has its own television heroes, but they are completely unknown to their neighbors on the geographical map, and even more so to the all-Russian audience. Is it fair or not? Unfortunately, most of the time it's true. Television is, first of all, technologies that in the regions are obviously inferior to those in the capital. You have to "leave" on local material, but it is not interesting outside the region. Maria London from Novosibirsk is an exception. She is a star in the capital of Siberia, but her Internet audience is large throughout the country. She is a real personality on the screen, of which there are so few on federal channels. The biography of Maria London, by the way, is instructive and interesting almost to the same extent as her work.

Catch in three minutes

And yet, who is MariaLondon? How did she manage to broadcast from far Siberia to almost the whole world? The program "By the way about the weather" is on the air for just over three minutes. During this time, Maria London manages to give an ironic and sharp commentary on current events that excite the audience throughout Russia. Well, let's talk about the weather. Topics are the hottest. For example, the situation in Ukraine. Or the tragedy of a downed boy, in whose blood alcohol was allegedly found. TV presenter Maria London devoted five programs to this story, which cast a negative light on both law enforcement officers and the authorities in general! The spectators of the region were aware of how events were unfolding, and, I think, Maria London formulated their attitude to what was happening in full … Just, for example, as well as the story of the expensive watch of the presidential press secretary Peskov. Or to the epic with the detention and release of the muse of the Minister of Defense Vasilyeva…

According to experts, the program looks unexpectedly fresh, because it reminds of the best examples of journalism of the 90s. There are no special effects, a catchy picture, which many TV producers are chasing so much. The program is somewhat akin to the genre of video blogs that is popular today. Therefore, apparently, "By the Weather" is so popular on the Web - young people see something of their own, familiar, and viewers of the older generation remember the famous "television heroes" of the last decade of the last century.

Why the weather?

According to the ratings, the weather on television remains the most popular program. Therefore, in this blockadvertisers are trying to get in. And why not take advantage of the situation and not tell the audience about something important and interesting? So the authors of the project decided.

On the other hand, the question arose: "Are the residents of Novosibirsk really interested in discussing federal news?" It seems that everything is already written on the Internet…

The fact is that the audience of the regional TV channel and the Global Network is different, and many Novosibirsk people learn about the listed (and many other) events for the first time from Maria. So Maria London is a journalist, not just a TV presenter. Like all 25 years of his television career.

From music to air

So who is this Novosibirsk TV star? Why can she afford such bold comments? The answer lies largely in the biography of Mary London. Not everyone will be able to build their life more interesting and not everyone gets so much joy and sorrow.

Maria Eduardovna London (this is her last name after her husband, a very famous person in Novosibirsk who played a huge role in the fate of Maria) was born in 1968. Her father is a well-known music teacher and organizer Eduard Levin in the region. All his life he worked as an enthusiast, in recent years, thanks, among other things, to the support of his daughter, he has a private music school and a children's orchestra under the seemingly mysterious name "Sosha Binins". Everything is deciphered very simply. Sosha - Academgorodok Schoolchildren's Symphony Orchestra. And Binins is an abbreviation from the novel "Two Captains" that everyone remembers from Soviet childhood."Fight and seek, find and never give up." Romantic!

By the way, Maria herself shied away from music lessons in every way as a child. And her musical career was out of the question. Although she spent her childhood at the opera house, and once she even fell into the orchestra pit, earning a concussion.

But 1992, when Mary London's creative biography began, provided young people with many opportunities for self-realization, and the newly emerging independent television was one of the best. There is romance, and enthusiasm, and the opportunity to change the world.

Speaking and showing London

In 1992, that is, exactly a quarter of a century ago, Maria came to the NTN television company. Then in Novosibirsk, this television company was more popular than most federal ones. The one who got into her air became a star automatically. Maria hit, became a star … But she did not intend to stop there. A year later, Maria London becomes the chief news editor on the NTN-4 television channel. And the Novosibirsk joke "London speaks and shows on local TV" has been relevant for many years.

The history of this channel is fascinating and instructive. In the 1990s, he, who first broadcast on his own, then on the air of federal television channels, was a symbol of independent and incorruptible journalism, not only in Siberia. And the popularity of his stars can be said, for example, by the fact that one of the leading NTN-4 was elected to the State Duma on the wave of his television success …

Officers out

WhenNTN-4 did not stand on ceremony with the regional authorities. They told the truth, regardless of faces, right in the face of the regional and city leadership and Maria's employees, and she personally as a popular presenter. Among the "victims" was, for example, the governor of the region Ivan Indinok. Analysts say he lost the election because he misbehaved during the Maria London show at the Novosibirsk State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company…

And immediately after the failed performance of Indinok, the leadership of NTN-4 was fired. Of course, when Indinok lost, everyone was taken back … But in the event of his victory, London recalls, everyone was ready to be forced to leave not only the Novosibirsk State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, but also the capital of Siberia. There were many such episodes. But Maria herself often recalls the baptism of fire of the NTN-4 team - the nights of October 3-4, 1993.

Fatal Night

Then the whole country was waiting for information about what was happening in the uprising in Moscow. Then the newborn television company NTN-4 gathered in its studio for the very first broadcast of journalists from other television companies in Novosibirsk. Now it's even hard to imagine what can make the journalistic brethren forget their strife!

Technically, everything was arranged to be primitively simple. In Moscow, Vladimir Mukusev, a journalist from the Vzglyad program, was sitting opposite the White House and was simply telling the people of Novosibirsk about what was happening on the phone! The editor wrote down this information on a piece of paper and submitted it live to the presenters. The audience success was amazing! This once again shows that technology is far from the most important thing for television. Successprograms "By the way about the weather" - another confirmation of this.

However, it has always been like this in NTN-4. Largely due to the policy of the leadership, which helped its reporters withstand all the "attacks" from above. Here one cannot do without answering the questions: what is the real name of Mary London? Where she was born? Where did you study? Who is Maria London by nationality, is she an Englishwoman for an hour?

Yakov the Indomitable

That is, it should be said about a person whose last name Maria has been quite officially for a quarter of a century. Fortunately, in this case, the personal life of Mary London is inseparable from her career. So, Jacob London, not an Englishman, but a native Novosibirsk, born in 1964. He graduated from a prestigious Novosibirsk university - energy engineering, the famous NETI. There he was engaged in Komsomol work (and has already managed to prove himself as a talented organizer and "motor" of any business). In Perestroika, he took up business - but not "buy and sell", but more complicated, media. It was he who was the head (once de jure, once de facto) of the NTN and NTN-4 companies. It was he who noticed promising Maria - and became her husband. They had two children…

To put it bluntly, life has not been too kind to Yakov. Indomitable and principled London has made many enemies. And among competitors, and among regional officials. The intermediate finale of this enmity broke out in 1998. Jacob London received five bullets in the spine and miraculously survived, although he was chained forever to a wheelchair. The killers were detained, as well as the organizerscrimes. However, the punishment was not too proportionate to what was done - someone even left under an amnesty.

Yakov needed long months of treatment and rehabilitation (it took place in Israel). But life didn't stop. Of course, the spouses were tempted to leave the country forever. However, they did not even seriously discuss this possibility. There were too many things to do at home, in Siberia. Not only did London reach the second round of the Novosibirsk mayoral election in 2004, but before that he became (just a year after the assassination attempt) the general director of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company "Novosibirsk" (and made the company profitable in just six months), and then rose in his wheelchair to Everest! Maria London has always helped and supported her husband. But her creative biography was not interrupted.

On earth, in the sky and at sea

As a TV journalist, Maria London left Novosibirsk often: it seems that she has been everywhere where it is interesting. She traveled to Chechnya, and entirely at her own peril and risk, and not for tourist purposes - she was reporting, in addition, she was a postman of original living messages. The guys from Novosibirsk sent greetings to their mothers, told that everything was fine with them. The result of the trip of Maria London and her group was a documentary about that war.

I visited an American prison - as a reporter, almost the only one from Russia. She went down with the miners into the very bowels of the earth, went out with the actors on the big stage. That is, she worked the way a normal journalist should work. Bold, determined, unbiased. The trouble is thatthere are few of them in the country today.

Who is Maria London - everyone in Novosibirsk knew. Otherwise, than in black glasses, it was impossible to go out into the street. An accident for local journalists! Has she been approached with offers of bribes? Maria London today says that she immediately put the question in such a way that it was out of the question. She prides herself on never filming paid material or making any compromises with professional ethics. And in the new program, both London and her colleagues work with the same condition: no censorship, they say what they want…

By the way, Maria describes herself as a naughty wife. In the sense that even the order of her husband-leader was never able to persuade her to compromise. Some time ago, the Londons broke up, but the memory of the television "couple of the century" will remain in Novosibirsk, probably forever. Today, Yakov London, who has long since left the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company "Novosibirsk", of course, is inferior to his ex-wife in popularity. This often happens…

From NTN-4 to the weather

After Yakov London nearly created a sensation by winning the mayoral election in the country's third largest city in a wheelchair, but still lost in the second round to the government's candidate, the days of independent TV in Novosibirsk were numbered. We will not dwell on legal and technical details, we will only say that in 2005 NTN-4 was gone. There was a big information wave, there were rallies, but this, of course, could not help anything. NTN-4 correspondents dispersed to Novosibirsk studios, left for other cities … They, strong professionals, werehappy everywhere. Maria London in her career was engaged not only in journalism, she, for example, headed a journalistic union. However, those who have been on the air for so long will strive to return to it, such is the law of television …

And in 2012, the NTN television company, unexpectedly for many, was revived. True, in the role of a creative unit producing content for the Region company. And among this content - just "By the way about the weather." By all accounts, Maria returned triumphantly. She is not leading the program alone, she has "shifters" and "shifters". But the most vivid and expressive is obtained precisely from Mary. The program became popular on the Internet thanks to one of the top bloggers, who liked it so much that he helped promote it. Lucky? To some extent, yes. But the biography of Mary London all consists of such "luck". So blind luck has nothing to do with it. Personality and material quality wins.

She was repeatedly asked if she was afraid to speak out so boldly. London invariably answers that it could always be scary for journalists. Personally, she was threatened more than once back in the 90s, and then there was talk of threats of physical violence. Some drug addict could become a performer, from whom there could be no demand. The example of Jacob London is quite indicative. Now there is no need to fear reprisals. And in order not to be subject to legal prosecution, Maria London advises her colleagues to carefully study the laws. Come on and be brave!

So who is Maria London?

This question is not easy to answer. She is the only regional TV star in all of Russia. Mother of two children. An uncompromising, experienced journalist with a clear civic position. At the same time, Maria declares that she does not consider herself an oppositionist. And they never were. Just Maria London is a journalist who strives to do her job honestly. And by and large, she doesn’t need any awards for this. Therefore, when in 2015 the Novosibirsk Union of Journalists recognized her as the Person of the Year, London only shrugged. As a principled person, she cannot forget that her colleagues were not very supportive of NTN-4 at the most difficult moment of being forced out of the market. Yes, that's what she is, journalist Maria London. She is also a romantic.

Maria considers herself Russian, but is happy that Jewish, Gypsy, Polish blood flows in her veins. In her youth she loved fencing and sailing, they are interesting to her even now. She loves curiosities and souvenirs from different countries of the world that are incomprehensible to the uninitiated. Maria loves rare, expensive perfumes. Her favorite perfume is chocolate. But the main thing is that they remind of the former life … According to the horoscope, she is Aries, therefore she considers herself able, if anything, to "wrestle" with the circumstances. At the same time, Maria London believes that she is not at all like her on-screen appearance. On the screen she is a fighter, in life she is a modest but principled resident of a Siberian city.

Also, Maria London loves to walk in the rain. No, not under London - under native, Siberian. To be in the village is to rest your soul and body. She has repeatedly said that the capital of Siberia should be changed to other regions and countriesis not going to. Lucky for the viewers of her unique program "By the Weather"!