Derek Hobson

Derek Hobson Northern Ireland born Hobson is a TV and radio broadcaster and journalist, best known as the original host of ITV's New Faces,  which introduced, among others, Lenny Henry, Victoria Wood, Jim Davidson, Les Dennis and Michael Barrymore to a Saturday night audience of more than 12 million viewers.

Hobson was also a continuity announcer for ATV in Birmingham and was one of the presenters of the regional news programme ATV Today.

After leaving ATV, Hobson co-presented Not For Women Only, a regional magazine programme for TVS, with Jill Cochrane. He also presented and co-created the format for the game show That's My Dog for TSW, which ran for four years on the ITV network from 1984.

Personal life
When aged 32, on Tuesday 24 April 1979, he was banned from driving for a year by Stratford-upon-Avon magistrates, when living at 5 Wootton Hall in Wootton Wawen near the town. Warwickshire Police had stopped his car on Guild Street and Birmingham Road in Stratford at 4.05am on Saturday 9 December 1978. The policeman believed that he had been drinking, after Hobson had driven the wrong way around a one-way system of road works. A sample of urine showed 137mg of alcohol in his urine, 30mg above the legal limit. He was fined £60 for drink driving, £15 for refusing a breath test, and £10 for ignoring a temporary keep-left sign.