Brian Weir HendersonAM is a retired Gold Logie winning Australian radio and television personality and pioneer known for his long association with the Nine Network in Australia as a television news anchor and variety show presenter, as host of Bandstand the Australian version of the US music program American Bandstand. Henderson was born in New Zealand and is nicknamed "Hendo".
Career
Henderson hosted Bandstand from 1958 until 1972. He also holds the record for the longest-serving television news presenter, having read either the weekend or the weeknight news on Sydney stationTCN-9 from January 1957 until his retirement in late November 2002. Henderson took part in the reunion with Channel Nine for the 50th birthday of Australian televisionin September 2006. From his first news broadcast in 1957, the tag-line Henderson used to sign off at the end of every newscast was either "...and that's the way it is" or "the way it is", similar to Walter Cronkite. At the end of his final bulletin, Henderson's voice wavered as he told viewers it was time to watch the news, not present it:
"Not the way it was, as has been suggested, but for the last time, the way it is, this Friday the 29th of November, this is Brian Henderson - a sad Brian Henderson - saying not goodnight, this time, but goodbye."
In 2012 Henderson came out of retirement to narrate a documentary for the Foxtel network: The Train: The Granville Rail Disaster, which examines the aftermath of the 1977 rail disaster and the heroism of the rescue workers.
Honours and media awards
In the 2009 Australia Day Honours, Henderson was named a Member of the Order of Australia for "service as a pioneer in the television news and entertainment sectors, and as a mentor to aspiring and established presenters, readers and journalists". In 1968 Henderson won the TV Week Gold Logie award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television. In April 2013 Henderson received a second Gold Logie at the Logie Awards when he was inducted into the TV Week Logies Hall of Fame. Industry peers vote for this award and he is the 30th such inductee since the Hall of Fame award began in 1983. Henderson was on the shortlist in 2010, being beaten out by Brian Naylor.
Personal life
In 2014, Henderson revealed he was suffering from throat cancer. He previously had other cancers; doctors said his prognosis is good. In February 2020, it was announced that Henderson had contracted kidney cancer, and that he has opted not to receive treatment.
