Today in this article the personality will be considered - Mary London, her biography, career, personal life. Modern Russian television in the regions is not rich in stellar names. It is possible that each region or province has its own television heroes, but they are completely unknown to neighbors on the geographical map, and even more so to the all-Russian audience. Is this fair or not? Unfortunately, most often true. Television is, first of all, technologies that the regions knowingly lose to the capital. We have to "travel" 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 and throughout the country. She is a real person on the screen, of which there are so few on federal channels. The biography of Mary London, by the way, is instructive and interesting almost to the same extent as her work.
Catch up in three minutes
And yet, who is Mary London? How did she manage to broadcast from far Siberia practically to the whole world? The program "Speaking of the weather" is on the air for only three and a few minutes. During this time, Mary London manages to give an ironic and sharp commentary on current events that excite the audience of all of Russia. Well, to tell, in fact, 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 discovered. This story, which cast a negative light on law enforcement officers, and on the authorities in general, TV presenter Maria London devoted five programs! The audience of the region was aware of how events were unfolding, and, I think, their attitude to what was happening was fully formulated by London London ... Just like, for example, the story of the expensive watch of the presidential spokesman 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 recalls the best examples of journalism in the 90s. There are no special effects, catchy pictures, for which many television producers are so chasing. The program is somewhat akin to the popular video blog genre today. Therefore, apparently, “Speaking of the Weather” is so popular on the Web - young people see something of their own, familiar, and older viewers remember the famous “television heroes” of the last decade of the last century.
Why is the weather?
According to ratings, weather on television remains the most popular program. Therefore, advertisers are so eager to get into this block. And why not take advantage of the situation and tell the audience about something important and interesting? So decided the authors of the project.
On the other hand, the question arose: "Is it really so interesting for the inhabitants of Novosibirsk to discuss the federal news?" It seems that everything has already been written on the Internet ...
The fact is that the audience of the regional television channel and the Global Network is different, and many Novosibirsk citizens learn about these (and many other) events for the first time precisely from Mary. So Mary 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 herself. Not everyone can build their life more interesting and not everyone gets so much joy and sorrow.
Maria Eduardovna London (this is her last name by her husband, a very famous person in Novosibirsk who played a huge role in the fate of Mary) was born in 1968. Her father is Eduard Levin, a well-known music teacher and organizer 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 got a private music school and a children's orchestra under the mysterious at first glance name “Sosha Binins”. Deciphering is very simple. Sosha is a symphony orchestra of schoolchildren of Akademgorodok. And Binins is an abbreviation from the memorial to all of Soviet childhood, the novel "Two Captains." "Fight and seek, find and not give up." Romantic!
By the way, Maria herself as a child from the lessons of music did her best. And her musical career was out of the question. Although her childhood passed in the opera house, and once she even fell into an orchestra pit, earning a concussion.
But 1992, when the creative biography of Mary London began, provided young people with many opportunities for self-realization, and the newly appeared independent television was one of the best. Here is romance, enthusiasm, and the opportunity to change the world.
"Speaks and shows London"
In 1992, that is, exactly a quarter of a century ago, Mary came to the NTN television company. Then in Novosibirsk this television company was more popular than most federal ones. Once in its ether, it became a star automatically. Maria hit, she became a star ... But she was not going to stop there. A year later, Mary London became the chief news editor on NTN-4. 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 90s, he, first broadcasting himself, 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 indicated, for example, by the fact that one of the leading NTN-4 was elected to the State Duma in the wake of his television success ...
Officials, go out!
At the same time, they did not stand on ceremony with the regional authorities on NTN-4. They spoke the truth, despite the faces, directly in the face of the regional and city leadership, and the staff of Mary, 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 behaved incorrectly during the show of Mary London at the Novosibirsk State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company ...
Moreover, immediately after the disastrous performance of Indinok, the NTN-4 leadership was fired. Of course, when Indinok lost, everyone was taken back ... But if he won, London recalls, everyone was ready to leave not only the Novosibirsk State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, but also the capital of Siberia. There were many such episodes. But Mary herself often recalls the baptism of fire of the NTN-4 team - nights from October 3 to 4, 1993.
Fateful night
Then the whole country was waiting for information about what was happening in the uprising Moscow. Then the NTN-4 newborn television company gathered in its studio the very first broadcast of journalists from other television companies in Novosibirsk. Now it’s even hard to imagine what could make a journalistic fraternity forget their contention!
Technically, everything was arranged to a primitive simple. In Moscow, opposite the White House, was sitting a journalist of the program “Vzglyad” Vladimir Mukusev and simply told the Novosibirsk people what was happening on the phone! The editor wrote down this information on a piece of paper and handed it to the hosts on the air. Spectacular success was amazing! This once again suggests that for television technology is far from the most important thing. The success of the program "Speaking of the weather" is another confirmation of this.
However, this has always been so in NTN-4. Largely thanks to the policy of the leadership, which helped its reporters to withstand all the “attacks” from above. Here you can not do without answering the questions: what is the real name of Mary London? Where she was born? Where did you study? Who is Mary London by nationality, isn’t she an Englishwoman for an hour?
Jacob the Indomitable
That is, it should be said about the man whose last name Maria quite officially bears 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 New Siberian born in 1964. He graduated from the prestigious Novosibirsk University - energy engineering, the famous NETI. He was engaged in Komsomol work there (and already managed to prove himself as a talented organizer and “motor” of any business). Perestroika took up business - but not buy-sell, but more complicated, media. It was he who was the head (once de jure, once de facto) of NTN and NTN-4 companies. It was he who noticed the promising Mary - and became her husband. They had two children ...
Frankly, life was not too affectionate for Jacob. The indomitable and principled London has made many enemies. And among competitors, and among regional officials. The intermediate finale of this feud struck in 1998. Jacob London received five bullets in the spine and miraculously survived, although he was confined to a wheelchair forever. The killers were detained, as were the organizers of the crime. However, the punishment was not too proportionate to the one made - someone generally came out under an amnesty.
Jacob needed long months of treatment and rehabilitation (it took place in Israel). But life did not stop. Of course, the spouses were tempted to leave the country forever. However, they did not even seriously discuss this possibility. Too many things were at home in Siberia. Not only did London enter the second round of elections for the mayor of Novosibirsk in 2004, it previously became (just a year after the assassination attempt) the general director of the Novosibirsk State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (and made the company profitable in just six months), and then rose in its wheelchair to Everest! Mary London has always helped and supported her husband. But her creative biography was not interrupted.
On earth, in heaven and at sea
As a television journalist, Maria London often left Novosibirsk: she visited, it seems, wherever she is interested. I traveled to Chechnya, all at my own peril and risk, and not for tourist purposes - she reported, in addition, she was a postman of peculiar live messages. Novosibirsk guys sent greetings to their mothers, said that they were all right. The outcome of the trip of Mary 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 to the big stage. That is, it worked the way a normal journalist should work. Brave, decisive, unbiased. The trouble is that there are few such people in the country today.
Who is Mary London - everyone knew in Novosibirsk. Otherwise than wearing black glasses, there was no way out. An accident for local journalists! Have you been approached with bribe offers? Mary London today says that she immediately posed the question in such a way that it was out of the question. She is proud that she never shot paid materials and did not make any compromises with professional ethics. And in the new program, both London and her colleagues work with the same condition: no censorship, they say they want ...
By the way, Mary speaks of 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, London broke up, but the memory of the television "couple of centuries" will remain in Novosibirsk, probably forever. Today, Jacob London, who has long left the Novosibirsk State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, of course, is inferior to his former wife in popularity. This often happens ...
From NTN-4 to the weather
After Jacob London almost made a sensation by winning the mayoral election of the country's third largest city in a wheelchair, but nevertheless lost in the second round to a candidate for power, 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 did not. There was a big wave of information, 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, were welcome everywhere. Maria London during her career was not only engaged in journalism, for example, she headed the journalistic union. However, the one who has been on the air for so long will strive to return to it, such is the television law ...
And in 2012, the NTN television company unexpectedly revived for many. True, in the role of a creative unit producing content for the Region company. And among this content - just "Speaking of the weather." By all accounts, Maria returned triumphantly. She conducts the program not alone, she has "changers" and "changers". But it is Maria who turns out most vividly and expressively. The program became popular on the Internet thanks to one of the top bloggers who liked it so much that it helped promote it. Are you lucky? To some extent, yes. But the biography of Mary London all consists of such "luck." That is, blind luck has nothing to do with it. The personality and quality of the material wins.
She was repeatedly asked if she was afraid to speak out so boldly. London invariably answers this, which could have always been scary for journalists. Personally, she was threatened more than once in the 90s, and then there was talk of threats of physical violence. A performer could be some drug addict from whom there could be no demand. The example of Jacob London is quite revealing. Now there is no need to fear reprisal. And in order not to be prosecuted, Mary London advises her colleagues to carefully study the laws. Well, be bolder!
So who is Mary London?
You can’t answer this question so simply. She is the only regional TV star in all of Russia. The mother of two children. An uncompromising, experienced journalist with a clear civic position. At the same time, Maria claims that she does not consider herself an oppositionist. And it never was. It's just that Mary London is a journalist who seeks to do her job honestly. And by and large, she does not need any rewards 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 did not support NTN-4 too much at the most difficult moment of crowding out of the market. Yes, that’s what she is, journalist Maria London. And she is 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 now. She loves curiosities and souvenirs incomprehensible to the uninitiated from around the world. Maria loves rare, expensive perfumes. Her favorite perfume is the smell of chocolate. But the main thing is that they remind of a former life ... According to the horoscope, she is Aries, therefore she considers herself in a condition, if anything, to "wrestle" with circumstances. At the same time, Mary London believes that she is not at all like her on-screen appearance. On the screen she is a fighter, in life - a modest but principled resident of the Siberian city.
Mary London also loves walking in the rain. No, not under London - under the native, Siberian. To be in the village is to relax in body and soul. She has repeatedly said that the capital of Siberia is not going to change to other regions and countries. Fortunately for the audience of her unique program “Speaking of the Weather”!