In 1993 Stapleton returned to ITV to front the live morning talk show '' The Time , The Place '' , and for four years he presented the ITV Sunday morning programme '' My Favourite Hymns '' , in which he interviewed a wide variety of guests about their faith and its impact on their lives . Archbishop Desmond Tutu , Earl Spencer , Princess Michael of Kent , the former South African president F.W. De Klerk , the author Maya Angelou and '' Coronation Street '' 's William Roache were amongst his many guests . In 1998 , Stapleton joined the ITV breakfast programme '' GMTV '' as a presenter of the '' Newshour '' . In 1997 , Stapleton , along with Sir Trevor McDonald , presented the live and controversial Monarchy debate for ITV in front of three thousand people at Birmingham 's National Exhibition Centre and at '' GMTV '' ; he also anchored many major news stories . Among them , the war in Kosovo when he was based on the Albanian border covering the refugee crisis . This was followed by his anchoring four American elections , the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami in South East Asia , Pope John Paul II 's funeral in Rome and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans
Boxing Day 2004 tsunami
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami
John Stapleton