Melbourne TV icon Peter Hitchener stuns with mind-blowing 50-year milestone

Melbourne’s biggest TV stars gathered together to surprise ‘the nicest man on television’ with a grand party to celebrate Peter Hitchener’s 50-year commitment to the news.

Peter Hitchener and Alicia Loxley from Channel 9. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

TV royalty celebrated Melbourne news icon Peter Hitchener’s extraordinary milestone of 50 years as a Channel 9 newsreader with an all star surprise party.

Tony Jones, Mal Walden, Allan Raskall, George Donikian, Pete Smith, Sam Newman, Ann Peacock, Brian and Tania Taylor, Livinia Nixon, Jo Hall, Tottie Goldsmith, Alyce Platt, Rhonda Burchmore, John Foreman, Megan Castran, Lester Ellis, Brian Mannix and Neil Millet were just some of the well known entertainment and TV industry names who honoured Hitchener at a private gathering on Saturday night.

Hitchener was told he needed to be in Ringwood at 7pm on Saturday to film a presentation for a local business and he duly arrived in a glitzy Hummer limousine.

Hitchener and Pete Smith. Picture: Fiona Byrne

Jo Hall, Mal Walden and Livinia Nixon. Picture: Fiona Byrne

When he walked into the Hyde event space, instead of a film crew he was stunned to find about 150 close friends waiting for him.

An overwhelmed Hitchener was lost for words as he comprehended the surprise party, complete with a cake shaped as a vintage TV showing him behind the newsdesk along with a plaque noting the Nine Melbourne newsroom had in 2016 been named the Peter Hitchener Newsroom in his honour.

This year Hitchener, 77, achieved the rare milestone of 50 years presenting news for Channel 9. He has been Nine News Melbourne’s news anchor for the past 25 years.

He has been a part of the Nine network since late 1973.

Brian Taylor and Tony Jones. Picture: Fiona Byrne

John Foreman and Ann Peacock. Picture: Fiona Byrne

Saturday night’s party was hosted by close friends of Hitchener. Channel 9 was not involved.

It was a closely guarded secret with guests asked not to whisper a word to anyone of the surprise event.

Reporter extraordinaire, Allan Raskall, was integral in bringing Hitchener’s friends together and the ‘voice of Channel 9’, Pete Smith MC-ed the evening.

Guests heard heartfelt speeches from Tony Jones, Livinia Nixon, Jo Hall and Tottie Goldsmith who revealed ‘Hitch’, as he is widely known, had briefly been an honorary member of her band The Chantoozies.

Rhonda Burchmore serenaded Hitchener with a bespoke version of “Happy Anniversary”, a play on “Happy Birthday.”

Nine News stalwart Jones said Hitchener was a Melbourne legend.

The cake at Hitchener's surprise party.

Jo Hall and Dee Dee Dunleavy. Picture: Fiona Byrne

“In truth we would swim oceans and crawl across deserts to be here tonight because there is only one Peter Hitchener,” Jones said.

He said Hitchener’s life stories always amazed behind the scenes in the Nine newsroom.

“We had a story on (Nine News) the other night about The Beatles and their 1964 concert and Hitch says just casually, ‘I was there,’ and there might be a Michael Jackson story and he says ‘I interviewed Michael Jackson once, he was a lovely young man’, it is just incredible.”

Hall described Hitchener as the “most wonderful person in the world.”

“I do love you Pete, so much, from the bottom of my heart,” she said.

“My family adore you, you are family to me, you are part of my family. I am so lucky to have you in my life.”

Hitchener revealed news was not his original career plan.

“I was going to be an actor at first and then one of the ABC producers I had been doing voice overs for said ‘look, I don’t know how to say this, you are not going to be an actor, you haven’t got it, I think you should be a broadcaster.’

The plaque presented to Hitchener at his surprise party. Picture: Fiona Byrne

“So I got a job in news. 4BH monitor news was my first job, news on the half-hour, and when I was not doing the news and writing the news I was Captain Johnny Jet going around delivering Jet Fly Spray to happy households in a uniform of an American airline pilot.”

From 4BH Hitchener moved to the ABC for six years and then joined Channel 9 in late 1973, where he has remained since.

“Television news, I think, is at its best when we are concentrating on something that really affects the community,” he said.

“News is about service to the audience, not to service to ourselves. What we think of something does not matter, it is what is there for the audience so I just try to get out of the road and let the story tell itself.”