Scott McGregor (television presenter)
Encyclopedia
Scott McGregor is an Australian actor, television presenter and railway enthusiast.
where his parents had a farm and his father managed the The Central Western Daily newspaper. In 1969 the family moved to Mudgee when his parents Doug and Poss McGregor purchased the Mudgee Guardian.
Scott was educated at Mudgee High School and The Scots College
in Sydney. He commenced studying communications at the then Mitchell College of Advanced Education, now part of Charles Sturt University
, before being accepted into the National Institute of Dramatic Art
where he graduated in 1979.
, Marion St Theatre and Nimrod Company. From 1980 to early 2000s he had acting roles in many Australian television series including The Young Doctors
, Skyways
, The Sullivans
, Cop Shop
, A Country Practice
, Sons and Daughters
, Police Rescue
, Home & Away, Water Rats
and All Saints
.
During the 1980's he had lead roles in the epic ABC mini-series 1915, the Coral Island and Chase Through The Night and was nominated for the best actor award in the 1983 logies for his role as Walter Gilchrist in 1915. He had numerous film and radio appearances and was one of the Bouncers in the highly successful national tour of the play of the same name in 1985/86.
From the 1997 he started turning to presenting lifestyle television as a travel and collectables presenter on The Lifestyle Channel
programs Out and About, Australian Living and Australian Collections. From 2000 to 2003 he was a DIY presenter on Better Homes and Gardens and from 2002 to 2004 hosted the home renovation series Room for Improvement on the Seven Network
.
In 1999 he combined television presenting with his interest in railways by hosting the travel series Railway Adventures Across Australia for Channel 10. In 2004 he followed up with the series Down The Line with Scott McGregor covering railway journeys in Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam
. Both series have sold extensively in markets around the world and have had enormously successful video and DVD releases.
In 2005 McGregor presented Australian Icon Towns made for The History Channel
. A second series was broadcast from January 2007. In 2009 he presented The Stamp Of Australia also for the History Channel which detailed the 200 year history of Post Office in Australia.
emporium in Camperdown, New South Wales
. Branches were later opened at Sydney's Central Railway Station
and in Balmain
. In 1992 a new Off The Rails shop was opened in Newtown
. It moved again to a larger shop and restoration workshop at Camperdown in 1995. The shop closed in 1999 and Off The Rails Collectables now operates as a mail order business and from his Mudgee property.
In 2005 McGregor opened his country property as tourist accommodation. Ruwenzori Retreat is perched on the Great Dividing Range north of Mudgee and is made up of a collection of 9 vintage carriages, a number of which date back to the 1890's and the 3 main carriages are restored as the luxury guest accommodation. The 50 acre property also has station buildings, track, signals, a plethora of memorabilia and a network of bush tracks. Ruwenzori Retreat has featured on TV programs such Getaway, Today, World's Most Extreme Homes, and many others. Scott and his Ruwenzori railway collection have also appeared on the ABC TV programCollectors
.
Since 2007 Scott has been hosting Railway Adventure tours in conjunction with Sydney based travel company Renaissance Tours the to a variety of destinations in Australia and overseas including Vietnam, Eastern Europe, Japan, India, New Zealand and North Queesland.
Early life
Scott McGregor was born in Orange, New South WalesOrange, New South Wales
Orange is a city in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of the state capital, Sydney, at an altitude of . Orange has an estimated population of 39,329 and the city is a major provincial centre....
where his parents had a farm and his father managed the The Central Western Daily newspaper. In 1969 the family moved to Mudgee when his parents Doug and Poss McGregor purchased the Mudgee Guardian.
Scott was educated at Mudgee High School and The Scots College
The Scots College
For other schools with a similar name see Scots College.The Scots College is an independent Presbyterian day and boarding school for boys, located in Bellevue Hill, an eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
in Sydney. He commenced studying communications at the then Mitchell College of Advanced Education, now part of Charles Sturt University
Charles Sturt University
Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus university located in New South Wales, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory. It has campuses at Bathurst, Canberra, Albury-Wodonga, Dubbo, Goulburn, Orange, Wagga Wagga and Burlington, Ontario...
, before being accepted into the National Institute of Dramatic Art
National Institute of Dramatic Art
The National Institute of Dramatic Art is an Australian national training institute for students of theatre, film, and television, based in the Sydney suburb of Kensington. It is supported by the federal Office for the Arts, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. NIDA is located adjacent...
where he graduated in 1979.
Acting career
In the 1980s McGregor had leading stage acting roles in productions of the Perth Playhouse, Queensland Theatre CompanyQueensland Theatre Company
The Queensland Theatre Company was established in 1970 as the Royal Queensland Theatre Company. The Company is the state's flagship professional theatre company, headed up by multi-award winning playwright and director Wesley Enoch...
, Marion St Theatre and Nimrod Company. From 1980 to early 2000s he had acting roles in many Australian television series including The Young Doctors
The Young Doctors
The Young Doctors is an Australian early evening soap opera. The series was set in the fictional Albert Memorial hospital and primarily concerned with romances between younger members of the hospital staff, screened on the Nine Network from Monday, 8 November 1976 until Wednesday, 30 March...
, Skyways
Skyways (TV series)
Skyways is an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for the Seven Network.The series, which aired from 1979 to 1981, was set at the fictional Pacific International Airport and dealt with the lives of the pilots, airline staff and management team who worked there.Skyways was...
, The Sullivans
The Sullivans
The Sullivans is an Australian drama television series produced by Crawford Productions which ran from 1976 until 1983. The series told the story of an average middle-classMelbourne family and the effect World War II had on their lives...
, Cop Shop
Cop Shop
Cop Shop was an Australian police drama television series produced by Crawford Productions that revolved around the everyday operations of both the uniformed police officers and the plain-clothes detectives of the fictional Riverside Police Station....
, A Country Practice
A Country Practice
A Country Practice is an Australian television drama series. One of the longest-running of its kind, produced by James Davern of JNP Productions, it ran on the Seven Network for 1,058 episodes from 18 November 1981 to 22 November 1993. It was produced in ATN-7's production facility at Epping,...
, Sons and Daughters
Sons and Daughters (Australian TV series)
Sons and Daughters was a Logie Award winning Australian soap opera created by Reg Watson and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation between 1981 and 1987. The first episode aired in December 1981, during the Christmas/New Year non-ratings period, and the official broadcast date of the final...
, Police Rescue
Police Rescue
Police Rescue was an Australian television series which originally aired on ABC TV between 1989 and 1996. It was produced by ABC and Southern Star Xanadu in association with the BBC....
, Home & Away, Water Rats
Water Rats (TV series)
Water Rats is an Australian TV police procedural broadcast on the Nine Network from 1996 to 2001. The series was based around the men and women of the Sydney Water Police who fight crime across Sydney Harbour and surrounding locales. The show was set on and around Goat Island in Sydney...
and All Saints
All Saints (TV series)
All Saints is an Australian medical drama which first screened on the Seven Network. The series debuted on 24 February 1998 and concluded its run on 27 October 2009...
.
During the 1980's he had lead roles in the epic ABC mini-series 1915, the Coral Island and Chase Through The Night and was nominated for the best actor award in the 1983 logies for his role as Walter Gilchrist in 1915. He had numerous film and radio appearances and was one of the Bouncers in the highly successful national tour of the play of the same name in 1985/86.
From the 1997 he started turning to presenting lifestyle television as a travel and collectables presenter on The Lifestyle Channel
The LifeStyle Channel
LifeStyle is an Australian television channel. The channel launched on 1 September 1997. The channel has an emphasis on contemporary lifestyle interests...
programs Out and About, Australian Living and Australian Collections. From 2000 to 2003 he was a DIY presenter on Better Homes and Gardens and from 2002 to 2004 hosted the home renovation series Room for Improvement on the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
.
In 1999 he combined television presenting with his interest in railways by hosting the travel series Railway Adventures Across Australia for Channel 10. In 2004 he followed up with the series Down The Line with Scott McGregor covering railway journeys in Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. Both series have sold extensively in markets around the world and have had enormously successful video and DVD releases.
In 2005 McGregor presented Australian Icon Towns made for The History Channel
The History Channel
History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...
. A second series was broadcast from January 2007. In 2009 he presented The Stamp Of Australia also for the History Channel which detailed the 200 year history of Post Office in Australia.
Interest in railways
McGregor had a keen interest in railways since childhood. From the 1980s he started collecting railway memorabilia, including several vintage railway carriages which he restored on his property, "Ruwenzori", near Mudgee NSW. By 1989 he had collected so much he decided to sell some and opened a stall called Off The Rails at the now closed Chelsea House antiquesAntiques
An antique is an old collectible item. It is collected or desirable because of its age , beauty, rarity, condition, utility, personal emotional connection, and/or other unique features...
emporium in Camperdown, New South Wales
Camperdown, New South Wales
Camperdown is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Camperdown is located 4 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Inner West region...
. Branches were later opened at Sydney's Central Railway Station
Central railway station, Sydney
Central Railway Station, the largest railway station in Australia, is at the southern end of the Sydney CBD. It services almost all the lines on the CityRail network, and is the major terminus for interurban and interstate rail services...
and in Balmain
Balmain, New South Wales
Balmain is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Balmain is located slightly west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Leichhardt....
. In 1992 a new Off The Rails shop was opened in Newtown
Newtown, New South Wales
Newtown, a suburb of Sydney's inner west is located approximately four kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, straddling the local government areas of the City of Sydney and Marrickville Council in the state of New South Wales, Australia....
. It moved again to a larger shop and restoration workshop at Camperdown in 1995. The shop closed in 1999 and Off The Rails Collectables now operates as a mail order business and from his Mudgee property.
In 2005 McGregor opened his country property as tourist accommodation. Ruwenzori Retreat is perched on the Great Dividing Range north of Mudgee and is made up of a collection of 9 vintage carriages, a number of which date back to the 1890's and the 3 main carriages are restored as the luxury guest accommodation. The 50 acre property also has station buildings, track, signals, a plethora of memorabilia and a network of bush tracks. Ruwenzori Retreat has featured on TV programs such Getaway, Today, World's Most Extreme Homes, and many others. Scott and his Ruwenzori railway collection have also appeared on the ABC TV programCollectors
Collectors (TV series)
Collectors is an Australian television series that is shown at 8.00pm on Friday on ABC1 and repeated at 6.00pm on Monday on ABC2. It investigates a variety of collections from museums and private collectors...
.
Since 2007 Scott has been hosting Railway Adventure tours in conjunction with Sydney based travel company Renaissance Tours the to a variety of destinations in Australia and overseas including Vietnam, Eastern Europe, Japan, India, New Zealand and North Queesland.