East Fife 4 Forfar 5

Last Saturday (6^th of August) Mark Chapman introduced BBC Radio 5 live’s Sports Report with these words:  “We have full commentary of Everton against Chelsea at 5.30, so we have 25 minutes to get all of today’s results, and reports and reaction from as many players and managers as we can. We’ll round up the other sport that’s happened today away from the football. You can also find every single result on the BBC sport website from today as well as detailed coverage of your team”.

Here’s that edition of Sports Report.

And that was it. With no forewarning and no other announcement a 70 year tradition of having the classified football results read out by an announcer (or former announcer) had come to an end.  Whilst plenty of people realised what had happened there was no immediate social media storm and apparently no overnight complaints were made to the BBC. By Sunday a couple of sports journalists had picked up on the story and within a couple of days listeners, sports pundits and former sports presenters were all decrying  the decision of the BBC and likening it to “cultural vandalism” (Jim White in the Daily Telegraph).

Writing for The Times, Henry Winter concluded "By wanting to be in touch with a youth market that mainly doesn’t listen to sports radio, BBC executives have shown themselves out of touch with the millions who still wish to listen to the classified football results"

In a warm glow of nostalgia many people lamented the dropping of reading of the results and waxed lyrical about leaving the game with their dad, returning to the car and clicking on the radio just in time to hear Out of the Blue coming out of the speaker and James Alexander Gordon reading the results as only he could. Goodness knows how many people experience that today. By the time they’ve left the stadium they’re probably up-to-date on all the other scores in their team’s league and how their second team have done.  

To be fair during Sports Report Chappers did give all the results, albeit at intervals during the programme and at a fair old pace. Forced to retrospectively justify the decision the BBC said that “with the addition of the 5.30pm live Premier League match to our coverage, Sports Report has been condensed into a shorter programme.” Whilst true, the Everton vs Chelsea coverage did kick-off at 5.30, there have been many previous instances where the programme was cut to 30 minutes, such as the 2009-10 season, but the results were still read by JAG (see schedule from 15 August 2009 above). I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d made the decision some time ago and that the evening fixtures provided the perfect excuse.   

The BBC statement went on to say that “we will still offer a comprehensive goal service throughout the day on air and on the BBC Sport website as well as Final Score on BBC One. We would like to thank everyone who has read the classified football results on 5 Live over the years.” A statement that assumes that the audience possess smart phones or are otherwise hooked up to their IT, when a fair number will have neither, and then tells them that they can switch on the TV to get the full results. Surely 5 live should be servicing their listeners and not encouraging them to go elsewhere.  

The BBC’s own goal gave the commercial radio sector the opportunity to remind listeners that they still provided a reading of the classified football results. talkSPORT said “hear them always with us”. Over at LBC News managing editor Tim John announced “we already broadcast the football scorecard, so will be making a change to our schedule to ensure that football fans have the option of listening live to the Classified Football Results at 17.05 every Saturday afternoon during the season."

Here’s Colin Besley reading the results on LBC News.

Meanwhile on talkSPORT’s GameDay Live, rising to the occasion Adrian Durham prefaced the results like this: “We’re at the point where talkSPORT gives the football pyramid beyond the Premier League the respect that it deserves. Where the result of Manchester City is given the same time and prominence of Gloucester City. Where we honour the traditions of football that brought generations together in cars and kitchens across the country for decades and decades”.

Alan Lambourn, reading the results on Sky Sports started by saying “welcome to any former radio listeners”.

During the week many reports erroneously stated that only three people had read the results on BBC radio since the early 50s. Quite plainly this was nonsense but I’m guessing stems from the over-simplification of the history of Sports Report on Wikipedia which just lists John Webster, James Alexander Gordon and Charlotte Green. Though they were the main readers there were weeks were they weren’t available or on holiday and there was at least a two or three year gap between Webster’s retirement and JAG taking over.

Others who read the results in the 50s/60s include staff announcers Robin Boyle, John Hobday, John Wing, Colin Doran and Jimmy Kinsgbury. Jimmy became the chief announcer and took over when John Webster stepped down in late 1970. Other staff announcers reading the results in the 1970s included Simon Bates, David Bellan and Len Jackson. In about 1973 James Alexander Gordon became the main reader until 2013 but others did cover for him including Tim Gudgin and Paul Leighton. Charlotte Green took over in 2013 but when she was absent the results were read by others including Kevin Howells, Bob Ballard (he told me that he read it once “probably the most nervous I’ve ever been on the wireless”), Delyth Lloyd and Katherine Downes.

Special mention should also go to producer Audrey Adams who joined the BBC in 1983 and has looked after the Classified Footballs Result for decades.     

VE75: How Radio Won the War

In early September 1939 a saloon car fitted up with recording equipment was loaded onto a cross-Channel steamer at Dover. It was driven down to Paris where it was hidden in an underground garage.  Just for weeks later the BBC's young news reporter Richard Dimbleby arrived in the capital to pick up the car. This was the start of frontline war reporting for which the Corporation would be justifiably commended.

In the event during this Phoney War period Dimbleby became bored with what he saw as a lack of action and asked to be reassigned to the Middle East. It fell to his colleague Charles Gardner to witness the air battles over France in the summer of 1940.

Despite some memorable reports from the front-line the BBC was frustrated with the access it was being given in preference to newspaper reporters; whilst at the same time there were internal frustrations within the BBC that it had failed to build up a corps of war correspondents. The turning point came in the Spring of 1943 with the invasion of Oxfordshire. In fact it was a six day mock invasion in an exercise code-named Spartan. The BBC was allowed to cover it with "a view to persuading the services that radio reporters could play a valuable role on the battlefield". To overcome censorship issues correspondents developed a style that evoked the atmosphere of the front-line, providing the colour and human interest without the detail that would worry the censor such as locations and troop numbers. The recorded despatches (which were never of course broadcast) helped convince Sir Bernard Paget, commander-in-chief of Home Forces to allow the BBC greater access. This allowed producers to finalise their plans for the establishment of the War Reporting Unit which would go on to be so crucial in the nightly War Report programmes that started after D-Day in 1944.   

In this programme, the fourth in the series How Radio Won the War titled At Last, Something to Cheer About looks at how the BBC's war reporting changed in the final phases of the war. Narrated by Robert Powell it includes contributions from the always interesting Frank Gillard and Sir Bernard Ingham, who, you won't be surprised to hear, mentions Thatcher and the Falklands.

How Radio Won the War was first broadcast on BBC Radio 5 live on 9 July 1995.

This is the second in a series of four blog posts marking the 75th anniversary of VE day.

Can I Take That Again? - Part 5

Yesterday broadcaster Steve Martin tweeted "BBC colleagues - recreate the NBH experience at home by randomly changing the thermometer (thermostat) and releasing some pet mice".

A mouse you say? In the studio? Yes, unexpected rodent sightings did seem to be commonplace around the BBC and I've dug out audio evidence of a couple of incidences.

First, the now infamous mouse-related episode up at Media City in January 2013 during Shelagh Fogarty's 5 live show. As guest Mike Linnell spots the unwelcome intruder there are girlie screams from Shelagh as she hops onto her chair in a scene reminiscent of an old Tom and Jerry cartoon. "It's on the bloody table," she exclaims.

This all happened just a month after another mouse had popped up during Kate Kinsella's weather forecast, presumably from a London weather studio, during Iain Lee's BBC Three Counties morning show. This one is "quite sweet actually" as Kate rejects Iain's suggestion to despatch it with a book or a block of wood.   

Sports Report Turns 70

In January 2013 I wrote about Sports Report and Saturday afternoon sports coverage. This month we've now hit the 70th anniversary of that venerable radio institution which has prompted me to have a dig around in my archive and uncover past anniversary editions.

I've previously posted the 40th anniversary edition of Sport on 2 with Peter Jones but this is now uploaded to YouTube.  

For the 50th anniversary there was a special edition of Sport on Five with Ian Payne. It seems I only kept the Sports Report sequence which was pretty much business as usual though there are some reminiscences from Cliff Morgan towards the end.   

On 3 January 2008 Mark Saggers presented a special edition of 5 live Sport to mark the 60th. With Mark thoughout the programme are Des Lynam and the late James Alexander Gordon. You'll also hear Mark Pougatch, Mark Clemmit, the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, Jenny Pitman, Ian Payne, Cornelious Lysaght, Sir Henry Cooper, Sheena Mackay, Pat Nevin, Pat Murphy, Stuart Hall, Tony Adamson, Eleanor Oldroyd, Stuart Jones, Jimmy Armfield and Mike Ingham.  

As for the 70th anniversary last Friday (5th) on 5 live Daily Chris Warburton gathered together some familiar voices, speaking to Mark Pougatch, John Murray, Jim Rosenthal, and producer Mark Williams.

The recording then shifts to Saturday (6th) with the start of 5 live Sport on FA Cup Third Round day presented by Mark Chapman and then Sports Report, just a 30-minute edition to allow for commentary on the evening match between Norwich City and Chelsea. 

Christmas Countdown - 20 December - Adrian Chiles

On this date last year the day's news was dominated by the aftermath of a terrorist attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. But the story I've selected from Adrian's 5 live Daily covers the events from five decades ago, the sinking of the TSMS Lakonia (above) which saw the greatest loss of British lives on a cruise ship since the Titanic. Eyewitness stories mixed with some contemporary archive material create a compelling and moving story of the events of December 1963.  

Rolling Back the Year

We are, apparently, slap bang in the middle of what some call Merryneum. That post Christmas period when we’ve had our fill of pud, turkey leftovers and the sales and we’re girding our loins for the New Year’s Eve revelries and the return to work. It’s also a time for reflection on the past year, the highlights and the lowlights, the good and the bad.

As usual there are a smattering of review programmes in the current national radio schedules. I’ve spotted BBC Radio 4’s News Review of the Year with Sarah Montague hash-tagging the year and Pick of the Year with Lynne Truss. On Radio 5 Live there’s Chris Warburton’s news and sports highlights in 5 Live in Short and the excellent Radio Review of the Year with Jane Garvey and Stephanie Hurst. On the World Service you can hear highlights from across the language services in The Fifth Floor.      

But on the RRJ blog I like to dip into the archive and so its not the last twelve months I’m remembering but the events on 1982 when for much of the year the focus in the UK was on a forgotten group of islands in the South Atlantic.

News Review of the Year 1982 is presented by one of the BBC's then foreign correspondents, David McNeil. It was produced by John Allen and broadcast on Radio 4 on Sunday 26 December 1982.

Back to Square One

Amongst the tributes paid to the late James Alexander Gordon, who died earlier this year, was that from Radio 5 Live’s John Murray:

He was always so friendly and charming, and interested in what you did. The funny thing is, he didn’t follow a team – he was no great football fan. The one time we went to a match together was in 2007. It was the 80th anniversary of the first football commentary, when a grid was printed in the Radio Times for listeners to follow. To mark the occasion we did a grid commentary together on 5 Live Sports Extra – James was so thrilled to be chosen to read out the numbers of the squares where the ball was. It’s a lovely memory I have of him. He loved being a part of what we did, a part of history of BBC Sport – and he played a very significant part in that history.

 

The 80th anniversary match was in recognition of the first radio commentary on Saturday 22 January 1927 – with Arsenal playing at home to Sheffield United. Commentary on that match came from Teddy Wakelam, but to help listeners follow the play a second, unnamed voice, called out the number of the square in which the ball was currently in play. The numbered grid, the idea of BBC producer Lance Sieveking, was printed in that week’s Radio Times (above). No recordings exist of that match but here’s Wakelam commentating in the 1930s:

The 2007 game again saw Arsenal at home, this time to Manchester United. Introducing proceedings on Sunday 21 January on BBC Radio Five Live was Eleanor Oldroyd. ‘Normal’ commentary on Five Live was by Alan Green whilst the ‘grid’ commentary on Five Live Sports Extra came from John Murray (above) with James Alexander Gordon calling the numbers and summaries from Bob Wilson and, oddly, singer David Gray. Here’s part of that afternoon’s coverage:

Those numbered squares are often cited as the origin of the phrase “back to square one”, but this is by no means certain. After all for one team passing the ball into square one would be moving play forward and not back.

For the record that 1927 game ended as a one all draw. The 2007 result was Arsenal 2, Manchester United 1. And by a fluky coincidence Arsenal play Manchester United this coming weekend. You'd almost think I planned all this!

World Cup 1986, 1990 and 1994

The World Cup returned to Mexico for the 1986 tournament with time difference leading to 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. kick-offs UK time. There was plenty of home nation interest as for the second time running England, Scotland and Northern Ireland all qualified.

Radio 2’s match commentary, all on medium wave, starts with the Group A opener on 31 May: Italy vs Bulgaria. Commentating are Mike Ingham and Peter Jones. Over on BBC1 they precede coverage of the opening ceremony and game with the classic Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? episode, No Hiding Place. 

On weekdays Radio 2 provides World Cup overnight news at 6.02 a.m., 7.07 and 8.07. There are match reports at 8.02 p.m., 9.02, 12.05 and 1.02 in addition to the normal afternoon Sports Desks at 1.05 p.m., 2.02, 3.02, 4.02, 5.05, 6.02, 6.45 on MW only and 9.55. Also keeping an eye on proceedings in Mexico was Sport on 2, at the time presented by Tony Adamson, and Stuart Hall’s Sunday Sport.

Commentary on the first round matches involving Northern Ireland comes from Mike Ingham and Mark Robson. At the time Mark worked for BBC Northern Ireland and would later move to UTV and then Sky Sports as part of their rugby commentary team. Scotland’s matches were covered by Mike Ingham and Roddy Forsyth with analysis by Denis Law. Print journalist Roddy joined the BBC in 1986 and would become the Scottish Football Correspondent for Radio Sport; he remains a regular on 5 Live’s sports team. 

This is part of a World Cup Special from 3 June 1986. Can anyone identify the theme tune please, it's been bugging me for days and I'm convinced I have a copy of it somewhere. (Edit: It's Aztec Lightning by Heads).

Meanwhile the England matches had commentary from Peter Jones and Bryon Butler with summaries by Ron Greenwood.  Only England progressed to the second round and then onto the quarter-finals before defeat against Argentina and that famous ‘hand of God’ goal. Commentary on the final on 29 June (Argentina vs West Germany) was again a Jones/Butler commentary.

Italia 90 introduced football fans to Nessun Dorma, John Barnes rapping and the pain of an England penalty shootout. It was Radio 2’s final tournament – Radio 5 would take over all the sports coverage from August 1990 though that station didn’t actually get round to handling a World Cup tournament – and as usual it was on medium wave only and confined to home nation matches; this time England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland. Theplanned coverage was of the opening game, the semi-finals and the final. With Ireland and England progressing beyond the group stages there was some added quarter-final action too.

Radio 2’s coverage was presented by John Inverdale, who also fronted the Wimbledon programmes when they started, including some joint programmes when the tennis and football overlapped. The Radio Times is a little light on who commentated on which game but the listed team are Mike Ingham, Alan Green, Ron Jones with expert analysis from Denis Law and Ray Clemence.  

With Scotland once again in the running, commentary on those games was also carried on Radio Scotland – can anyone confirm the commentary team? On 16 June there was a clash of 8 p.m. kick-offs so whilst Radio 2 carried England vs Holland, Radio Scotland carried Sweden vs Scotland.

Additional World Cup news, and some commentary, was heard on Sport on 2 with Jon Champion and Sunday Sport with Charles Colville. The Republic of Ireland’s match against Egypt was heard on Sunday Sport for instance.  There was also an extra World Cup Report each evening after the 11 p.m. news.

The final (West Germany vs Argentina) on Sunday 8 July was covered in an extended Wimbledon 90 and World Cup 90 programme from 2 p.m. to about 9 p.m. as the Men’s Singles Final took place that day too.

By the time we get to 1994, Radio 5 Live had arrived – replacing the short-lived Radio 5 - and there was plenty of airtime to fill. Football was more popular than ever due to Sky Sports upping the ante and over on ITV we had the adaptation of the stage play An Evening with Gary Lineker.

The 5 Live coverage was linked by Jon Champion though were it overlapped with Wimbledon we had John Inverdale, or on Tuesday evenings as part of Inside Edge presented by Jonathan Legard. There was also coverage as part of Saturday’s Sport on Five with either Ian Payne or Marcus Buckland and on Sunday Sport with Eleanor Oldroyd. The commentary team in the USA was Mike Ingham, Alan Green, Ron Jones  and Rob Hawthorne. Providing the expert analysis were Mark Lawrenson and David Pleat.

The only ‘local’ interest was the Republic of Ireland so in the first week we also had commentary on Germany vs Bolivia, USA vs Switzerland, Germany vs Spain, Italy vs Norway and Brazil vs Cameroon as well as Ireland’s match against Italy. The final on 17 July (Brazil vs Italy and the first to be decided on penalties) coincided with The Three Tenors Concert from the Dodger Stadium in LA. This was broadcast on both BBC1 and Radio 2.

And that is where I leave the World Cup for the time being. Further posts may follow in four year’s time, assuming we qualify.

Five Goes Live

BBC Radio 5 Live celebrates twenty years on air this week with the return of Jane Garvey, who launched the station on 28 March 1994, and a week of ‘presenter swaps’ for Peter Allen who was also there at the start.

The station focussed on news and sport 24-hours a day; the comedy, music, education and children’s shows of the old Radio 5 were cast to the four winds.

Digging out the Radio Times for that week here’s the schedule for day one:

Opening proceedings at 5 a.m. was Jane Garvey with Morning Reports, the programme remains a 5 Live fixture to this day.

Looking after The Breakfast Programme was 5 Live’s kingpin Peter Allen, one of only three voices heard that day that have lasted the full twenty years.

Poached from Today was Diana Madill to present The Magazine from 8.35 a.m. to midday.  As well as a phone-in there were daily features on the environment, health, conservation, science and film and video reviews.

Rising star Eddie Mair presented the two-hour Midday with Mair, at the time still presenting Radio 4’s Saturday morning travel show Breakaway. Mair’s  show included a daily Moneycheck with Liz Barclay, later of You and Yours.

From Radio 1’s Newsbeat and, at the time the new BBC1 current affairs show Here and Now, came Sybil Ruscoe with Ruscoe on Five between 2 and 4 p.m.

The only daytime presenter to come over from the old Radio 5 was John Inverdale with the imaginatively titled John Inverdale Nationwide.  ‘Invers’ still works for the network, most recently hosting the Cheltenham Festival coverage.

At 7 p.m. each day was News Extra followed most evenings by sports coverage. On the launch day it was Pat Murphy’s series Good for a Quote starting with the career of Tommy Docherty and then Jon Champion with Champion Sport featuring commentary on the Sheffield United/ West Ham match.  In week one there was also Football Plus with Jonathan Legard and Trevor Brooking’s Football Night.   Friday night’s, from week two, saw Parky back on the radio with Parkinson on Sport.

News Talk at 10 p.m. was an hour-long discussion of different aspects of news and current affairs themed each evening. On Monday there was the BBC’s Social Affairs Correspondent Niall Dickson. On Tuesday Paul Reynolds had a kind of From Our Own Correspondent.  Wednesday was Nigel Cassidy on matters financial and Thursday all things political with John Sergeant. Friday nights were a little different with a 30 minute review of the newspaper business, Stop Press, usually presented by John Diamond, followed by Financial Week with Heather Peyton, who had previously worked on Radio 4’s The Financial World Tonight.

Between 11 p.m. and midnight  a round-up of news, sport and business in Night Extra followed by The Other Side of Midnight with Tim Grundy. On other evenings you'd hear After Hours, a live talk show “where nothing is taboo”, though no host is listed, can anyone remember who it was? Meanwhile on Thursday night Stuart Cosgrove’s talk show was Night Moves.  

Rounding off the day, between 2 and 5 a.m., another stalwart of the station’s schedules Up All Night with Rhod Sharpe, the third of the voices still on air today. The weekend presenter was former-LBC man Richard Dallyn.

And finally honorary mention must go to Adrian Chiles. He‘d also worked on The Financial World Tonight and joined Radio 5 Live as the business reporter in Wake Up to Money, which then was part of Morning Reports, and so was heard on day one. Of course he went off to do his TV work for the Beeb and ITV but returned to the station last year as co-host Friday’s 5 Live Drive.

It’s five o’clock. Time for Sports Report

When half-past five on Saturday comes round

For week-end stimulation will resort

To Andrew and Mackay and Sports Report                

For over six decades the jaunty tones of Out of the Blue have both presaged the latest sports results and to evoke the nostalgia of simpler times – an era of football fixtures that always kicked off at 3 o’clock, filling in the Vernons pools coupon or reading the late edition of the Hull Daily Mail Sports Green (a memory for readers in East Yorkshire there). Depending on your age, and memory, you may recall the radio voices of Eamonn Andrews, Peter Jones, Bryon Butler, Bill Bothwell and Larry Canning. In this post I review the history of Sports Report and the Saturday afternoon sports sequence in the days before sponsorship, the premiership and Sky Sports HD.

NARRATIVE ACCOUNTS

From the early days of the BBC there was coverage of the major sporting events. Pre-war, the voices of John Snagge at the Boat Race and George Allison’s football commentaries (his first match between the Corinthians and Newcastle United on 29 January 1927 was the second ever football commentary transmission) were already familiar to listeners.

The press and news agencies were initially reluctant to allow the fledgling broadcaster live coverage. The Radio Times of 30 April 1926 argued that “the BBC have repeatedly requested permission to broadcast from all stations narrative accounts of a very limited number of outstanding events while they are in progress, such as the Boat Race and the Cup-Tie Final, but they are prevented from doing so by the terms of the Agreement made with the Press before the Company was licensed by the Postmaster-General, and relaxation in this direction has so far been declined.”

With the licensing of the newly formed Corporation starting on 1 January 1927 that all changed and the BBC proclaimed that it would “broadcast running narratives and commentaries on all the leading sporting events and great public occasions, as well as put out more comprehensive and varied news bulletins, the first to be aired at 6.30, half-an-hour earlier than before.”

By the end of the year the first ever live commentaries had taken place for rugby matches, cricket, Wimbledon, the Grand National and the Derby.

Some 1927 sports broadcasts highlights:

January 15 1927 – first rugby match, England v Wales, at Twickenham

January 22 1927 – first football match, Arsenal v Sheffield United, with Teddy Wakelam
March 25 1927 – first Grand National, described by Meryick Good and George Allison
March 26 1927 – first athletics meeting the Inter-Varisty Sports at Queens Club, narrated by Harold Abrahams
April 2 1927 – first Boat Race with narrators Oliver Nickalls and JC Squire 
April 23 1927 – first FA Cup Final with George Allison and Derek McCulloch
May 14 1927 – Essex v New Zealand cricket match at Leyton, described by P.F. (Plum) Warner
June 1 1927 – first Derby, narrated by Geoffrey Gilbey and George Allison
July 2 1927 – running commentary on the Wimbledon finals
September 7 1927 - running commentary of the St Leger by Geoffrey and Quintin Gilbey

Although the BBC continued to cover an increasing number of sporting events there was, up until 1939, still an embargo on the reporting of sports news and results until after 6.15 p.m.

HELLO THERE SPORTS FANS

The idea of a round-up of Saturday’s sports news just after the final whistle didn’t surface until late 1947 when news producer Angus Mackay (pictured above) was approached to start what would be called Sports Report. Writing in 1954 he recalled that it was October 1947 “when I received a phone call from John McMillan, who was then the first assistant to Norman Collins, Controller, Light Programme. McMillan asked me in his laconic way ‘would you like to try your hand at putting a sports programme out on the air at 5.30 p.m. in the Light Programme?”

This would technically be quite demanding as the match reports had to come from studios, so only those grounds that were within a fast car drive away of a BBC studio could be considered. Mackay continues: “A lightning trip round the BBC Regions followed. Would the North, Midlands, Wales and West of England co-operate? They would, but ominously the generous offers to help were generally accompanied by bland statements to the effect that whether they did or not we would never get a programme on the air as early as 5.30 p.m. Personally, I was inclined to agree, but nevertheless we forged ahead and on 3rd January 1948 we went on the air with the very first edition of Sports Report.”

At the microphone was Raymond Glendenning, the BBC’s moustachioed all-rounder commentator. No recordings of that first show exist but the script went as follows:

Hello there, sports fans, and welcome to Sports Report – a weekly programme on the air at this time every Saturday, with a roving microphone, to bring you not only the football results, but up-to-the-minute accounts of major sporting fixtures from all parts of the country, and an “open” microphone over which we shall be airing the personal views of experts on sport on topics of the moment. Now our aim is to bring into your home, wherever you may be, a half-hour coverage of sport, wherever it may be taking place. How well we have succeeded in this first edition, you will be able to judge after the next 29 minutes.”

The first programme featured reports from three football matches: Portsmouth v Huddersfield with John Arlott and Manchester City v Aston Villa with Alan Clarke (who would stay with the BBC for another 20 years as football commentator). The Scottish League match was Rangers v Dundee and the England v Australia Rugby Union fixture was covered by Frank Shaw.

For many years the programme would also feature longer talks on sporting news and previews. So we heard newspaperman Peter Wilson, of the Daily Mirror, talk about US sports events and personalities whilst Alan Hoby, of the Sunday Express, argued in favour of part-time payments to athletes.

As John Arlott recalled there were several different types of contributors:”the outside reporter, dashing to a microphone to hustle his hot news over the air; the talker who would discuss a situation authoritatively; and, finally, the personality, from a world champion at any kind of sport to a man who had just made the news.”

Sports Report 14 March 1959

Mackay’s favoured use of Fleet Street sports journalists- as well as Wilson and Hoby, J.L.Manning of the Daily Mail was another regular- raised tensions between two BBC departments for the best part of two decades. The programme itself was under the News division whilst the commentators worked Outside Broadcasts. “A Chinese wall soon developed between these two departments” recalled racing commentator Peter Bromley, “and there was little or no co-operation and certainly no goodwill.”

It wasn’t until the Head of OB Charles Max Muller retired in 1969 and Robert Hudson took over that plans to amalgamate Outside Broadcasts and Sports News were made. In the event this didn’t happen until Mackay also retired in 1972 and Cliff Morgan became the new Editor of Sport.

The inclusion of Out of the Blue as the theme for Sports Report was a last minute addition. Here’s Angus Mackay again:  

For several weary days Hugh Driver, one of my colleagues, and I had been listening to literally dozens of gramophone records trying to find a suitable melody. It seemed to us that we had exhausted the reserves of the gramophone library, and we were not very happy about the disc we had chosen when, in the late afternoon of our first broadcast, the library came through to say that there were a few more discs available if we had time to hear them. We did find time that afternoon and one of the first we heard was a march called Out of the Blue composed by Hubert Bath. This was just what we had been looking for and almost immediately it was whisked up to the studio, slapped on the turntable and used to introduce the first edition.

Eamonn Andrews was much used on BBC TV and radio.
In this Radio Times from 1962 he featured on Sports Parade,
Sports Report, What's My Line?, This is Your Life
and Crackerjack

Glendenning was not the only presenter, he was followed by Rex Alston, Geoffrey Peck, Wynford Vaughan-Thomas, Stephen Grenfell, Stewart MacPherson, Peter Wilson, John Webster (more of whom later), Alex McCrindle, Max Robertson, Henry Longhurst, Cliff Michelmore and, for one time only, George Allison. But it was the voice of Eamonn Andrews that would be most closely associated with the programme in its early days.

Andrews had been a sports commentator on Radio Éireann before joining the BBC in 1950, taking over from Stewart MacPherson as question-master on Ignorance is Bliss. When that ended he read a few morning stories and set about pestering the OB Department for commentary try-outs. Following an introduction to Mackay by colleague Brian George, Andrews was hired to host Sports Preview on the BBC’s General Overseas Service. Shortly after he was asked to take on Sports Report – his first edition airing on 9 December 1950.

THE STERN SCOT

The combination of Mackay “the stern, methodical Scot” and Andrews “the affably engaging Irishman” was perfect chemistry and, according to sports writer Patrick Collins “the results were stunning. The essential service of reports and statistics was never disregarded, but a newspaper of the airwaves consists of more than a back page, and one of the strengths of the programme became its willingness to air controversy and encourage strong opinions.”   

Angus Mackay instilled a discipline into sports reporting that endures to this day. Remembering the early programmes he wrote that “we used to think we were putting on fast, slick shows. In those days we used to give as much as two and a half minutes to a report on a soccer match, and we got what we deserved- flowery, well-padded stories which contained a good deal of wholly unnecessary information. We learned the hard way because there was no precedent for a programme such as this, but it wasn’t long before we realised that a good radio reporter could give us an accurate, informative picture of a game in  something like a minute and a quarter or a minute and a half.”

Mackay and Andrews in the studio

Mackay would sit in the studio next to Eamonn Andrews giving him instructions at relevant moments. The programme would go on to pioneer the concept of the producer/presenter talkback. Years later Alan Parry worked with Mackay for his first few months and recalled “What a character. What a man. His discipline was very strict, and if he asked you to deliver a one minute report it had to be just that – one minute”.

From 20 August 1955 Sports Report was extended to run for one hour, occupying its now familiar 5-6 p.m. slot during the football season. In 1949 another sports programme had been added to the Light Programme schedule:Sports Parade. Starting on 15 January and subtitled “What’s on Today?” it aired on Saturday lunchtimes all year round. An early presenter was Michael Brooks but it was later presented by whoever was in charge of Sports Report later that afternoon.    

As the technology developed Sports Report was able to cover more matches. Mackay had pushed for the SOOBE, the Self-Operated Broadcast Equipment. This was a briefcase the reporter took to the match, plugged into a telephone point that connected to the Post Office and onto Broadcasting House. There was no more mad dash to the nearest studio.

John Webster reads the classifieds

The other component was the reading of the Classified Football Results. Allotted, at that time, precisely 270 seconds to read, this duty fell to one of the staff announcers; so you’d have heard John Hobday, Jimmy Kingsbury, Robin Boyle, John Wing and, most frequently during the 50s and 60s, John Webster.

Describing the announcers in 1955 Eamonn Andrews talks about them drifting “into the studio at five-twenty-nine, calmly slip the written results from the hands of some breathless attendant, slide into a chair, give a sly sidelong glance at the clock and bestow a sort of silent benediction to the gabbling, whispering reports in the four corners of the studio. A half-smile in my direction and I feel they saying ‘Relax, I’m ready.’

Here’s a short clip of John Webster reading the results followed by an extract of a Home Service news bulletin in 1961.

In this recording of Sports Report from 30 October 1948 you’ll hear presenter Stephen Grenfell and then announcer Robin Boyle reading the results - but surely it’s ‘nil” not “nought”. 

FROM THE REGIONS

Whilst Sports Report covered the day’s results the actual sporting coverage was a little more random, scattered throughout the afternoon on either the Light Programme or the Home Service, or even, from 1957 the wavelengths of the Third Programme when they carried Test Match Special for the first time. As the Home Service was regional it tended to look after things like Rugby League, for us Northerners, or Scottish Association football north of the border.

Here’s a typical Saturday of sport from 14 March 1959 if you’d been living in the North of England:

1245-1310 Sports Parade with Eamonn Andrew (Light)

1505-1520 Racing at Sandown Park with Raymond Glendenning and Roger Mortimer (Light)
1540-1635 Rugby League GB v France with Keith Macklin and Harry Sunderland (Home)
1545-1650 FA Cup Semi-Finals with commentary from Alan Clarke (Light)
1700-1800 Sports Report with Eamonn Andrews (Light)
1820-1855 Sport Spotlight with George Carr (Home)
1924-1930 Association Football with games summaries from Charles Buchan (Light)

The Home Service also provided its own regional sports round-ups after the 6.00 p.m. news. These companion programmes to Sports Report started in the 1950s and continued until the summer of 1974.

Flicking through some old editions of the Radio Times reveals the following regional shows:

Welsh Home Service (1960)

Sports Medley with Clem Thomas and T. Eyton Jones

North Home Service (1959)

Sport Spotlight with George Carr and Norman Turner with reports from Bill Bothwell, Victor Bernard, Stuart Hall, Barney Colehan, Bernard Taylor, Bill Grundy, Barney Mulrenan, Michael Betts, George Potts, Harry Sunderland, Cyril Briggs and Alan Dixon.

Midland Home Service (1957)

Sport in the Midlands with David Coleman

West Home Service (1958)

Sport in the West with Bernard Fishwick with reports from Arthur Vickerage, Bill Latto, Jimmy Ure, Peter Cranmer, Alan Gibson, David Haines and Peter Hunter

Scottish Home Service (1960)

Sportsreel with R.F. Dunnett

London Home Service (1963)

Sports Session with Gerald Sinstadt, produced by Godfrey Dixey

Northern Ireland Home Service (1962)

Ulster Sports Report with Ronald Rosser with reports from Harry Thompson, Rupert Millar, Syd Maguire, Eddie McFall, Jack Sloane, Bill Heaney, Jack Carroll, Derek Johnston, Billy McMaster, Billy Mackey and Hugo Patterson



In October 1958 Grandstand was to start on BBC TV with former Midlands Region sports presenter David Coleman at the helm. But BBC Radio still didn’t have a full year-round Saturday afternoon sports programme, though for the summer months from 1955 the Saturday and August Bank Holiday coverage on the Light Programme was grouped together under the umbrella title of Out and About, the whole held together by announcers such as Robin Boyle or Jimmy Kingsbury. There was still a break for music though with Bandstand.

THE POWER OF THREE

Out and About ended in 1960 and from 29 April 1961 the BBC was now making use of the Network Three wavelengths (as the daytime service of the Third Programme was called) to broadcast the new Sports Service; running throughout the summer months and Bank Holidays consisting of live commentaries interspersed with classical and light music. Sports Parade and Sports Report continued on the Light with music programmes in between, though there was still the odd bit of cricket and racing. 

In 1964 the Sports Service programmes resumed again from 25 April, but this time it was the start of what we now recognise as the regular Saturday afternoon sports magazine. Sports Parade and Sports Report moved across from the Light Programme on 22 August 1964 to top and tail the main programme. The Radio Times of 19 September 1964 explained: 

In previous years the Third Network Sports Service has been a strictly summer adventure on Saturdays and Bank Holidays. This year, for the first time, it is going on indefinitely. The programme will in future deal with all the Saturday sport which was formerly covered by the other Services; it will take over rugby from the Home, and association football and horse racing from the Light.  The only exception is that the Regional and national Home Service will still carry commentaries and reports on some events which are of particular concern to their own listeners – such as Scottish football or the first half of an international rugger match.

The Sports Service on that date ran as follows:

Sports Parade

Sporting Chance – repeat of a quiz with question master John Snagge
Sailing – reports from (surprisingly) Ken Sykora, best known for presenting music shows
Motor Cycling from Scarborough with Alan Clarke & Eddie Fitch
Motor Racing from Oulton Park with Robin Richards and Eric Tobitt
Olympic Preview with Rex Alston
Racing from Haydock Park with Peter Montague-Evans (Peter Bromley presumably at another meeting)
Association Football with second-half commentary from Brian Moore and Simon Smith
Sports Report

Of course this move just wasn’t to please sports fans. Earlier that year Radio Caroline had started its transmissions so the Beeb wanted to stop the tide of listeners tuning into the pirates, moving all the sport to the Third Network cleared the Light’s schedule for more music in Saturday Swings and a new weekend edition of Roundabout. 

19 September 1964

For the first two or three years linking the Sports Service again fell under the duties of the continuity announcers working from studio 1A. Announcers included Jimmy Kingsbury, John Dunn, Bob Willcox, Robin Boyle, Rodney Burke, Andrew Gemmill, Peter Latham and, most regularly Michael de Morgan. Sports Parade and Sports Report were presented by either Robin Marler or Liam Nolan. Eamonn Andrews had left the BBC earlier in 1964 – presenting his last Sports Report on 25 April – before heading off to ITV where he was given his own last-night Sunday talk show and, from 2 January 1965, becoming the first anchor of World of Sport.

The first major defection to "the other side".
World of Sport started in 1965

By 1968 Sports Service, now on Radio 3, had presenters who would become very familiar to radio sports fans: Peter Jones, surely one of the finest ever commentators, who’d joined the sports department in 1966, and Bryon Butler, who would become the radio football correspondent for over 20 years. On occasional presenting duties were Brian Johnston, Neil Durden-Smith and Vincent Duggleby (later of Money Box fame).

Behind the scenes alongside Angus Mackay were producers Geoff Dobson and Jacob de Vries. Jacob had started with the BBC in the 1950s on Sports Session. He became the main sports editor presenting Sunday Sport (Home Service from 1966) and World Service programmes Spectator and Bulletin from Britain. In the 1970s he worked for West Nally, a sports marketing company set-up by BBC commentator Peter West and Patrick Nally. 

IT TAKES TWO

Following the internal review of the BBC’s radio services, Broadcasting in the Seventies, it was decided to realign the four national stations. One consequence of this was that all sport was to move to Radio 2. The final Sports Service aired on 28 March 1970 and Sport on 2 the following Saturday 4 April – both presented by the now regular host Peter Jones. 



The great Peter Jones

That first Sport on 2 included coverage of The Grand National with commentary from Peter Bromley, Michael O’Hehir, Michael Seth-Smith and Roger Mortimer; Rugby Union commentary on the Wales v France game from Alun Williams and Alan Gibson; and second-half football commentary with Maurice Edelston and Bryon Butler. The running time for the first few months was just 2.30 to 5.45 p.m. but it soon extended to start at 2.00 p.m.and end at 6.00 p.m. By 1973 it was carried on long wave only, Radio 1 grabbing the scare VHF resource on Saturday afternoons, and by 1974 it was starting at its long-running regular time of 1.30 p.m.

In fact sport didn’t entirely disappear from Radio 4. The Sports Parade broadcasts moved to that channel from 4 April and continued its run until the end of the football season in 1974. A new sports preview programme, Sport on 4, joined the schedules in 1977, but that’s for a future post.

Sport on 2 got its own theme too, Number 1 by The Delle Haensch Band, those first few notes perfectly punctuating the programme’s opening announcement, and conveniently a definite end to dovetail into the next programme junction or the pips. It continued to be used as the theme for Sport on Five but was dropped some years ago, if you know exactly when please let me know.

Jim Rosenthal presents Sport on 2 from the Thames
for coverage of the Boat Race
(Photo Roger George Clark)

At the helm of Sport on 2 during the 1970s and 80s, now masterminded from studio B9, were Peter Jones, Bryon Butler, Desmond Lynam, Chris Martin-Jenkins (who sadly died just this week), Jim Rosenthal, Alan Parry, Tony Adamson, Mike Ingham, Ian Darke, Renton Laidlaw, Jon Champion and John Inverdale. Many of these came up the ranks from BBC local radio, many went onto work in TV.

This is Peter Jones with part of the Sports Report programme for 25 August 1984, the start of the new season, with reports from Ian Carnaby, George Hamilton, Mike Ingham and Stuart Hall.

One constant on Saturday afternoons for the last 30+ years is that of James Alexander Gordon (above), reading the classified football results in his own inimitable style. The previous main reader, John Webster, had retired from the BBC in October 1970 and so the task was picked up by other staff announcers such as Jimmy Kingsbury and even Simon Bates. In 1974 James Alexander Gordon joined the rota of readers – Kingsbury, by then Presentation Editor, asking him to “nip over to sport and read the classifieds” – alongside David Bellan and Len Jackson, and he became the sole reader from the early 80s and continues to this day.

Mike Ingham in the studio in 1982

Here’s a 90 minute recording of Sport on 2 when Sports Report celebrated its 40th anniversary on 2 January 1988. Reminiscing along with Peter Jones are Cliff Morgan, Rex Alston, Geoffrey Green, Harry Carpenter, Des Lynam, Patrick Collins, Alan Grace, Roy Hattersley, Barry Norman, Jimmy Tarbuck, Michael Parkinson, Henry Cooper, Fred Perry and Ian Wooldridge. You’ll also hear football reporters Jimmy Armfield, Denis Law, Larry Canning, Trevor Brooking, the poetic Stuart Hall, Ron Jones, Bryon Butler, Peter Slater and George Bailey. Plus Rugby Union with Ian Robertson (still doing sterling service on 5 Live) and the late Peter Bromley at the Newbury race meeting. 

Just before “the five o’clock show” as Sports Report was known to the production team, there was a live link-up with Grandstand: 

TWO INTO FIVE

By 1990 BBC radio was having to relinquish some of the FM/AM simulcasting and Radio 2’s medium wave frequencies were allocated to the first new national station in 23 years, the rag-bag of programmes that became Radio 5. All the sports coverage moved across along with children’s programme, youth-orientated shows, schools programming, the Open University, bits of the World Service and a new breakfast show.  

Here’s John Inverdale with the final Sport on 2 on 25 August 1990. The following weekend the programme moved lock, stock and barrel to become Sport on Five.

2 April 1994. Note a displaced Sports Report due to
the extra football commentary.
And when did Sport on Five drop the racing results?

From 2 April 1994 Sport on Five (also variously billed as Sport on 5) was now on the new 24 hour news and sports service Radio Five Live, still with ‘Invers’ at the helm but now extended to start at 1.00 p.m. Presenters since have included Ian Payne, Jonathan Legard, Clare Balding, Eleanor Oldroyd, Russell Fuller, Arlo White, Mark Saggers and currently either Mark Pougatch or Mark Chapman. The sports coverage was re-titled as 5 Live Sport with effect from 3 June 2006 just ahead of the World Cup tournament.  

Over the years the Saturday afternoon programme was seen an increase in its duration and 11 a.m. or 12 noon start times are not uncommon as matches kick off earlier to accommodate the demands of TV. Sports Report itself has remained a fixture during the football season but has sometimes been cut to just 15 or 30 minutes when there’s an evening match. Sport is no longer mainly just a Saturday event: summertime sports coverage was introduced on Radio 2 medium wave back in the mid-80s.  And of course there’s plenty of opportunity to chew the sporting cud in 606 orSportsweek.  

The armchair sports fan is now well served by the broadcasters: 5 Live, 5 Live Sports Extra, talkSport, Sky Sports, ESPN, BT Vision but the old warhorse, Sports Report, is there. It’s theme may sound dated amongst the electronic whooshes and beats but, to quote one-time presenter Des Lynam, “it’s part of the fabric of sports broadcasting. It’s a tradition.”  Altogether now: De Dum De Dum De Dum De Dum Diddly Dum De Dum.

Sources:

Sports Report edited by Eamonn Andrews & Angus Mackay (Sportsmans Book Club 1955, originally Heinemann 1954)

Sports Report: 40 Years of the Best edited by Bryon Butler (Queen Anne Press 1987)
50 Years of Sports Report edited by Audrey Adams (CollinsWillow 1997)