BBC Sports Report: A Celebration of the World's Longest-Running Sports Radio Programme

Description

The story of Sports Report is a 75-year-old history of sport. The BBC's Sports Report is the world's longest-running sports radio programme. It started on January 3rd, 1948, and has always been broadcast from 5.00 to 6.00 p.m. on Saturday evenings. The programme marks its 75th anniversary in 2023, and this BBC-endorsed book celebrates the show's rich history as well as British sport's greatest moments. Written by Pat Murphy, the show's longest-serving regular contributor, the book will feature a wealth of anecdote and insight from its presenters (Des Lynam, Mark Pougatch, Eleanor Oldroyd, John Inverdale, Mark Chapman) and contributing journalists (Henry Winter, Garry Richardson, Daniel Taylor, Paul Hayward, Richard Williams), as well as leading sports personalities and celebrities who have appeared on the programme - or just listened on the radio at home (Gary Lineker, Geoff Boycott, Tim Rice, David Blunkett). BBC Sports Report will take the readers behind the scenes of the world's longest-running sports radio programme and offer fresh light on some of the most significant moments in British sporting history.

Patrick Murphy is a celebrated BBC journalist and the longest-serving regular contributor to Sports Report. He started in November, 1981, specialising in cricket and football, and is famed for his many jousts with difficult members of the football industry. Murphy has been involved in 44 sports books, including acclaimed biographies of Ian Botham and Brian Clough while co-writing books with, among others, Bob Willis, Graham Gooch, Viv Richards, Wasim Akram, Alan Donald, Imran Khan, Alec Stewart, Andrew Flintoff and Jack Russell. He has a 37k followers on Twitter.

The living history of a huge part of all our lives - and there's no one in the world better to tell it than Pat Murphy * Lee Child, bestselling author * Opens the doors to one of the great radio institutions and makes you realise how much effort and love goes into making it so special * Dan Walker * Pat's reporting has always been engaging, expressive and arresting. Delighted his Sports Report book is just the same * Mark Pougatch * That opening tune always quickens the pulse. Out of the Blue, into the drama of the sporting day. Insight, interviews, inspirational * Henry Winter * It was the opening theme tune that sucked you in - it's synonymous with British sport and a staple diet of listening and watching sport on a Saturday afternoon. * Joe Root, England Cricketer * Full of superb anecdotes, brilliantly told, marvellous characters. * Jim Rosenthal * If you have that sporting gene within you, it's a book that soundtracks your life ... Every stage of that sporting cycle, that familiar tune, those familiar voices, coming at you through each beautifully researched page ... An absolute joy to read * John Inverdale * This marvellous book will delight anyone who has ever shrieked or howled in response to something they heard on Sports Report, and that, surely, must be everybody. * Mark Steel, comedian * Sports Report has run longer than Les Miserables and The Lion King put together. Patrick Murphy is the show's perfect leading performer to tell its story from opening night in 1948 through the turbulent, exciting three-quarters of a century that followed, both on the fields of play and in the studio. * Sir Tim Rice * An emotional, revealing opus to mark 75 years of the show. -- Henry Winter * The Times * A definitive history * Daily Mirror * A labour of love -- Adrian Chiles * BBC 5 Live * A lovingly curated, profoundly researched book about the history of the show. * The Telegraph * Pat Murphy does it proud... he skilfully weaves tales of the programme's beginnings, the challenges it has faced over the years and the big stories that have been covered. * Late Tackle * It brings home the enormously long cast list of distinguished people who have reported or worked on the programme... Sports Report is a great institution and Pat's book does justice to it. -- Lord King, former Governor of the Bank of England and Aston Villa supporter 'An absolute joy of a book. A better Christmas present I cannot possible fathom' -- Graeme Swann Of great interest to anyone wanting to gain an insight into how programmes are produced... a worthy addition to the books published recently commemorating the 100th anniversary of the BBC * Practical Wireless *