John Inverdale

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John Inverdale (born 27 September 1957, Plymouth), is an English radio and television broadcaster who works for the BBC, mainly covering sporting events.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Career 2 Radio 3 Television 4 Radio 2 5 Awards 5.1 Personal life 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Biography

Inverdale is the son of a Royal Navy dental surgeon, Captain John Inverdale, who played rugby union for Devonport Services in Plymouth. Inverdale was educated at Clifton College in Bristol and at the University of Southampton, where he obtained a history degree in 1979, also being the editor of the student newspaper Wessex News and captained the University tennis team for two years.

[edit] Career

After gaining a post-graduate journalism qualification at University of Wales Institute, Cardiff,^[1] he began his career with two years at the Lincolnshire Echo, and then joined BBC Radio Lincolnshire in 1982.

[edit] Radio

Inverdale began to work on the BBC's national radio stations in 1985, firstly on Radio 2's sports unit, then between 1990 & 1994 at Radio 5, where he presented the flagship sports programme Sport On 5. In 1994 he became one of the main regular presenters on the relaunched Radio Five Live. He presented the drivetime show John Inverdale Nationwide until 1997, for which he was named Sony Broadcaster of the Year in 1997. At Five Live, he hosted the topical show, Any Sporting Questions, a variation on Radio 4's Any Questions, and similarly toured the UK each week. In 2008 he broadcast live on Radio Five Live from the Olympic Games in China. Along with Sir Steve Redgrave he also appeared at Shunyi Rowing Lake for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing

Inverdale is a sports enthusiast and has headed Five Live's coverage of such events as Wimbledon, the Olympic Games, the football and rugby union World Cups, the Ryder Cup, The Open Championship, the London Marathon as well as the Cheltenham Festival. As Radio Five Live is the dominant sports radio station in the UK, this makes him probably the UK's most prominent radio sports broadcaster.

[edit] Television

Inverdale has also worked regularly for BBC Television. He became the BBC's main Rugby Union anchor in the 2006 Six Nations Championships following the departure of Steve Rider to ITV Sport and is also the main presenter of Today at Wimbledon, a highlights show of the day's tennis play at Wimbledon on BBC Two. He has also fronted countless television shows such as the sports chat show On Side, Rugby Special, the investigative sports series On The Line, Grandstand, Sunday Grandstand and The World's Strongest Man. He was also the main frontman for the Sport Relief Mile, presenting the 2004 event where he conducted the first ever joint live interviews with Prince William and Prince Harry, on Grandstand. In 2006, he presented the Sport Relief Mile show, live from the London's Embankment on BBC One.

[edit] Radio 2

He has also stood in for Johnnie Walker, and more recently Chris Evans, on their BBC Radio 2 shows.

[edit] Awards

He received a Doctor of Letters honorary degree from the University of Southampton in July 2001.

[edit] Personal life

Inverdale now lives in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey with his wife and two daughters. He has an interest in Esher RFC. He made national news in 2005 when his face appeared on many newspapers showing the facial scars he received whilst playing rugby union.John is also a huge Lincoln City Football Club fan.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• John Inverdale at the Internet Movie Database
• Honouring his father in 2002
• Reviews of his On Side TV programme