BBC Sports Report

A Celebration of the World’s Longest-Running Sports Radio Programme Pat Murphy

This definitive official celebration Sports Report recounts the radio programme’s rich history as well the sporting moments it has covered.

First broadcast in 1948, the BBC’s iconic Sports Report is the longest-running radio sporting programme in the world.

Patrick Murphy has been a reporter on the programme since 1981 and here he sifts through the experiences of his contemporaries, including commentators, reporters, producers, and all those who made their mark on Sports Report in earlier decades.

Through unique access to the BBC Archives Unit, he highlights memorable moments from Sports Report, details the challenges faced in getting live interviews on air from noisy dressing-room areas and celebrates the feat of just a small production team in the studio who, somehow, get the show running every Saturday, with the clock ticking implacably on.

Featuring contributions from John Inverdale, Mark Chapman, Dan Walker and more, this book celebrates Sports Report as a BBC radio institution and Patrick Murphy pays handsome tribute to a programme that is still followed affectionately by millions.

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.

14 September 2023

EXPORT TPB / 9781399400077 / £14.99

TERRITORY: World All Languages

TRANSLATION RIGHTS:

24 November 2022

EBOOK / 9781399400039 / £14.00

Jo Wimpenny is a zoologist and writer, with a research background in animal behaviour and the history of science. She is a regular feature writer for BBC Wildlife and a dedicated communicator of science, having previously presented at the BA Festival of Science, Science Oxford, the Royal Society Summer Science Fair and Glasgow Science Fair.