Thursday, 3 January 2008

60 not out.

One for the Sports fans who will already know about this anyway but I just fancied doing a quick post.

The BBC’s Sports Report (the worlds longest running Radio sport programme) is celebrating its 60th Birthday. First broadcast during the opening week of 1948 it has brought news of sporting results to an eager nation between 17.00 and 18.00hrs every Saturday afternoon.

The programme was first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme, then shifting to the BBC Third Programme, thence to BBC Radio 2 and finally to the Radio 5 network.

One of the stars of the show is James Alexander Gordon who has broadcast the football scores since 1974. From the inflection in his voice when he pronounces club names you can pretty much tell whether a match ended in a home win, away win or draw. Many hours of fun can (and have) been had playing along.

But perhaps the most famous aspect of the programme is its theme tune ‘Out of the Blue’ written by Hubert Bath which has been used since the first broadcast.

I’ve always liked the tune. It has a wonderful anachronistic feel now. Especially on the days when my team wins. It sounds like a fitting triumphal march. However at times when results have been less favourable it seems to taunt. That’s probably just me though.

For all the faults of the BBC and there are several leagues worth of them, this is truly a gem and is an integral part of my Saturday afternoons as I’m sure it is for many, many others.

De dum, de dum, de dum de dum de diddy dum dum de dum

2 comments:

Nich Starling said...

It is a shame Sports Report is now so spoilt by Radio 5 cuts straight to the teatime kickoff commentary meaning Sports report is cut short.

AloneMan said...

Well said, Grendel - it's a treasure, and we should treat it as such.