Table of Contents

Preface

The Weekly Miracle
The Beginnings
Angus and Eamonn – The Odd Couple
The Signature Tune
Memorable Programmes 1948–1988
The Front of House
In the Studio
Moments to Savour
At the Sharp End
There were Some Laughs as Well
Reading the Classifieds
Gender on the Agenda – At Last!
Memorable Programmes 1989-2021
Troughs Among the Peaks
In Praise of Sports Report
The Last Word

Acknowledgements

Promotional Information

The story of Sports Report is a 75-year-old history of sport.

About the Author

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.

Reviews

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.
*The Times*

A definitive history
*Daily Mirror*

A labour of love
*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*

Beautifully written. It brought back great memories of all my old friends at the best time of my life.
*Des Lynam*