John Inverdale

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

He is the son of a Royal Navy dental surgeon, Captain John Inverdale, who played rugby union for Devonport Services R.F.C. 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 tennis team for two years. He began his career with two years at the Lincolnshire Echo, and then joined BBC Radio Lincolnshire in 1982. He 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.

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 and also is 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" and has become 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. He has also stood in for Johnnie Walker, and more recently Chris Evans, on their BBC Radio 2 shows. He received a Doctor of Letters honorary degree from the University of Southampton in July 2001.

John Inverdale made national news in 2005 when his face appeared on many newspapers showing the facial scars he received whilst playing rugby union.

Inverdale now lives in Kingston, Surrey with his wife and two daughters. He has an interest in Esher RFC.

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0409471 IMDb]
* [http://www.navynews.co.uk/articles/2002/0211/2102112501.asp Honouring his father in 2002]
* [http://www.ciao.co.uk/BBC1_On_Side__53369 Reviews of his On Side TV programme]
* [http://www.lyricsdepot.com/they-might-be-giants/your-racist-friend.html Theme tune]