BBC Sport in Black and White

This book provides the first detailed account of the formative decades of BBC televised sport when it launched its flagship programmes Sportsview, Grandstand and Match of the Day. Based on extensive archival research in the BBCs written archives and interviews with leading producers, editors and commentators of the period, it provides a behind-the-scenes narrative history of this major institution of British cultural life. In 2016 the BBC celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of its television coverage of Englands World Cup victory. Their coverage produced one of the most oft-played moments in the history of television, Kenneth Wolstenholmes famous line: Some people are on the pitch, they think its all over it is now! as Geoff Hurst scored Englands fourth goal, securing Englands 4-2 victory. It was a landmark in English football as well as a watershed in the BBCs highly professionalised approach to televised sport. How the BBC reached this peak of television expertise, and who was behind their success in developing the techniques of televised sport, is the focus of this book.