Barbara Jane Slater OBE (born 10 May 1959) is an English sports producer and former gymnast who represented Great Britain at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, where she carried the British flag at the Opening Ceremonies. Slater became the BBC's first female Director of Sport in April 2009. Previous to this, she had been the BBC's Head of Production and Head of General Sports for a number of years.

Biography

Slater was born into a sporting family: her father,

Bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

, was a professional footballer who played for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, won the Footballer of the Year award in 1960, and won three

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

titles with

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. Her uncle, J J Warr, played for the

England cricket team The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engla ...

. Slater gained two degrees, at the universities of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, before qualifying to be a PE teacher at

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second larg ...

. Slater appeared in the gymnastics competition at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

, carrying the British flag at the opening ceremony, and eventually earned 20

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

s as an international gymnast. As a gymnast, she finished runner-up in the British Championships in the same year as her appearance at the Olympics. In other sporting achievements, she reached national standard at

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

and was a club-level

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

player. Slater was first employed by the BBC in 1983, when she became a trainee Assistant Producer. She had previous experience in the TV industry starring in the 1978 BBC children's thriller series ''Out of Bounds'', before working for ATV Sport, a company run by her father's colleague Billy Wright. In 1984, she joined the BBC's sports division as an Assistant Producer. Slater worked her way up the corporation's hierarchy as a Producer, Senior Producer, and Executive Producer. She eventually became head of sports production, and helped produce programmes for events such as

The Open The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

and Masters golf, the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

, the

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...

, Ascot and the

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

. In 2009, it was announced that Slater would become director of sport, taking over from

Roger Mosey Roger Mosey (born 4 January 1958)"Rose ...

, and becoming the first woman to hold the position. Mosey became the BBC Director of London 2012. Slater has overseen the department's relocation to

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

(BBC Sport is one of five departments that has been moved from London to Salford), as well as the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, held in London. She has also presided over events such as the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

and

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

. Barbara also, in 2013 won back the broadcasting rights of the FA Cup, in a major coup, ensuring live first-class football was available to licence fee payers. Speaking of her appointment, she said "I am thrilled to have this opportunity to lead BBC Sport at such an exciting and challenging time, that includes leading the division to its new home at the heart of

BBC North BBC North (Group) is an operational business division of the BBC. It is also a brand that has been used by the BBC to mean: *The large ''BBC North'' region, centred on Manchester, that was active from the late 1920s until 1968 and was based up ...

and also ensuring BBC Sport plays its part in making the 2012 Games the success they deserve to be." During her time as Director of Sport though Slater has overseen the loss of many exclusive BBC Sport deals most notably that of full-time

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

coverage from free to air broadcasting to a shared arrangement with

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

lasting 2012 to 2015 with the BBC showing half the races live and the rest with highlights. The deal allowed Sky Sports to show every race live. Further scrutiny was shown with the BBC portion of a 2012–2018 deal being sold to

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

for the 2016 to 2018 seasons to make savings. This is in addition the

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...

which saw

gain the rights in March 2012; further dilution of the BBC sports portfolio (together with the loss of advert-free coverage) was announced by Barbara Slater in the guise of a sharing arrangement with ITV; and in September 2015 she announced the imminent loss of yet more live coverage, this time of

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...

Honours

Following the BBC's successful broadcast of the

in London, the biggest television event in British broadcasting history, Slater was awarded the Inspirational Woman prize at the Women in Film & TV Award that year. Slater was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the

2014 Birthday Honours The 2014 Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of ...

for services to sports broadcasting.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slater, Barbara 1959 births Living people Sportspeople from Birmingham, West Midlands English television executives Women television executives English television producers BBC sports presenters and reporters Alumni of the University of Oxford Alumni of the University of Birmingham Alumni of Loughborough University Olympic gymnasts of Great Britain Gymnasts at the 1976 Summer Olympics British female artistic gymnasts Officers of the Order of the British Empire WFTV Award winners British women television producers