David Robert Coleman
OBE (26 April 1926 – 21 December 2013) was a British
sports commentator
In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...
and
television presenter
A television presenter (or television host, some become a " television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garne ...
who worked for the
BBC for 46 years. He covered eleven
Summer Olympic Games
The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...
from 1960 to 2000 and six
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...
s from 1962 to 1982.
Coleman presented some of the BBC's leading sporting programmes, including ''
Grandstand
A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap al ...
'' and ''
Sportsnight'' (originally titled ''Sportsnight with Coleman'' until 1972), and was the host of ''
A Question of Sport'' for 18 years. He retired from the BBC in 2000. Later that year he became the first broadcaster to receive the
Olympic Order award, in recognition of his contribution to the Olympic movement.
Early life
Born in
Alderley Edge
Alderley Edge is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England. In 2011, it had a population of 4,780.
Alderley Edge is northwest of Macclesfield and south of Manchester, at the base of a steep and thickly wooded sandstone escarpment, Alder ...
,
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...
, of
Irish heritage (his immediate family hailed from
County Cork
County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...
), Coleman was a keen amateur runner. He competed as a schoolboy middle-distance runner. In 1949, Coleman won the
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
Mile as a member of
Stockport
Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here.
Most of the town is withi ...
Harriers, the only non-international runner to do so. He competed in the English National Cross-Country Championships for Manchester Athletic Club in 1952 (116th, 3rd team) and 1953 (118). He ran 440 yards (¼ mile) for
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...
. Injury eventually caused him to give up competitive running, and he later became president of the
Wolverhampton & Bilston Athletics Club.
Coleman worked as a reporter for the ''
Stockport Express
''Stockport Express'' is the local newspaper of Stockport, England. It had an average circulation of 5,217 copies per issue in 2017. It is published every Wednesday.
The sister free paper the Stockport Times, published every Thursday and distri ...
''. In 1946 he was called up for
national service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The ...
. He served in the
Royal Corps of Signals
The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield commun ...
and worked for the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...
Newspaper Unit.
Part of his time in national service was in Kenya. He joined
Kemsley Newspapers after demobilisation and at 22 became editor of the ''Cheshire County Express''. He did not attend the 1952 Olympic trials because of hamstring injuries. Instead he approached the BBC to see if they would like any help with athletics coverage. Although he did not have an audition, the BBC asked him to cover
Roger Bannister
Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub-4-minute mile.
At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres an ...
at
Bradford City Police Sports. The following year he began freelance radio work in Manchester.
BBC
In 1954 Coleman moved to
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 We ...
and joined the BBC as a news assistant and sports editor. His first television appearance was on ''Sportsview'', on the day that
Roger Bannister
Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub-4-minute mile.
At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres an ...
broke the
four-minute mile
A four-minute mile is the completion of a mile run (1609 m) in four minutes or less. It was first achieved in 1954 by Roger Bannister, at age 25, in 3:59.4. As of April 2021, the "four-minute barrier" has been broken by 1,663 athletes, and is n ...
. In November 1955, he was appointed sports editor for the BBC's Midlands Region.
''Grandstand''
In October 1958, the BBC's Head of Sport
Peter Dimmock recruited Coleman to be the presenter of the new Saturday afternoon sports programme
Grandstand
A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap al ...
. He continued as the regular presenter until 1968. He also presented the ''
BBC Sports Personality of the Year
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of just one, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. Several new awards have been ...
'' from 1961, and ''
Sportsnight'' from 1968 to 1972 as well as other special sporting events such as 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 st ...
. He even covered the return of
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
from the United States and the
1959 General Election for the BBC from the
Press Association
PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency, and the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is part of PA Media Group Limited, a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and re ...
headquarters.
As well as a presenter, Coleman was also a sports commentator. He presented and/or commentated on eleven Olympic Games from
Rome 1960 to
Sydney 2000
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...
, as well as eight
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 ex ...
. He covered a total of seven
World Cups, both as a commentator and a presenter.
Football
Coleman was the BBC's senior football commentator for several years from 1971. He commentated on the
World Cup Final in
1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...
and
1978
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government).
* January 6 ...
, the
European Cup
The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...
Final in
1973 and
1975
It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe.
Events
January
* January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
and the
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...
final from
1972 to
1976 inclusive, although he missed the
1977 game because he was in a legal dispute with the BBC, allowing
John Motson
John Walker Motson (10 July 1945 – 23 February 2023) was an English football commentator. Beginning as a television commentator with the BBC in 1971, he commentated on over 2000 games on television and radio. From the late 1970s to 2008, Mot ...
to make his FA Cup final debut. Coleman returned for the
1978 final before Motson took over
the following year. Coleman's last live football commentary was on 26 May 1979 when he described
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 ...
's 3–1 win over
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
in the
1978–79 British Home Championship, although he continued to work at football matches as a secondary commentator until October 1981 with his last game being a midweek
League Cup
In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
game between
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
and
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
.
Athletics
In 1968, at the
Mexico Olympics Coleman was recorded at 200 words per minute while commentating on
David Hemery
David Peter Hemery, (born 18 July 1944) is a British former track and field athlete, best known as the winner of the 400 metres hurdles at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
Early life
Hemery was born in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, but ...
's win in the 400m Hurdles. After the finish he could only identify the first two and exclaimed: "Who cares who's third?" The bronze medal winner turned out to be another Briton,
John Sherwood.
Satirists of the 1980s and 1990s often portrayed Coleman as constantly surprised by mundane happenings at athletic events.
Clive James
Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.[siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...]
at the
Munich Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...
as well as the memorial service days later. Coleman concentrated on athletics commentary from 1984.
Tennis
Coleman was a key member of BBC Television's Wimbledon coverage from 1960 until 1969, hosting the live daytime coverage until 1969.
Grand National
Coleman presented coverage of 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 st ...
for 23 years, between 1961 and 1976 and again from 1978 to 1984. He was due to present the first in 1960 but had to step down due to illness. He was also absent from the 1977 Grand National, which turned out to be Red Rum's historic third win, due to his contract dispute with the BBC.
Other
Coleman also hosted sports quiz show ''
A Question of Sport'' for 18 years from 1979 to 1997, striking up a strong rapport with captains such as
Emlyn Hughes,
Ian Botham
Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham, (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser.
Hailed as on ...
,
Willie Carson
William Fisher Hunter Carson, OBE (born 16 November 1942) is a retired jockey in thoroughbred horse racing.
Life and career
Best known as "Willie", Carson was born in Stirling, Scotland in 1942. He was apprenticed ...
and
Bill Beaumont. Although he hosted the vast majority of the shows, he was occasionally absent and stand-in hosts were drafted in. Former host
David Vine returned to the show in 1989 when Coleman was ill, Bill Beaumont hosted two editions in 1996, while
Will Carling temporarily replaced Beaumont as team captain, and
Sue Barker
Sue or SUE may refer to:
Music
* Sue Records, an American record label
* ''Sue'' (album), an album by Frazier Chorus
* "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)", a song by David Bowie
Places
* Sue Islet (Queensland), one of the Torres Straits islan ...
hosted two editions later that year.
Coleman's on-air gaffes, use of
cliché
A cliché ( or ) is an element of an artistic work, saying, or idea that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even to the point of being weird or irritating, especially when at some earlier time it was consi ...
s and occasional mispronunciations led the satirical magazine ''
Private Eye
''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised for its prominent critici ...
'' to name its sports bloopers column ''
Colemanballs
Colemanballs is a term coined by ''Private Eye'' magazine to describe verbal gaffes perpetrated by sports commentators. '' in his honour.
Retirement
Coleman retired from broadcasting after the
2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...
. In December 2000, he was presented with the
Olympic Order by then-
IOC president
Juan Antonio Samaranch
Juan Antonio Samaranch y Torelló, 1st Marquess of Samaranch (Catalan: ''Joan Antoni Samaranch i Torelló'', ; 17 July 1920 – 21 April 2010) was a Spanish sports administrator under the Franco regime (1973–1977) who served as the seventh P ...
in recognition of his services to the Olympic ideals. He retired, requesting no fanfare or recognition by the BBC, despite working for the Corporation for over 40 years.
The BBC later broadcast a programme entitled ''The Quite Remarkable David Coleman'' to celebrate Coleman's life, which was aired just after his 85th birthday in May 2011.
Personal life and honours
Coleman married Barbara Manning in 1952 in north-east Cheshire. They had six children. His daughter Anne (born 1954) was a British ladies' show jumping champion.
His son Michael (born 1962) was a
Panavia Tornado
The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (inte ...
navigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prima ...
, who flew in the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
in 1991, and had become a
Squadron Leader
Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...
. They had twin sons in 1955 and two other daughters in 1961 and 1969. He lived in
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...
and
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-e ...
.
In the 1992 New Year's Honours List, Coleman was awarded the
OBE for services to broadcasting. He was also given the Judges' Award For Sport in the 1996
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...
Awards. In 2000, he became the first journalist or broadcaster to be awarded the
Olympic Order.
Death
Coleman died on 21 December 2013, at his home in Berkshire after a short illness. He was 87.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, David
1926 births
2013 deaths
20th-century British Army personnel
BBC sports presenters and reporters
British association football commentators
British broadcasters
British game show hosts
British people of Irish descent
British sports broadcasters
British television presenters
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Olympic Games broadcasters
People from Alderley Edge
Recipients of the Olympic Order
Royal Corps of Signals soldiers