Gary Newbon

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(born 15 March 1945 in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

) is a television sports presenter and executive.

Biography

He attended

Culford School Culford School is a co-educational independent day and boarding school for pupils age 1-18 in the village of Culford, miles north of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England. The headmaster is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Confer ...

near

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...

where he captained the rugby first XV and edited the school magazine. Upon leaving school he became a junior reporter in Cambridge and then a freelance

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

journalist reporting on

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

. He began his television career at

Westward TV Westward Television was the first ITV franchise-holder for the South West of England. It held the franchise from 29 April 1961 until 31 December 1981. After a difficult start, Westward Television provided a popular, distinctive and highly rega ...

in the 1960s,''Power, Corruption and Pies Volume 2'', WSC Books Limited, , p. 141 and then as an ATV sports reporter for their

ATV Today ''ATV Today'' was a regional television news and current affairs programme, produced by ATV, serving the English Midlands. The programme aired from 5 October 1964 until 31 December 1981 – the final day of broadcasting from ATV before the co ...

programme in the early 1970s. The continuing illness of his boss, Controller of Sports Billy Wright, the former England football captain meant that he and a small team - including

Trevor East Trevor James East (born 22 October 1950)The Guardian, Monday 9 July 2007Media 100/ref> was originally presenter of Tiswas; stooge to Chris Tarrant and Derby County obsessed. He was subsequently ranked 27 in The Guardian's "Media 100" most influenti ...

- had to carry out Wright's functions whilst covering up the extent of his ill-health. He himself later became Controller of Sports (West Midlands) for ATV and, later, Central Television, Newbon reported on football and hosted boxing and darts programmes for the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

network, whilst hosting sports coverage on ATV and Central, while also presenting sports reports on the regional news programmes and performing his executive role.Boyle, Raymond & Haynes, Richard (2009) ''Power Play: Sport, the Media and Popular Culture'', Edinburgh University Press, , p. 140 Newbon conducted post-match interviews, including a memorable exchange with

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...

after

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

had lost 4-0 to Everton, when Newbon's question about Forest's lack of commitment was replied to with ''"Because they're just like you and me, Gary - a bunch of pansies"'', after which Clough kissed Newbon on the cheek and walked off.Murphy, Patrick (2004) ''His Way: The Brian Clough Story'', Robson Books Ltd, , p. 12 Newbon sparked a controversy in 1983 when he appeared to show two fingers to the

QPR Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football, football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home ...

manager. Now retired from ITV after 36 years, he is currently a

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 ...

presenter.My Mentor: Gary Newbon on Tony Flanagan
, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 11 April 2005, retrieved 2010-11-06 He hosted the football phone-in show

You're On Sky Sports You're On Sky Sports was a topical football phone-in discussion television programme on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports News Radio. Originally hosted by Rob Hawthorne then Rob McCaffrey and Gary Newbon, the show was chaired by Jason Cundy. There wil ...

, which is usually scheduled immediately after the evening's main game. He hosts live

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

as well as Time of Our Lives. In 2004, he presented a phone-in show on UK national radio station talkSPORT, "Final Whistle", which was broadcast on Saturdays between 5.00pm and 8.00pm after the day's league fixtures. He later returned to talkSport with a weekend breakfast programme in August 2008. In 2005, he presented the 2005 Premier League Darts on

, which was the inaugural year of the competition. He became well known as a roving reporter for

ITV Sport ITV Sport is a sport producer for ITV. It was formed following the merger between Granada Sport and Central Sport.UEFA Champions League 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 ...

games. His role was later filled by

Gabriel Clarke Gabriel Clarke is a British TV journalist and documentary filmmaker. Clarke earned an English Literature degree from the University of London and began his journalistic career with local newspapers in Somerset and Bristol. He started his spo ...

. After his

ITV Sport ITV Sport is a sport producer for ITV. It was formed following the merger between Granada Sport and Central Sport.Central Television and became the Central Sports reporter on Central's flagship news programme Central News at Six, before being replaced by Sarah Jane Mee and Matt Teale in 2005. He also led the

ITV Sport ITV Sport is a sport producer for ITV. It was formed following the merger between Granada Sport and Central Sport.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 ...

Personal life

Gary Newbon was appointed a

Member 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 ...

(MBE) in the

2019 New Year Honours The 2019 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

, "for services to media, to sport and to charity".

Family

Gary and his wife Katie live in

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...

. They have three children: Clare Newbon (a journalist) and twins

Neil Newbon Neil Newbon (born August 14, 1978) is an English actor known for playing Elijah Kamski and Gavin Reed in '' Detroit: Become Human'' and Karl Heisenberg in ''Resident Evil Village''. Biography Newbon was born in Solihull, West Midlands, the son ...

(an actor) and Lawrence Newbon.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newbon, Gary British reporters and correspondents Newbon, Gary People educated at Culford School British radio personalities Living people 1945 births People in greyhound racing Members of the Order of the British Empire Darts people