Peter Harold Dimmock, CVO,

CBE 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 ...

(6 December 1920 – 20 November 2015) was a British sports broadcaster and senior television executive during the formative years of the medium in the 1950s. He was the first host of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

's long-running ''

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 all ...

'' and of 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 i ...

'' awards.

Early life and career

Born in London, Dimmock attended

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 independent, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

and a finishing establishment in France. At the outbreak of

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

he joined the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and dom ...

, a territorial unit. He was called up only two months later to serve in France during the retreat from Dunkirk. In March 1941 he was allowed to transfer into the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) a ...

and qualified as a

Pilot Officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countrie ...

. Then in 1943 he became a flying instructor on

Tiger Moth The de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s British biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and other operators as a primary trainer aircraft ...

and Miles Magister trainers with the rank of

Flight Lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...

. In February 1944 he was appointed as a

staff officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military ...

at the Air Ministry. After

demobilisation Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and militar ...

he joined 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 r ...

and later the BBC in March 1946, around the time the television service was revived, working in outside broadcasts - a department of which he became head in the 1950s.

Television career

He was involved in the television coverage of the 1948 London Olympics. The following year he was the commentator on the

University Boat Race The Boat Race is an annual set of rowing races between the Cambridge University Boat Club and the Oxford University Boat Club, traditionally rowed between open-weight eights on the River Thames in London, England. There are separate men's a ...

. As head of outside broadcasts, Dimmock was in charge of events such as the Queen's Coronation in 1953 and the first televised

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 ...

in 1960. He continued to be Head of Outside Broadcasts until leaving the BBC in 1972. Dimmock launched a televisual coverage from April 1954 in front of the cameras as the host of a new sport news programme ''Sportsview'' (which became ''

Sportsnight ''Sportsnight'' was a midweek BBC television sports programme that ran from 1968 until 1997. Sportsview ''Sportsnight'' was a successor to ''Sportsview'' which started on 8 April 1954. ''Sportsview'' was devised by Paul Fox, later Controller ...

'' in 1968), with what would be a long-running Speedway series. In its first year the series featured

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 a ...

's record breaking four-minute mile run. The ''

'' award also started in 1954 – with Dimmock again taking the presenter role, which he was to continue for over a decade. Having presented ''Sportsview'' for over four years, he fronted the first two shows of ''

'' in October 1958 before handing over to

David Coleman David Robert Coleman OBE (26 April 1926 – 21 December 2013) was a British sports commentator and television presenter who worked for the BBC for 46 years. He covered eleven Summer Olympic Games from 1960 to 2000 and six FIFA World Cups from 1 ...

. He presented his final ''Sportsview'' in 1964 and took up several other roles within the BBC until he left in 1977.

Personal life

Dimmock married BBC continuity announcer and ''

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a Panel show, panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebr ...

'' panellist Polly Elwes. Elwes died on 15 July 1987 from

bone cancer A bone tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body such as from lung, breast, thyro ...

.Glasgow Herald on-line archive 16 July 1987, retrieved 24 July 2012
/ref> They had three daughters, Amanda, Christina and Freya. On 8 June 1990 he married Christabel Rosamund Bagge. He died on 20 November 2015 at the age of 94.

Awards

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) (1961) * Commander of the Victorian Order (CVO) (1968) * Freeman of the City of London (1977) * Elected a Freeman of the Royal Television Society (1978) * Royal Television Society RTS Sports Awards – Special Judges Award 2004

References

External links

Dimmock's profile on the BBC web site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dimmock, Peter 1920 births 2015 deaths People educated at Dulwich College British sports broadcasters BBC sports presenters and reporters Officers of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Royal Air Force pilots of World War II British Army personnel of World War II Royal Army Service Corps soldiers Royal Air Force officers