Ken Sutcliffe (born 15 November 1947) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

sporting journalist and radio and television personality.

Career

Sutcliffe was born in

Oberon Oberon () is a king of the fairies in medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania, Queen of the Fair ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and grew up in

Mudgee Mudgee is a town in the Central West (New South Wales), Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It is in the broad fertile Cudgegong River valley north-west of Sydney and is the largest town in the Mid-Western Regional Council Local gover ...

. He started his radio career in 1966 in Mudgee, followed by a stint as a general announcer at 2LF Young, and began work on television as a newsreader on local station CBN-8 Orange. He joined TNQ-7 in Townsville during the mid-1970s, before joining

TCN-9 TCN is the flagship television station of the Nine Network in Australia. The station is currently located at 1 Denison Street, North Sydney. The licence, issued to a company named Television Corporation Ltd headed by Sir Frank Packer, was one o ...

in 1979, appearing on '' World of Sport'' with Ron Casey. He made his television debut in 1982, hosting ''Bedtime stories with Ken and Daz'' alongside Darrell Eastlake. The show only lasted 8 episodes. He became the main sports presenter on TCN-9 Sydney's evening news in 1988 following the departure of Mike Gibson to Ten and remained in that role until his retirement and final Nine News sports report on 8 December 2016 (34 years). He was a long-time host of the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

's '' Wide World of Sports'' productions, initially joining the programme in 1982. After a year as a co-host on

Graham Kennedy Graham Cyril Kennedy AO (15 February 1934 – 25 May 2005) was an Australian entertainer, comedian and variety performer, as well as a personality and star of radio, theatre, television and film. He often performed in the style of vaudevilli ...

's late night news programme in 1988, he rejoined ''WWOS'' as host in 1989. During his time with ''Wide World of Sports'' and Nine News, Sutcliffe hosted coverage of and reported on the

Summer Olympics 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 inau ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

(1984) and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

(2012), the

America's Cup The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one f ...

defence in Fremantle (1987), and the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

(1988),

Albertville Albertville (; Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a subprefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. It is best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. In 2018, the commune had ...

(1992),

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...

(1994) and

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

(2010). He also hosted four

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 ...

for the network:

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in 1982,

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

in 1990,

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

in 1998, and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in 2006. In addition he presented

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

for 20 years, the US Open Tennis Championships for more than a decade, and was in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...

in 1997 hosting the Masters telecast when

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

broke through for his historic victory (he also hosted eight other Masters telecasts). Sutcliffe also hosted Rugby League Grand Finals and the

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval ...

series, as well as the US Open Golf, the Pan Pacific and Olympic swimming trials plus the World Swimming Championships in Japan and the Brisbane Goodwill Games. In 2014, he was awarded Australian Sports Commission Media Award for Lifetime Achievement. On 2 November 2016, Sutcliffe announced he would retire from his role as ''

Nine News ''Nine News'' (stylised ''9News'') is the national news service of the Nine Network in Australia. Its flagship program is the hour-long 6:00 pm state bulletin, produced by Nine's owned-and-operated stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, ...

'' sports editor and ''

Nine News Sydney ''Nine News Sydney'' is the local news bulletin for the Nine Network station in Sydney, airing across New South Wales each night. Like all ''Nine News'' bulletins, the Sydney bulletin runs for one hour. from 6pm every day. It covers the day's ...

'' sport presenter at the end of the year. He was replaced by

Cameron Williams Cameron Williams (born 18 February 1963 in Emerald, Queensland ) is an Australian television journalist and presenter, most notably with the Nine Network. Williams has previously been a sport presenter on ''Nine News Sydney'' from Sunday to ...

. Sutcliffe was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

(OAM) in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours for "service to the broadcast media, particularly to television".

Other media

Memoirs

Sutcliffe published a book of memoirs in 2009, ''The Wide World of Ken Sutcliffe''.

The Twelfth Man

He was a featured character in

The Twelfth Man The Twelfth Man (also known as The 12th Man) is the name for a series of comedy productions by Australian satirist Billy Birmingham. Birmingham, a skilled impersonator, is generally known for parodying Australian sports commentators' voices. ...

's comedy productions, with the story-line being that he was the most handsome of the ''WWOS'' and Commentary Team presenters — the "male model from Mudgee", sighed over by the wives of

Richie Benaud Richard Benaud (; 6 October 1930 – 10 April 2015) was an Australian cricketer who, after his retirement from international cricket in 1964, became a highly regarded commentator on the game. Benaud was a Test cricket all-rounder, blending l ...

and

Max Walker Maxwell Henry Norman Walker (12 September 1948 – 28 September 2016) was an Australian sportsman who played both cricket and Australian rules football at high levels. After six years of balancing first-class cricket in summer, professional f ...

. Sutcliffe (his main rival) is kidnapped by Walker as the latter tries to rejoin the Commentary Team. The only voice

Billy Birmingham Billy Birmingham (born 1953) is an Australian humourist and sometime sports journalist, most noted for his parodies of Australian cricket commentary in recordings under The Twelfth Man name. Early career He wrote the pun-laden comedy hit " Au ...

did not do himself was that of Sutcliffe — it was Sutcliffe himself who voiced his character.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sutcliffe, Ken Nine News presenters Australian sports broadcasters Living people 1947 births Nine's Wide World of Sport Journalists from Sydney People from Mudgee Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia