Des Lynam

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Des Lynam
Lynam at a book signing
Born	September 17, 1942 (1942-09-17) (age 65) Ennis, County Clare, Ireland
Occupation	TV presenter
Spouse	Susan Skinner (1965 - 1974; divorced)
Children	Patrick, born 1970

Desmond Michael "Des" Lynam, OBE^[1] (born 17 September 1942, Ennis, County Clare, Ireland) is a sports presenter and game show host on British television and radio.

He has hosted television coverage of high profile events for many years. He has presented the popular shows, Grandstand, Match of the Day, Holiday, How Do They Do That? and Countdown.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 On the radio 1.2 BBC Television 1.3 ITV 1.4 Countdown 1.5 Setanta Sports advert 2 References 3 External links

[edit] Career

Desmond Michael Lynam moved with his family to Brighton in 1949. He eventually lost his strong Irish accent, and passed the eleven-plus in 1954, to attend Varndean Grammar School. He did not go on to University, however, after sitting his A-levels. He went into the Insurance business, working as a salesman, where he remained for most of the 1960s.

He married Susan Skinner in 1965 and had one son, Patrick (born 1970); however by 1973 the marriage began to break down due to Lynam's career and other commitments, and they divorced in 1974. Lynam has never remarried, but has lived with Rose Diamond, his long-time partner, for many years.

Lynam was a master of the (un)prepared witticism, arguably his finest being while presenting the BBC's coverage of the Atlanta Olympic Games: "Going down to the pub is not yet an Olympic sport, but beach volleyball is." He is a supporter and former director of Brighton and Hove Albion F.C.^[2]

[edit] On the radio

He started his career in broadcasting as a freelance in radio, on BBC Radio Brighton (1968–1969). He quickly joined national BBC radio in London, originally specialising in commentating on boxing, and went on to anchor Sport on Two and Sports Report (1969–1978) on BBC Radio 2. From 1974–1976 he co-presented the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 on three mornings each week.

[edit] BBC Television

He moved to television in 1977 starting off with Sportswide as part of Nationwide which he did until the show's end until 1983 and then presented Grandstand (1979–1991, occasionally until 1999), Sportsnight (1991–1997) and Match of the Day (1988–1999) on the BBC for many years, and also fronted BBC coverage of Wimbledon (highlights 1985-1990, main presenter 1991-1997 and 1999), The Grand National, the Football World Cup (1982–1998) and the Olympic Games (1980–1996).

Lynam made a return to radio in 1986 to commentate for the BBC on the Frank Bruno vs. Tim Witherspoon WBA Heavyweight World Title fight at Wembley Stadium on July 19, 1986. He also made a brief return to BBC Radio 2 in 1998, presenting the 5-7pm Drivetime show on Fridays only. Johnnie Walker had started presenting the show Mondays - Thursdays.

In 1995, Lynam co-operated with Matt Dawson to publish 'The Definitive Guide to Conkers' for the Childline children's charity.

[edit] ITV

Lynam defected to ITV in 1999, where he presented their flagship football programmes, including coverage of the FA Premier League and UEFA Champions League. He decided to retire from television presenting after the Euro 2004 football championships. Soon afterwards the BBC announced that Lynam would present a new weekly radio programme, Des Meets..., on BBC Radio Five Live from August 2004. He also covered the 2005 Wimbledon for BBC Radio Five Live.

In 2002, the BBC released a CD of poems read by Lynam to music. 'Time to stand & stare' featured classic poems such as Rudyard Kipling's 'If', and others written by Roald Dahl, Sir John Betjeman and Brian Patten. The CD featured one of Lynam's own poems, "The Silly Isles", written about the Falklands War.

In May 2005, Lynam presented the BBC1 programme 'We'll Meet Again', marking the 60th anniversary of VE Day and which celebrated the end of the second World War. The following month, he presented an episode of Have I Got News For You on BBC1, the third time he had presented the show having been in the hot seat twice the previous year. In June and July 2005, he co-presented (with Sir David Frost) the series The World's Greatest Sporting Legend on Sky One.

[edit] Countdown

On 22 September 2005, Lynam was named the host (replacing the late Richard Whiteley) of Channel 4's Countdown, with his first episode airing on October 31. Although his contract was for two years, on 30 September 2006, it was announced that Lynam would quit Countdown at the end of 2006 ^[3], due to the fact that he needed to regularly travel to Leeds where Countdown is filmed, while his home is in West Sussex. It had previously been suggested that Countdown may move to London to better suit Lynam, but this was impractical as all of the programme's staff are based in the North. He was then replaced by Des O'Connor.

On October 3, 2005 he released his autobiography called I Should Have Been at Work, taken from when Lynam, during an England game that kicked off at 2pm on a Monday afternoon during the 1998 Football World Cup finals, said to those watching "Shouldn't you be at work?".

[edit] Setanta Sports advert

In July 2007, Lynam signed on to appear in Setanta Sports' commercials for its coverage of the Premier League, and it is rumoured that he will take some part in Setanta's Premier League programming.^[4]

In the advert, he plays a Pie-man, serving pies out of a van outside a stadium, and the woman he works with (played by Star Stories & Balls of Steel star Thaila Zucchi) gets annoyed with the customer, who cannot pronounce "Setanta".^{[citation needed]} The customer refers to Lynam as 'Dickie', a reference to Lynam's rival sports presenter Dickie Davies. He also appeared on a Christmas advert, playing the role of "Setanta Claus".^{[citation needed]}

He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• BBC News Coverage of Lynam and Countdown
• Channel 4Countdown Profile
• Des Lynam Page
• In-depth article on Des Lynam

Media offices
Preceded by David Coleman	Regular Host of Grandstand 1984–1991	Succeeded by Steve Rider
Preceded by Jimmy Hill	Regular Host of Match of the Day 1988–1999	Succeeded by Gary Lineker
Preceded by Steve Rider	Regular Host of Sportsnight 1991–1997	Succeeded by Show ended
Preceded by Richard Whiteley	Host of Countdown 2005–2006	Succeeded by Des O'Connor
Awards
Preceded by Jim Rosenthal	RTS Television Sport Awards Best Sports Presenter 1998	Succeeded by Jim Rosenthal

Persondata
NAME	Lynam, Des
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	TV presenter
DATE OF BIRTH	17 September 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ennis, County Clare, Ireland
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH