John Inverdale
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John Inverdale (born September 27th 1957, Plymouth, England) is an English radio and television broadcaster who works for the BBC.
He is the son of a Royal Navy dental surgeon, Captain John Inverdale, who played rugby for Devonport Services R.F.C. in Plymouth. Inverdale was educated at Clifton College in Bristol and at the University of Southampton, where he obtained a history degree in 1979, also being the editor of the student newspaper Wessex News (now the Wessex Scene) and captained the tennis team for two years. He began his career with two years at the Lincolnshire Echo, and then joined BBC Radio Lincolnshire in 1982. He began to work on the BBC's national radio stations in 1985, firstly on Radio 2's sports unit, then between 1990 & 1994 at Radio 5, where he presented the flagship sports programme Sport On 5. In 1994 he became one of the main regular presenters on the relaunched Radio Five Live. He presented the drivetime show John Inverdale Nationwide until 1997, for which he was named Sony Broadcaster of the Year in 1997. At Five Live, he hosted the topical show, Any Sporting Questions, a variation on Radio 4's Any Questions, and similarly toured the UK each week.
Inverdale is a sports enthusiast and has headed Five Live's coverage of such events as Wimbledon, the Olympic Games, the football and rugby World Cups, the Ryder Cup, The Open Championship and the London Marathon. As Radio Five Live is the dominant sports radio station in the UK, this makes him probably the UK's most prominent radio sports broadcaster.
Inverdale has also worked regularly for BBC Television. He became the BBC's main Rugby Union anchor in the 2006 Six Nations Championships following the departure of Steve Rider and also is the main presenter of Today at Wimbeldon, a highlights show of the day's tennis play at Wimbledon on BBC Two. He has also fronted countless television shows such as the sports chat show On Side, Rugby Special, the investigative sports series On The Line, Grandstand, Sunday Grandstand and The World's Strongest Man and has become the main frontman for the Sport Relief Mile, presenting the 2004 event where he conducted the first ever joint live interviews with Prince William and Prince Harry, on Grandstand. In 2006, he presented the Sport Relief Mile show, live from the London's Embankment on BBC One. He has also stood in for Johnnie Walker, and more recently Chris Evans, on their BBC Radio 2 shows. He received a Doctor of Letters honorary degree from the University of Southampton in July 2001.
John Inverdale made national news in 2005 when his face appeared on many newspapers showing the facial scars he received whilst playing rugby.
Inverdale now lives in Kingston, Surrey with his french teaching wife who has short hair and two teenage daughters. He has an interest in Esher RFC. We Love John Inverdale.
