BBC Sports Report: A Celebration of the World's Longest-Running Sports Radio Programme: Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Sports Book Awards 2023

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Mike Ingham, an authoritative presenter in the early eighties before switching to commentary, received the Doug Gardner award in 2014 and who could forget a secret operation which would have done credit to MI6 in 2019. How Sports Report celebrated turning 70 in 2018 - January 2023 will mark the 75th birthday of the iconic show. The tones of Hubert Bath’s jaunty march ‘Out of the Blue’ signalled the start of the very first edition. Pat's reporting has always been engaging, expressive and arresting. Delighted his Sports Report book is just the same * Mark Pougatch *

Any one listening to the programme from as recently as a decade ago will notice a change in tempo and tone,” Murphy writes.He recruited an Irish boxing commentator who became synonymous with the earlier years, and later, as well known for surprising many, not just from the world of sport, by carrying a red book. His name was Eamonn Andrews. On a Saturday, when you hear the signature tune at 5pm, your first thought is often 'bloody hell, is that the time already, I have barely written a thing'. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the foundation of what became the Sports Journalists’ Association. There is always a sense of urgency when you listen to events unfold on Sports Report, but that is nothing compared to the feeling of those involved in making the programme, which is broadcast live and unscripted.

Pat's reporting has always been engaging, expressive and arresting. Delighted his Sports Report book is just the same' - Mark Pougatch For many people, their early memories of Sports Report are of listening in the car on the way home from games, catching up with what happened around the grounds.That part of it has not changed - the principle of telling you what has just happened on a Saturday has stayed the same since it started. It is an easy formula, but the simplest ideas are often the best." 'The Weekly Miracle' The first episode of Sports Report, advertised as a 'new Saturday feature for sportsmen', was aired on the BBC Light Programme on Saturday, 3 January 1948 and was presented by Raymond Glendenning. Written for a Hendon Air display in 1931, it was apparently produced from the BBC Gramophone library that very afternoon.