Remastered Voices of Football: David Coleman - A Very Modern Anchor

He could be... difficult, but David Coleman was one of the BBC's first steps into sports broadcasting modernity.

When David Coleman died at the end of 2013 at the age of 87, despite it being a time of year when newsrooms might have been expecting to be running on a skeleton staff, it was no surprise to see a large number of obituaries for him being published. Coleman had, after all, covered the Summer Olympic Games eleven times for the BBC and the World Cup six times. He was, arguably, the progenitor of the sports anchor in this country.

There was, however, something unusual about these obituaries. The Guardian described him as “the hard-nosed, everyman-journalist” who “could be scathingly dismissive about more starry, chummy screen performers chosen more for winsome looks and winning smiles.” The Director General of the BBC, Tony Hall, described him as, “one of this country’s greatest and most respected broadcasters.” Writing a few months later, even the BBC’s own Radio Times described him as a “demanding taskmaster.” This, it seemed quite clear, was an outpouring of respect rather than an outpouring of love.