Francis Joseph Bough was an English television presenter.
24 Facts About Frank Bough
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Frank Bough was best known as the former host of BBC sports and current affairs shows including Grandstand, Nationwide and Breakfast Time, which he launched alongside Selina Scott and Nick Ross.
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Over his broadcasting career, Frank Bough became known for his smooth, relaxed and professional approach to live broadcasts, once being described as "the most unassailable performer on British television".
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Frank Bough later presented programmes on London Weekend Television, ITV, Sky TV and on LBC radio in London before his retirement in 1998.
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Francis Joseph Frank Bough was born on 15 January 1933 at his parents' terraced house in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, son of Austin Joseph Frank Bough and Annie Tyrer, nee Moulton.
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Frank Bough's father was a furniture upholsterer and his mother painted pots in a pottery factory, and made curtains and cushions.
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Frank Bough was educated at Oswestry Boys' High School in Oswestry, after passing his eleven-plus exam, and at Merton College, Oxford, where he studied shipping management and was a soccer blue.
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Frank Bough played football for the university against Cambridge and did his national service in the Royal Tank Regiment.
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Frank Bough joined the BBC as a presenter and reporter, presenting a new Newcastle upon Tyne-based show called Home at Six, soon renamed North at Six and then in 1963 becoming BBC Look North.
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Frank Bough went on to present the early evening magazine programme Nationwide.
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Frank Bough was twice a surprise guest on the Morecambe and Wise Christmas special, in 1977 performing a song and dance routine in a sailor's outfit with other TV personalities, including the film critic Barry Norman, the TV presenter Michael Aspel and the rugby league commentator Eddie Waring.
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Frank Bough later said that he had to give Waring dancing lessons before the sketch, which was based on a comic version of the song "There is Nothing Like a Dame" from the musical South Pacific.
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Frank Bough was the main presenter of the BBC's coverage of the 1978 World Cup finals in Argentina.
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Frank Bough's prominence increased in January 1983 when he became the first presenter of the BBC's inaugural breakfast television programme, Breakfast Time along with Selina Scott and Nick Ross.
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Frank Bough was chosen by Ron Neil for his experience of presenting three hours of live television every week on Grandstand.
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None of us had remotely the experience of long, unscripted slabs of live TV that Frank Bough had from his sports broadcasting.
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Frank Bough left breakfast television at the end of 1987 to concentrate on the Holiday programme where, having been a roving holidaymaker, he took over as the main presenter when Cliff Michelmore left the series in 1986.
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On 13 June 1988, Frank Bough left the BBC for a rest before being sacked, after the News of the World reported he had taken cocaine and worn lingerie at parties involving prostitutes.
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Roy Greenslade, professor of journalism at City University London, said that Frank Bough made a "terrible mistake" by agreeing to speak to newspapers before publication of personal allegations, worsening the story.
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Frank Bough later spoke of his regret over his actions, saying his behaviour had been "exceedingly stupid".
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In 1993, after his activities were regularly ridiculed in monologues on Have I Got News for You by Angus Deayton, Frank Bough agreed to appear as a guest on the programme.
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Frank Bough then presented Travel Live for the cable channel Travel.
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Frank Bough met Nesta Howells while he was completing his national service and they married after he left the army in 1959.
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Frank Bough had a liver transplant in 2001 after cancer was found, and later lived in retirement in Holyport, Berkshire.