1. John Ballantyne Inverdale was born on 27 September 1957 and is an English broadcaster who works for both the BBC and ITV.
32 Facts About John Inverdale
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John Inverdale was the main television presenter of Today at Wimbledon until 2014 and has hosted television coverage of sports programmes including Rugby Special and Grandstand.
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John Inverdale has presented ITV's coverage of the Rugby World Cup and the French Open.
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Since 2013, Inverdale has been embroiled in several broadcasting controversies, which have prompted criticism as well as articles written in his defence.
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John Inverdale was educated at Clifton College in Bristol and at the University of Southampton, graduating with a history degree in 1979.
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John Inverdale was the editor of the student newspaper Wessex News and captained the university's tennis team for two years.
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John Inverdale began to work on the BBC's national radio stations in 1985, firstly on Radio 2's sports unit where he presented the final edition of Sport on 2 in August 1990, then between 1990 and 1994 at Radio 5, where he presented the flagship sports programme Sport on 5.
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John Inverdale presented the programme until 1997, for which he was named Sony Broadcaster of the Year in 1997.
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John Inverdale headed 5 Live's coverage of the Wimbledon, Olympic and Commonwealth Games, football and rugby union World Cups, World Athletics Championships, Ryder Cup, Open Championship, London Marathon and Cheltenham Festival.
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John Inverdale has hosted the station's coverage of BBC Sports Personality of the Year and occasionally guest presented on Radio 2.
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In 2019, John Inverdale provided radio commentary to Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup matches via the official audio commentary available through the TuneIn radio platform.
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John Inverdale worked on British Satellite Broadcasting's Sports Channel and then for Sky Sports during the channel's early years, most notably as presenter of Goals On Sunday and on their coverage of Serie A Italian football, where Alan Hansen regularly appeared alongside him as studio pundit.
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John Inverdale became the BBC's main Rugby Union anchor in the 2006 Six Nations Championships following the departure of Steve Rider to ITV Sport.
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John Inverdale led ITV's Rugby World Cup coverage in 2015.
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John Inverdale hosted BBC One's sports chat show, On Side between 1997 and 2001.
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John Inverdale has hosted ITV's live French Open coverage from Roland Garros since 2012.
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John Inverdale was a member of the main commentary team until 2023, but did not return in 2024.
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John Inverdale stepped down from anchoring the BBC's rugby coverage in March 2021.
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John Inverdale later apologized publicly and in a letter, with the BBC issuing an apology.
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John Inverdale received "intense criticism" while presenting the BBC's coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
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The talkative John Inverdale called Redgrave Oddjob, the silent Bond villain as a reference to Redgrave's quiet personality.
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Redgrave was observed directing jibes toward John Inverdale, shaking a wet umbrella over his head and even walking off the set.
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John Inverdale experienced further censure when he was accused of "ignoring" British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua during an interview.
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Some defended John Inverdale, saying he was attempting to catch the eye of French boxer Sarah Ourahmoune, whom they had been speaking of; she eventually joined them to talk.
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Davies felt it was "clear" what John Inverdale meant during the Murray and Yoka incidents and was doing "what all broadcast interviewers do" during the Joshua episode by looking for future interviewees.
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John Inverdale swiftly apologised, attributing his language to a "slip of the tongue".
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At the 2016 Wimbledon Championships, John Inverdale commented that tennis player Nick Kyrgios "lumbered off like a character from The Jungle Book", which led to allegations of racism on social media.
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John Inverdale received a Doctor of Letters honorary degree from the University of Southampton in July 2001.
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John Inverdale was awarded an honorary fellowship to the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff in November 2009.
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John Inverdale made national news in 2005 when his face appeared in many newspapers showing the scars he received whilst playing rugby union for Esher.
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John Inverdale is a fan of both Southampton and Lincoln City football clubs.
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In 2005 John Inverdale became a patron of charity Cardiac Risk in the Young.