BBC Sports Report cover art

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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BBC Sports Report

By: Pat Murphy
Narrated by: Pat Murphy
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Bloomsbury presents BBC Sports Report written and read by Pat Murphy.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023 – SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT BOOK OF THE YEAR

Sports Report is as much a 75-year history of sport as a BBC radio institution and Pat Murphy pays handsome tribute to a programme that is still followed affectionately by millions.

For nearly 75 years, one BBC programme has been a constant factor in chronicling the way sport is covered, in all its many facets. It has been a window on the sporting world all over the globe – packed tightly into every Saturday evening for the bulk of the year.

First broadcast in 1948, Sports Report is the longest-running radio sporting programme in the world and one of the BBC’s hardy perennials. Pat Murphy has been a reporter on the programme since 1981 and here he sifts comprehensively through the experiences of his contemporaries and those who made their mark on Sports Report in earlier decades.

He hears from commentators, reporters, producers, presenters and the production teams who regularly achieved the broadcasting miracle of getting a live programme on air, without a script, adapting as the hour of news, reaction and comment unfolded.

Drawing on unique access from the BBC Archives Unit, he highlights memorable moments from Sports Report, details the challenges faced in getting live interviews on air from draughty, noisy dressing-room areas and celebrates the feat of just a small production team in the studio who, somehow, get the show up and running every Saturday, with the clock ticking implacably on.©2023 Pat Murphy (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Entertainment & Performing Arts Sports Sports History Entertainment Funny
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Critic reviews

The living history of a huge part of all our lives - and there's no one in the world better to tell it than Pat Murphy (Lee Child, bestselling author)
Opens the doors to one of the great radio institutions and makes you realise how much effort and love goes into making it so special (Dan Walker)
Pat’s reporting has always been engaging, expressive and arresting. Delighted his Sports Report book is just the same (Mark Pougatch)
That opening tune always quickens the pulse. Out of the Blue, into the drama of the sporting day. Insight, interviews, inspirational (Henry Winter)
It was the opening theme tune that sucked you in – it’s synonymous with British sport and a staple diet of listening and watching sport on a Saturday afternoon. (Joe Root, England Cricketer)
Full of superb anecdotes, brilliantly told, marvellous characters. (Jim Rosenthal)
If you have that sporting gene within you, it’s a book that soundtracks your life ... Every stage of that sporting cycle, that familiar tune, those familiar voices, coming at you through each beautifully researched page ... An absolute joy to read (John Inverdale)
This marvellous book will delight anyone who has ever shrieked or howled in response to something they heard on Sports Report, and that, surely, must be everybody. (Mark Steel, comedian)
Sports Report has run longer than Les Miserables and The Lion King put together. Patrick Murphy is the show’s perfect leading performer to tell its story from opening night in 1948 through the turbulent, exciting three-quarters of a century that followed, both on the fields of play and in the studio. (Sir Tim Rice)
An emotional, revealing opus to mark 75 years of the show. (Henry Winter)
A definitive history
A labour of love (Adrian Chiles)
A lovingly curated, profoundly researched book about the history of the show.
Pat Murphy does it proud... he skilfully weaves tales of the programme’s beginnings, the challenges it has faced over the years and the big stories that have been covered.
It brings home the enormously long cast list of distinguished people who have reported or worked on the programme… Sports Report is a great institution and Pat’s book does justice to it. (Lord King, former Governor of the Bank of England and Aston Villa supporter)
An absolute joy of a book. A better Christmas present I cannot possible fathom (Graeme Swann)
Of great interest to anyone wanting to gain an insight into how programmes are produced… a worthy addition to the books published recently commemorating the 100th anniversary of the BBC
Beautifully written. It brought back great memories of all my old friends at the best time of my life. (Des Lynam)
All stars
Most relevant
When I saw that Pat Murphy was reading his book it became a must-listen. The book is beautifully written, in remarkable depth and detail and Pat’s voice and intonation are a joy. A labour of love about a great sporting institution. A classic indeed.

A classic

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very interesting story for anyone who's listened to sports report rip to eamonn Andrews and jonesy

very interesting listen

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Pat Murphy is such a familiar voice I enjoyed him telling the whole story of BBC Sports Report. The sporting highlights are almost all strong personal memories but the back story of the creation of the programme was all new information. The history and chronology of presenters and reporters fleshed out the men ( and it was almost all me) we heard all those years. The high points were easy for Pat to describe but his extra emphasis on the low points were the compelling sections for me, The failure to properly cover the Ibrox disaster must have been a let’s not get that wrong again moment because of the highly professional way the team covered the moments when the sport stopped and something unpredictable happened for example when the horror took over at Hillsborough. Pat’s own up and down relationship with Brian Clough was fascinating. Not shying away from the reveal and fall of Stuart Hall was something I was waiting for and it was handled in just enough detail. The audiobook ends with bard of Barnsley, Ian McMillan voicing his own poem about the programme, a fine conclusion

It’s a replay of my life

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Really enjoyed listening Pat Murphy had a real insight into the subject. A history of sport over the last 75 years.

Fascinating listen

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Learned some amazing facts about everyone’s favourite sports radio show. Who would have knew the first woman to report on a football game would be a Sunderland fan seeing them lose 5-1 at Stamford Bridge

Some great stuff

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