Helen Rollason

Helen Frances Rollason (11 March 1956 – 9 August 1999) was a British sports journalist and television presenter, who in 1990 became the first female presenter of the BBC's sports programme Grandstand.

Helen Grindley was born in London on 11 March 1956, and adopted at the age of nine months.

Raised in a family where she was the second of three children, she spent her childhood in Northamptonshire and Bath.

Her father was an engineer who later became a lecturer at Bath College, and her mother a biology teacher.

She attended the Bath High School for Girls, and after developing an early interest in sport, was a member of Bath Athletics Club, as well as playing hockey for Somerset.

Although she was keen to follow a career in broadcasting, careers advisors at school steered her towards teaching instead.

After leaving school she studied at the University of Brighton's Chelsea College of Physical Education in Eastbourne, where she became Vice-President of the Students Union.

During her second year at the college she spent a term as an exchange student at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

She graduated in 1977.

After completing her studies she became a PE teacher, and spent three years teaching the subject to secondary school students.

She worked initially at Henry Beaufort School in Winchester, Hampshire, before moving to Essex, where she was a supply teacher.

It was while she was teaching PE that she met her future husband, a fellow teacher named John Rollason.

She was also a regular presenter of Sport on Friday, and of the children's programme Newsround during the 1980s.

Born in London, Rollason studied to become a PE teacher before entering radio broadcasting in 1980.

The couple married in 1980, a daughter, Nikki, was born in 1983.

In 1980, she took a holiday job as a volunteer presenter at Basildon Community Radio after seeing an advertisement in Basildon town centre and offering her services to them.

A year later she joined the team of Essex Radio as a sports reporter when the commercial station began to broadcast.

She was subsequently appointed as the station's deputy sports editor.

Three years later, she became a producer-director for Cheerleader Productions, making sports content for Channel 4.

During the mid-1980s, she also joined the presenting team of the BBC children's news programme, Newsround, with a view to increasing its sports coverage, and presented several features on topics such as gymnastics and female jockeys, as well as presenting Newsround Extra, a show that covered a specific issue in more detail.

One such programme was a report on the street children of Bogotá, a subject that deeply moved her and reduced her to tears on screen.

Among the events for which she helped to provide coverage were the final of the 1984 Davis Cup, held in Sweden, and Super Bowl XIX, which took place in 1985.

Additionally, she worked on the US Masters and US Open.

After just over a year with Cheerleader, Rollason left the company to concentrate on her broadcasting career, and became a freelance reporter.

After directing sport related content for Channel 4, where she helped to bring American football to British television, she anchored coverage of the 1987 World Student Games and 1988 Summer Olympics for ITV.

She covered the 1987 World Student Games from Zagreb for Thames Television, and then presented the 1988 World Junior Athletics championships from Sudbury, Ontario for Channel 4.

Later, in 1988, she provided coverage of that year's Summer Olympics, held in Seoul, for ITV.

Her work on Grandstand proved popular with viewers, and led to a number of other sports presenting roles for Rollason throughout the 1990s.

In 1990, Rollason joined BBC Sport and became the first female presenter of Grandstand, where her down-to-earth presenting style quickly made her popular with viewers, and earned her a regular presenting role on BBC Two's Sport on Friday, as well as a raft of other sporting programmes.

The couple divorced in 1991.

Rollason continued to aspire to a career in broadcasting, and while still teaching did screen tests for BBC Wales and BBC South, but she was unsuccessful in both auditions.

Among her credits with the BBC are coverage of the Wimbledon Championships, the 1992 Summer Olympics from Barcelona and 1996 Summer Olympics from Atlanta, together with the 1994 Commonwealth Games, which were held in Victoria, British Columbia.

As well as covering mainstream events such as the 1996 Summer Olympics, she became a champion of disability sports, helping to raise its profile and change its public and media perception.

She presented sports bulletins for BBC Breakfast News and BBC News, and in 1996 was named as Sports Presenter of the Year.

Rollason was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1997, and fought a two-year battle with the disease.

A 1998 documentary, Hope for Helen, followed her treatment, and won her much public support for her courage.

She continued to work throughout her illness, and shortly before her death was awarded an MBE in the 1999 Birthday Honours.

Later that year, the BBC established an award in her memory which is presented at the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony.

A cancer charity was also founded in her name.

Rollason's television career also helped to open up the way for other women to enter the world of sports broadcasting, with presenters such as Sue Barker and Gabby Logan following in her footsteps.