John Inverdale

John Inverdale (born 27 September 1957) is an English broadcaster who works for both the BBC and ITV.

During his radio career, he has presented coverage of many major sporting events including the Olympic Games, Wimbledon, the Grand National and the FIFA World Cup.

Inverdale was educated at Clifton College in Bristol and at the University of Southampton, graduating with a history degree in 1979.

He was the editor of the student newspaper Wessex News (now Wessex Scene) and captained the university's tennis team for two years.

After gaining a post-graduate journalism qualification at University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, he began his career with two years at the Lincolnshire Echo, and then joined BBC Radio Lincolnshire in 1982.

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.

On 25 November 1993, Inverdale took over as presenter of Radio 5's drivetime show and he continued to host the same slot when Radio 5 Live replaced Radio 5 the following March, and the show was renamed from John Inverdale's Drive-In to John Inverdale Nationwide.

He presented the programme until 1997, for which he was named Sony Broadcaster of the Year in 1997.

At 5 Live, he hosted the topical show, Any Sporting Questions, a variation on Radio 4's Any Questions, and similarly toured the UK each week.

He hosted BBC One's sports chat show, On Side between 1997 and 2001.

He presents the BBC's World Cup and Olympic Rowing coverage alongside Sir Steve Redgrave.

From 2000 to 2014 he presented Today at Wimbledon, BBC Two's nightly tennis highlights, until the format changed in 2015.

He became the BBC's main Rugby Union anchor in the 2006 Six Nations Championships following the departure of Steve Rider to ITV Sport.

In 2008 he broadcast for 5 Live from the Olympic Games in China.

Along with Sir Steve Redgrave he appeared at Shunyi Rowing Lake for the Olympics in Beijing.

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.

He has hosted the station's coverage of BBC Sports Personality of the Year and occasionally guest presented on Radio 2.

In October 2012, he filmed several episodes of Channel 4 show Countdown.

Inverdale has hosted ITV's live French Open coverage from Roland Garros since 2012.

Since 2013, Inverdale has been embroiled in several broadcasting controversies, which have prompted criticism as well as articles written in his defence.

Inverdale was born in Plymouth, Devon, the son of a Royal Navy dental surgeon, Captain John Inverdale, who played rugby union for Devonport Services.

This was mainly due to the 2013 Marion Bartoli controversy which led the BBC to drop Inverdale from the show.

However, the new version Wimbledon 2Day hosted by Clare Balding was ridiculed by the public.

Such was the unpopularity of Wimbledon 2Day, a Twitter campaign called "bring back John Inverdale" attracted thousands of supporters, with Inverdale claiming that he had "never been so popular."

On 6 July 2013, the day of the Wimbledon Ladies Final, during a pre-match discussion on 5 Live with commentator Lindsay Davenport, Inverdale said of finalist and eventual winner Marion Bartoli: "I just wonder if her dad, because he has obviously been the most influential person in her life, I just wonder if her dad did say to her when she was 12, 13, 14 maybe, 'Listen, you are never going to be, you know, a looker. You are never going to be somebody like a Sharapova, you're never going to be 5ft 11, you're never going to be somebody with long legs, so you have to compensate for that. You are going to have to be the most dogged, determined fighter that anyone has ever seen on the tennis court if you are going to make it', and she kind of is."

Inverdale's words prompted criticism on Twitter and other social media, with some alleging they had complained of his "sexist and patronising" view of women's tennis in the past.

Bartoli was yet to hear a recording of the incident when asked about it at a press conference the following day.

She responded: "It doesn't matter, honestly. I am not blonde, yes. That is a fact. Have I dreamt about having a model contract? No. I'm sorry. But have I dreamed about winning Wimbledon? Absolutely, yes. And to share this moment with my dad was absolutely amazing and I am so proud of it."

He was the main television presenter of Today at Wimbledon until 2014 and has hosted television coverage of sports programmes including Rugby Special and Grandstand.

He has presented ITV's coverage of the Rugby World Cup and the French Open.

He led ITV's Rugby World Cup coverage in 2015.

The unpopular highlights show was ditched in 2016 and rebranded its original title, Today at Wimbledon.

Inverdale is now a member of the main commentary team.

He appeared as himself in five episodes of 2016 BBC Three comedy Witless as the presenter of 'Witpro', a spoof video series about witness protection.

Inverdale stepped down from anchoring the BBC's rugby coverage in March 2021.

Owing to his involvement in multiple broadcasting controversies, Inverdale has been dubbed as "gaffe-prone".

Inverdale left 5 Live in March 2019.

In 2019, Inverdale provided radio commentary to Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup matches via the official audio commentary available through the TuneIn radio platform.

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.

Inverdale has also worked regularly for BBC Television.