 For more than one generation of football lovers, Brian Moore was ITV's 'voice
of football'. From 1968 until his retirement after the World Cup final in 1998,
he was the bastion of the channel's football coverage both as commentator and
presenter.
Brian Baden Moore was born in rural Benenden, Kent, in 1932. After national
service with the RAF, he decided to follow his heart into sports journalism, and
in 1954 got his first proper job, as a sub-editor with World Sports magazine. He
moved to the Exchange Telegraph news agency in 1956, before joining The Times in
1958. In 1961, he joined BBC Radio as a sports commentator, initially doing
short regional reports, but soon becoming a national presenter. He was BBC
Radio's commentator for that unforgettable 1966 World Cup final between England
and Germany.
He had already begun to do some television work for the BBC when he was
approached by Jimmy Hill to join the soon-to-launch LWT. He jumped ship in 1968
and remained at ITV for the rest of his career, presenting and commentating for
The Big Match (1968-88), its successor, The Match (1988-97), and On The Ball (World of Sport, 1965-85), as well as
covering every World Cup until his retirement from ITV after the finals in
France '98. He also presented ITV's answer to BBC's Sportsnight (1968-97),
Mid-Week Sports Special (1978-1991), from the
late '70s until 1986, and between 1979 and 1982 presented a series of in-depth
documentaries under the title Brian Moore Meets..., in which he profiled famous
sports personalities of the day. Although officially retired, in the 1990s he
kept himself busy, with work for Radio 5 Live and a series of programmes on
football greats for Sky.
In a sad coincidence, he passed away on the day of England's 5-1 victory over
Germany in a World Cup qualifier on 1st September 2001.
Gosta Johansson
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FILM & TV CREDITS
