A Question of Sport - Presenters and Team Members

Presenters and Team Members

The show was hosted by Stuart Hall in its regional format from 1968 to 1969, then nationally by David Vine from 1970 to 1978, and then from 1979 until 1997 was anchored by veteran BBC sports commentator David Coleman, although Vine returned for part of one series in 1989 when illness forced Coleman to temporarily stand down from hosting duties. Coleman was also unavailable for two shows in 1996, so one of the team captains, Bill Beaumont, sat in as host (the only team captain ever to host the programme), while the rugby star Will Carling took Beaumont's place as captain and in Coleman's final series as host, ex-tennis star Sue Barker stood-in for a couple of shows including one at Christmas, a role that she continued after Coleman's retirement.

Many team captains have enjoyed stints on the show down the years, including:

Over the years there have been several guest captains standing in for one of the regulars when they have other commitments. Following Ally McCoist's departure, several guests, including Phil Tufnell, sat in the captain's chair before Tuffers was eventually selected as McCoist's permanent replacement:

• Bobby Moore, Football (1974)
• Bobby Charlton, Football (1974–75)
• John Barnes, Footballer (1992)
• Roger Black, Athlete (1992)
• John Parrott, Snooker (1992)
• Ally McCoist, Footballer (1996)
• Will Carling, Rugby Union (1996)
• Rob Wainwright, Rugby Union (1997)
• David Ginola, Football (2000)
• Matthew Pinsent, Rower (2003)
• Neil Ruddock, Footballer (2004)
• Michael Owen, Footballer (2004)
• David Seaman, Footballer (2004)
• Jamie Redknapp, Footballer (2007)
• Shane Warne, Cricketer (2007)
• Darren Gough, Cricketer (2007)
• Phil Tufnell, Cricketer (2007)
• Ricky Hatton, Boxer (2007)
• Dennis Taylor, Snooker Player (2008)
• Gary Speed, Footballer (2008)

Of these, Cooper, Charlton, Moore, Hughes, Beaumont, Carson, Botham, Parrott, McCoist, Dettori, Owen, Speed and Dawson were still active participants in their sport while appearing in the show. The others had retired.

Sports stars often say they know they have 'made it' when they are invited to appear on A Question Of Sport. The sports personality with most guest appearances is Steve Davis, who has appeared 18 times.

There was also embarrassment for the show's hostess, Sue Barker, many years before she took on the role of the show's presenter. When she appeared as the Mystery Guest, captain Willie Carson incorrectly guessed that she was boxing champion Alan Minter, while the opposing captain, Bill Beaumont, thought she was footballer Ray Clemence. In 1987, Princess Anne appeared as a guest on Emlyn Hughes' team, just weeks after the ex-footballer had embarrassed himself by claiming a photo of her on a horse was jockey John Reid. The show achieved A Question of Sport's highest ever ratings of approximately 19 million viewers. It was the first time a member of the royal family had appeared on a television quiz show. Anne's daughter Zara Phillips also appeared on the show twice in 2006, the latter for a Sport Relief edition.

However Hughes' embarrassment would not be as bad as Ally McCoist or Shane Warne in 2007. During the part of the show called Mystery Guest (see Quiz Format), it was McCoist's turn and he failed to realise it was his own boss at Rangers, Walter Smith, who was disguised. Also, in the 700th edition of the show, a compilation of Mystery Guests was shown as a special round. Here McCoist also failed to recognise himself as a showjumper from a clip some years previous. As for Warne, when the opposing team incorrectly guessed Venus Williams as the sports star shown, the answer was obviously Serena Williams but Warne thought differently and thought it was Roger Federer, despite the two having different skin tone and being of a different gender. Another embarrassing moment for a team captain happened in 2003, when during the Home or Away round where the captains had to guess an anagram, and Frankie Dettori could not recognize his name.