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World of Sport

 World of Sport
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 TVTItem
 World of Sport
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 World of Sport
 World of Sport
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 WorldOfSport
 World of Sport
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 A long-running British sports anthology show on ITV which aired between 1965 and 1985, in competition with Grandstand on The BBC - both shows running for several hours on Saturday afternoons. Under normal circumstances it started at twelve-fifteen in the afternoon, but if there was a significant sporting event such as the FA Cup Final or the Grand National, coverage might start as early as ten in the morning, so as to capitalise on the build-up and escalating excitement of the day.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })The actual content of the show, which was presented for most of its run by Dickie Davies, varied with the seasons but invariably managed to incorporate football, horse racing, darts and rugby league (The BBC had sole rights to rugby union and cricket). Also, it usually found the time and space to feature minority sports that did not usually see prime-time television - among them stock-car racing, water-skiing and quite a few women's sports in addition to novelty events like the World Barrel Jumping Championship. Sometimes, footage from its American equivalent, ABC's Wide World of Sports, would be used.One thing did not vary, and became a British TV institution: at four o'clock on a Saturday, every Saturday, the show would go live to whichever venue was hosting the event, and the cultured tones of Kent Walton would welcome the viewers with "Good afternoon, grapple fans!" Yes, the wrestling - shown between the half-time football scores and the final results - was very popular note a common joke at the time was that the BBC had gone through a list of sports it wanted for Grandstand alphabetically, and had run out of space and money by the time they got to wrestling, hence why it was shown on ITV instead.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })After World of Sport ended, wrestling continued to be televised on ITV for three more years; although it got high viewing figures and was said to be one of Queen Elizabeth II's favourite shows, it was cancelled by ITV's then Head of Sport, Greg Dyke, who thought it was "too working-class" note  Greg Dyke is one of the very few big names in British TV who never received any form of royal-bestowed honour, and remains a mere "mister"; in addition to presumably pissing Her Majesty off by cancelling the wrestling, the fact that he was later forced to resign as Director-General of the BBC following the Hutton Report (which strongly criticised the Beeb for its reporting in the run-up to the Iraq War) goes some way to explaining this. On the Ball, the half-hour lunchtime football round-up section, was succeeded by Saint and Greavsie, a similar standalone show named for its presenters, ex-professionals Ian St John and Jimmy Greaves; it ran until 1992 when the Premier League was created and Sky Sports won the right to broadcast it.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_3'); })Good afternoon, troping fans!
 World of Sport
fetched
 2023-02-06T14:13:04Z
 World of Sport
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 2023-02-06T14:13:04Z
 World of Sport
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 DBTropes
 World of Sport / int_name
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 World of Sport / int_name
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 World of Sport / int_name
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 1.0
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 World of Sport
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 World of Sport / int_name
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 World of Sport

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 World of Sport
hasFeature
 Series of the 1970s / int_8c950a92