Garry Richardson

Garry Richardson began his broadcasting career with BBC Radio Oxford. He had previously been a youth player at Reading and Southampton football clubs but quickly realised that he was unlikely to become a professional footballer. Richardson gave his first sports report on national radio in 1981 as a 'cub' reporter, introduced by Today's co-presenter Brian Redhead for the match between Nottingham Forest and Manchester United. For 20 years Richardson presented the highly successful Sunday morning sports programme Sportsweek on BBC Radio 5 Live BBC podcasts. He was known for presenting the show with a direct and persistent interview style. He has stated that he believes in asking the same question three times if he has not received a response, a style also favoured by fellow journalists Jeremy Paxman and John Humphrys. The show was nominated in the same category in the 2009 awards but lost out to 5 Live's coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics (Olympic Breakfast (gold) and Olympic Sportsworld (bronze)) and also The Football Forum (silver). He began presenting a sports sketch and interview show, Look Away Now, for BBC Radio 4 in 2007 spoofing his own style. In March 2017, Richardson, ended a Today interview with cricketer James Anderson by saying that "[Anderson] was speaking to us in conjunction with Brut aftershave, who he is an ambassador for", which prompted the BBC to apologise for its promotion of the product against editorial guidelines. ==Famous interviews==

Richardson has interviewed a variety of personalities from the world of sport and politics. He has conducted interviews with former South African president Nelson Mandela and Hansie Cronje, the South African cricket captain. During a rain delay at Wimbledon, Richardson got a note through to former President of the United States Bill Clinton and persuaded him to give an impromptu interview in the Royal Box, with a crowd of 18,000 watching. In 2002, he irritated tennis player Anna Kournikova, who requested the interview be restarted when he cast aspersions on her confidence level after losing at Wimbledon. ==Public speaking==

Richardson is also a public or after-dinner speaker, an activity he has performed for 23 years. He regularly introduces anecdotes into his speech from interviews that he has conducted. ==Personal life==

Richardson is a supporter of Oxford United FC from his previous reporting days on BBC Radio Oxford. Richardson can regularly be seen in the stands of local side Woking FC. ==Programmes==

• Today • Sportsweek • Look Away Now ==References==