John Anderson was born in
Glasgow, Scotland, on 28 November 1931. Anderson had a successful career long before his athletics and TV fame. Plaudits included representing Scotland as a schoolboy footballer, becoming the first home Scot to gain the prestigious Full FA Coaching Certificate (then only four were awarded per year), being one of only two confirmed recipients (along with
Wilf Paish) of every British Senior Coaching award available, and founding Maryhill Ladies AC in Glasgow. Anderson coached Commonwealth Games champion and former World Record Holder
David Moorcroft from 1966. It was a coach-athlete relationship which would lead to a world record for 5000m in 1982 and even a vets world record for the mile of 4:02 a decade later, in 1993. Anderson also coached three-time Olympic heptathlete
Judy Simpson (known as Nightshade on Gladiators); double Olympian
Sheila Carey; marathoner
John Graham; 1988 Olympic 10,000m silver medallist
Liz McColgan; middle-distance runner
Lynne MacDougall; 1972 Olympic 4×400m silver medallist
David Jenkins, and sprint hurdler
David Wilson. Anderson was the head official on the sports game show
Gladiators from 1992 to 2000. Before every event he called: "Contender ready! Gladiator ready!" followed by "Three! Two! One!" before starting the game by blowing his whistle. In 2008, Anderson briefly reprised his role as referee on the newly revived
Gladiators before leaving due to his retirement from TV refereeing, and being replaced by John Coyle after just one series. The series was subsequently not renewed any further. Following
Gladiators, Anderson occasionally appeared in cameo roles as a referee, including guest appearances on two episodes of 2016's
Top Gear with
Chris Evans and
Matt LeBlanc, and as an ident-voiceover for Sky's
Challenge TV. After his television career in the 1990s, Anderson went on to become a mentor and coach for a number of international athletes, including Great British athlete
William Sharman, whom he helped transform from a decathlete to a world-class sprint hurdler, and continued to coach on a small scale. Anderson died on 28 July 2024, at the age of 92 of
old age. ==References==