After Dinner Speakers: Harry Carpenter, Carla Lane, Prefab Sprout

Harry Carpenter has been the undisputed voice of boxing for the best part of 50 years. Harry originally joined the BBC in 1949 and delivered his first boxing commentary in the same year. He mixed working for the BBC, the Greyhound Express and the Daily Mail before switching to television full time in 1962. Harry presented the midweek sports magazine Sportsnight and also worked on BBC radio throughout his career. His strong presentational style and his ability to laugh at his own mistakes helped endure him to the British public. For much of the 1970s and '80s he co-hosted the Sports Personality of the Year, having first contributed to the programme in 1958. He, perhaps, became best known for his magnetic double act with Frank Bruno, but he also enjoyed a notable relationship with the boxing great Mohammad Ali