After Dinner Speakers: John Motson, Jay Leno, Bridget Fonda

John Motson is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable football commentators in the world. His ability to remember facts, figures and features of games going back many years, is legendary. John Motson, the son of a Methodist minister who first stimulated his interest in football, has been a front line commentator with BBC Television for over 25 years. After an apprenticeship on the Barnet Press weekly newspaper, starting at the age of 18, John moved to the Morning Telegraph in Sheffield where he first covered league football. A short freelance spell with BBC Radio Sheffield was followed by a move to network radio in 1968, where on Radio 2 (then BBC Radio’s main sports station) he became known as a presenter of sports programmes as well as a commentator on football, tennis and boxing. It was when Kenneth Wolstenholme left BBC Television in 1971 that 26-year-old John was taken on as a junior member of the Match of the Day team. His contributions to Match of the Day, Grandstand and Sportsnight have been regular and varied in the quarter of a century since. Between 1979 and 1994, John was the BBC’s voice on 29 consecutive major cup finals - FA Cup, World Cup and European Championships. He completed his 30th assignment at this level with the final of Euro ‘96 and recently covered his 100th England match. Altogether, John has covered over 1,500 matches at the microphone for the BBC. He has also researched and narrated over 30 football videos and written four books, including "Motty’s Diary - A Year in the Life of a Commentator", which was published in August 1996. John received his OBE in June 2001. Away from football his interests are running half marathons, going to the cinema and reading thrillers.