Steve Rider
Rider in 2017
Born (1950-04-28) 28 April 1950
Dartford, Kent, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationBroadcaster
Years active1980–present
Employer(s)ITV (1980–85; 2006–present)
BBC (1985–2005)
BSkyB (2012–2014)
Spouse
Jane Eydmann
​
(m. 1985)​
Children2

Stephen Rider (born 28 April 1950) is an English sports presenter. Between 1985 and 2005, Rider presented a variety of BBC Sport programmes including Sportsnight, Rally Report and the flagship show Grandstand.[1] He was the anchorman of ITV's football coverage between 2006 and April 2010, and anchored ITV's Formula One coverage from 2006 to 2008. He was the lead presenter for ITV's coverage of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. He has been ITV's main presenter for the British Touring Car Championship since 2009.

Early life, education and early career

Born in Dartford, Kent, Rider attended the John Roan Boys' Grammar School on Maze Hill in Blackheath. He began his career working for a newspaper in south-east London, the South East London Mercury, followed by writing for sports news agency Hayters.[2][3][4] Early in his career he was a sports reporter for LBC and also covered motor racing for Anglia Television who he joined full time in 1977.[5][4][6] It was also at Anglia where he first cut his teeth as a football presenter, when in 1979 he became the presenter for Anglia's local ITV football highlights show 'Match of the Week'. He hosted the programme from the 1979-80 season until the end of weekly regional Football highlights on ITV at the end of the 1982-83 season. Later he became Head of Sport on the regional news programme About Anglia.[7] He lived near Halesworth in Suffolk.[5]

Career

ITV

Rider got his big break reporting from the 1980 Summer Olympics for ITV, after the regional companies could not decide who of their senior reporters should to go to Moscow, instead selecting a relative unknown from Anglia TV.[2][4] He worked for both ITV Sport and ITN for several years providing reports for and anchoring the World of Sport programme and presenting for ITV's coverage of the 1982 World Cup.[8][9] While anchoring World of Sport he was reprimanded for making a flippant remark about a wrestler, who had broken his collarbone, for not reading the script properly.[10] He was also a presenter for some of the golf coverage on Channel 4 and presented some live European football for ITV.[5][11] In addition, he read the sports news section in ITN's Saturday late bulletins.

BBC

Rider joined BBC Sport in July 1985, taking over from Harry Carpenter on the network's Sportsnight programme, which he presented for six years.[2][3] He became a familiar face on British television, presenting shows such as the flagship Grandstand, BBC Sports Personality of the Year and most of the BBC's motorsports, rugby and golf coverage.[12][13][14] Rider, along with Murray Walker and Tiff Needell, convinced the BBC to show regular coverage of the British Touring Car Championship and the British Formula 3 Championship on Grandstand.[15][16] Rider was anchoring BBC's Formula 1 coverage when Ayrton Senna lost his life at Imola, where he described Senna's condition just after the accident as grave.[17]

He also anchored the channel's coverage of the University Boat Race until 2005,[18] and every Olympic Games between 1988 and 2004. In 1996 ITV attempted to recruit Rider, when it was announced that Formula One coverage would move from the BBC to ITV. However, he chose to remain with the BBC and the ITV F1 frontman role was handed to Jim Rosenthal.[19] In addition to sport, Rider also presented BBC's coverage of the London International Boat Show.[11] His last assignment for the corporation came at the World Rowing Championships in Japan in the autumn of 2005. He was succeeded by Gary Lineker and Hazel Irvine in golf, John Inverdale for the rowing and rugby union and Clare Balding for rugby league.

In 2006 Rider said of the rumoured cancellation of Grandstand,

It was always felt to be a fundamental gesture about (BBC) commitment to sport if Grandstand were to be abolished[14]

Rider was also critical of the BBC's selection of Gary Lineker for presenting Golf,

For four years, the R&A and most other observers knew that Gary was the wrong man for the job. Golf presentation especially at Augusta, is seat of the pants, unpredictable and demanding[18]

Return to ITV

In September 2005 it was reported that ITV had secured Rider's services and he would replace Jim Rosenthal from 2006 onwards to present coverage of Formula One. He later said that a factor in his decision to move network was the BBC's unwillingness to agree his long-term future. He told The Times,

I went...to the BBC and said Look, you know me as a presenter, you know the way I work, the way I want to work, I want to make a long-term commitment to encompass 2012. They did not feel able to do that and it was easy to make a decision [about my future] from that point on.[3]

In March 2006 Rider made his coverage debut on ITV, appearing on a Formula One preview show for the new season. Later that year he was chosen over Gabby Logan to be the main presenter of ITV's coverage of the 2006 World Cup.[20]

ITV's early withdrawal from its F1 contract was announced on 24 November 2008, handing the coverage back to the BBC. Rider commented of the contract cancellation,

But the explanation when it came was cold and brutal. At ITV, overall advertising revenue had taken a dive as the recession drew closer, and in terms of sports rights, the company had to prioritise its targets. [..] In order to pay for the [Champions League football] bid, something had to go. Formula One.[13]

Rider would not be offered a contract to return to BBC in 2009. The anchorman duties on BBC Sport were given to Jake Humphrey.[21]

Rider started to present coverage of the British Touring Car Championship in 2009, which he continues to do so.[22] Rider said of the BTCC in 2012,

The viewers not only have a wide variety of car to look forward to but also, in 2012, the increased spectacle that the latest Next Generation Touring Car regulations will bring with turbocharged engines and flaming exhausts,” he said. “In some ways it's taking an element of the iconic RS500 days with their turbos and performance in the early Nineties – an era which people still recall with great affection – and adding it to the modern-day BTCC with its many great different makes and models of car.[23]

With Adrian Chiles's arrival as the channel's main football anchor in May 2010, it was announced that Rider was leaving ITV.[24][25] His last presenting role as the football anchor on ITV was the 2010 Champions League semi-final between Lyon and Bayern Munich. However, he returned as the main presenter of ITV's coverage of the Rugby World Cup 2011.[22]

Sky

In December 2011, it was announced that Rider had joined Sky Sports to present F1 Legends for Sky Sports F1; the channel debuted in March 2012.[26]

Autobiography & Books

In 2003 he wrote the official BBC book, BBC Sport Personality of the Year, a 50 year history of the awards programme.[27] Rider further released his 2006 book Europe at the Masters, which was an insight into European success at the Major event.[28] During 2012, Rider released his autobiography My Chequered Career: Thirty-five years of televising motorsport.[29]

Racing Past Media

Rider set up Racing Past Media, and in 2022 agreed a deal with ITV to organise and make available significant volume of F1 coverage from the first 30 years of the sport.[30][22]

Autosport Awards

Rider was the main host of the Autosport Awards for 28 years, finally stepping down in 1997.[31]

Broadcasting style

On his style, he has said

[I'm not] that bothered about the environment that should surround a presenter at the beginning of a programme, of the "if we get you in this location it will look as though you are close to the action" sort of thing. That is meaningless for an audience, it is just a macho thing for a production team. We used to have these discussions: wouldn't it look great if you were standing by the 18th green as Nick Faldo putted out and you would say "No, that would get in the way of everybody's enjoyment of the event".[3]

Golfer Colin Montgomery admitted that he walked out of an interview with Rider, as Rider was eating a Garibaldi biscuit.[32]

Punch magazine said of Rider on Grandstand in 1985: Young Steve Rider is as scrubbed and gleaming as a Colgate ad.[33] In the 2000 list of most TV seen on television by the industry publication Broadcast, Rider came in at number 14 and was described as TV's Mister Charisma.[34] At the 2006 Royal Television Society Television Sports Awards, Grandstand won the Judges Awards with Steve Rider called Mr Calm.[35] In 2007, The Telegraph said Rider’s presenting style had the unflustered air of a man opening his morning paper.[36]

However Rider has been criticised by others, with Charlie Brooker calling him "the blandest of the lot".[34]

Bloopers

Rider said his biggest blooper was at the 1988 Olympics where he said,

Welcome to Olympic Breakfast. The big news of the morning is that Ben Johnson's urine sample tasted positive[10]

Rider’s other bloopers have included:

If you don't want to know the result, look away now as we show you Tony Adams lifting the cup for Arsenal[37]

Ballesteros felt much better today after a 69[38]

Awards

Rider has twice won the Royal Television Society's 'Sports Presenter of the Year' award, in 1994 and 1996, as well as being nominated on numerous occasions.[39][40][41][42][43][44] At the 2004 RTS Sports Television Awards, the BBC coverage of the Coxless Fours at the Athens Olympics was awarded Sports Programme of the Year which described as having superb contributions from Steve Rider and Sir Steve Redgrave in particular.[45] He won a BAFTA TV award for ITVs coverage of the 2008 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix.[46]

Steve Rider's hair

Rider's hair has been a point of amusement and ridicule over the years from The Times and the New Spectator, who questioned if it was a toupee.[47][48][49]

Personal life

Rider married Jane Eydmann in November 1985 in Camden. The couple have two children, a son and daughter. The family live in Maidenhead, and have a second home in East Portlemouth, Devon. Rider had objected to the building of affordable housing within East Portlemouth, where property prices had soared due to wealthy second home owners, leaving local people unable to afford to live within their own communities. The objections were quashed by South Hams council.[50]

In 2007, a birthday party held by Rider for his son Jack at Wycombe Air Park was disturbed when a canister of CS gas was set off.[51]

Rider supports Charlton Athletic.[2]

In October 1985, Rider navigated for Pentti Airikkala at the final round of the Audi Sport National Rally, where they finished top of Class 4 in an Vauxhall Astra GTE.[52] He had previously navigated for Harry Hockley in a Vauxhall Nova in the previous years rally.

In October 2023, Rider revealed on BBC Breakfast that he was receiving treatment for prostate cancer.[53]

Charity interests

Rider is patron of the South Buckinghamshire charity Headway South Bucks, which raises money for people with head injuries,[54] and also of children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent.[55] He is also Vice-President of United Response, a national charity that supports people with learning disabilities, physical and mental health needs.[56]

Rider has also become the patron of Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB), a charity dedicated to reuniting children who have been separated from their families.[57] Since 2008 Rider has been the patron of Exeter Leukaemia Fund. In addition, Rider is Vice-President of the DEBRA Golf Society,[58] which raises funds for individuals and families affected by epidermolysis bullosa (EB) – a painful genetic skin blistering condition which, in the worst cases, can be fatal.

Rider has run the London Marathon on numerous occasions for charity, including Action Research and the Seve Ballesteros Foundation.[59][60][61]

References

  1. ↑ "Rally Report (partially lost BBC Two television series; 1984-2001)". lostmediawiki.com. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Steve Rider: Presenter profile" BBC Sport – Grandstand, 3 July 2000; Retrieved 2 April 2006
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Rider opts for some driver practice" The Times, 4 March 2006; Retrieved 2 April 2006
  4. 1 2 3 "Interview with Steve Rider". The Oxford Student. 16 June 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 "Veteran broadcaster back where it all began". ITV. 25 October 2012.
  6. ↑ "Short Tennis for Children". British Film Institute Player. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  7. ↑ "Match of the Week star in comeback". Eastern Daily Newspaper. 19 October 2006.
  8. ↑ "England on Television 1980-1985". England Football Online. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  9. ↑ "Rider set for return to ITV after 20 years at the BBC". The Guardian. 23 September 2005.
  10. 1 2 "Small Talk: Steve Rider". The Guardian. 12 December 2003.
  11. 1 2 "Steve Rider Filmography". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  12. ↑ "End Of An Era As BBC Set To Finally Give Up Masters Coverage". Golf Monthly. 25 January 2023.
  13. 1 2 "Motorsport Broadcasting". Motorsport Broadcasting.com. January 2023.
  14. 1 2 "Grandstand RIP". Sports Journalists Association. 28 January 2007.
  15. ↑ Hamilton. M (2021). Murray Walker: Incredible! A Tribute to a Formula 1 Legend. Random House. ISBN 9781473598294.
  16. ↑ Senna versus Brundle. Autosport. 26 February 2016. Page 30
  17. ↑ "Motorsport memories: 25 years since we lost Ayrton Senna". Classic & Sportscar. 30 April 2019.
  18. 1 2 "Steve Rider and Gary Lineker squabble an Open and shut case for the BBC". The Irish Times. 25 July 2015.
  19. ↑ "When Murray Walker joined ITV's F1 team: Exclusive book extract". Motorsport. October 2021.
  20. ↑ "Rider relegates Logan to Uefa Cup". The Guardian. 7 September 2006.
  21. ↑ "Coulthard, Jordan & Brundle join BBC". BBC Sport. 24 November 2008. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
  22. 1 2 3 "Steve Rider exclusive: 'The BBC is soul-destroying - their HQ doesn't even have a bar'". The Telegraph. 18 May 2022.
  23. ↑ "Steve Rider, Louise Goodman Complete ITV Sport BTCC Team". The Checkered Flag. 9 March 2012.
  24. ↑ "Sports presenter Steve Rider leaves ITV". BBC. 13 May 2010.
  25. ↑ "Steve Rider quits ITV Sport". The Guardian. 12 May 2010.
  26. ↑ "Sky Sports unveil Formula One team fronted by Martin Brundle, Georgie Thompson and Steve Rider". The Telegraph. 7 December 2011.
  27. ↑ Rider.S (2003). BBC Sport Personality of the Year. BBC Worldwide. ISBN 9780563487470.
  28. ↑ Rider. S (2006). Europe at the Masters. History Press Limited. ISBN 9780750942546.
  29. ↑ My Chequered Career: Thirty-five years of televising motorsport. Rider.S. 2012. ISBN 978-0857332738
  30. ↑ "F1 historic footage set for "much wider audience" with new TV deal". GP Fans. 18 January 2023.
  31. ↑ "Autosport Awards to feature all-new presenters and format". Motorsport.com. 24 November 2017.
  32. ↑ Tyers, Alan; Beach (2013). Tutenkhamen's Tracksuit. The History Of Sport In 100ish Objects. A&C Black. p. 143. ISBN 9781408842782.
  33. ↑ "Saturday Sport". Punch. 1985. p. 34.
  34. 1 2 Brooker.C (2009). Charlie Brooker's Screen Burn. Faber & Faber. p. 8. ISBN 9780571250141.
  35. ↑ "RTS Television Sports Awards 2006". 14 February 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  36. ↑ "Sarcasm wins you sweet FA". The Telegraph. 5 April 2007.
  37. ↑ Crombie, Catriona (2010). Own Goals! The World's Funniest Football Quotes. Crombie Jardine. ISBN 9781906051563.
  38. ↑ Tibballs. G (2019). I Wish I Hadn't Said That Over 3,000 Famous Foot-in-Mouth Moments. Little, Brown Book. ISBN 9781472142160.
  39. ↑ Debrett Peerage People of Today. Debrett's Peerage Limited. 2001. ISBN 9781870520645.
  40. ↑ "RTS Television Sports Awards 1999". Royal Television Society. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  41. ↑ "RTS Television Sports Awards 2000". Royal Television Society. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  42. ↑ "RTS Television Sports Awards 2003". Royal Television Society. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  43. ↑ "RTS Television Sports Awards 2004". Royal Television Society. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  44. ↑ "RTS Television Sports Awards 2006". Royal Television Society. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  45. ↑ "TELEVISION SPORT AWARDS 2004". Royal Television Society. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  46. ↑ "Steve Rider". BAFTA Awards site. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  47. ↑ "Parting is such sweet sorrow for Steve Rider and his locks". The Times. 27 September 2011.
  48. ↑ "Steve Rider a cut above until the end with impeccable display of hairs and graces". The Times. 25 October 2011.
  49. ↑ "New Statesman". New Statesman. Vol. 131, no. 4594–4607. 2002. p. 41.
  50. ↑ Morris, Jonathan (16 March 2009). "Battle lines over second homes". BBC News. Retrieved 28 March 2009.
  51. ↑ "Steve Rider party hit by CS gas attack". Bucks Free Press. 15 November 2007. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  52. ↑ "The Autocar. A Journal Published in the Interests of the Mechanically Propelled Road Carriage". 166. 1985: 11. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  53. ↑ "BBC sports presenter Steve Rider diagnosed with prostate cancer". Prostate Cancer UK. 11 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  54. ↑ "Our Patron". Headway South Bucks. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  55. ↑ "BRDC raises £83,000 for children's cancer charity". Motorsport.com. 27 April 2010.
  56. ↑ "Steve Rider". United Response. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  57. ↑ "Our Trustees". Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB).
  58. ↑ "Golf Society". debra.org.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  59. ↑ "How to give it: Steve Rider". The Financial Times. 10 September 2011.
  60. ↑ "Stars out for marathon effort". BBC. 17 April 2001.
  61. ↑ "Steve Rider At The Start Of The London Marathon Blackheath. London Marathon 2010". Shutterstock. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
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