David Vine
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David Martin Vine (3 January 1935 – 11 January 2009) was an English television sports presenter. He presented a wide variety of shows from the 1960s onwards, most notably covering major snooker tournaments for the BBC.


Early life

Born in
Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge, Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its population was 24,029 in 2011, and was estimated at 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in ...
,
Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...
, he grew up in the north-west of the county, attending Barnstaple Grammar School on Park Lane in
Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. The town lies at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool from ...
. His father was a carpenter.


Career

Vine worked for the ''North Devon Journal Herald'' from the age of 17 and various newspapers, becoming the sports editor of the ''
Western Morning News The ''Western Morning News'' is a daily regional newspaper founded in 1860, and covering the West Country including Devon, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and parts of Somerset and Dorset in the South West of England. Organisation The ''Western ...
'' in
Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...
. He joined
Westward Television Westward Television was the first ITV franchise-holder for the South West of England. It held the franchise from 29 April 1961 until 31 December 1981. After a difficult start, Westward Television provided a popular, distinctive and highly reg ...
in 1961, though he worked for the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
for the majority of his broadcasting career. He joined the BBC, to work on BBC2, in 1966. He was working at BBC2 even though Westward Television were not aware of this because at the time BBC2 could not be received in the South West. An article in the ''Daily Mail'' led to Westward TV learning about his BBC work and he had to resign from Westward TV. Programmes he hosted include ''
Sportscene ''Sportscene'' is the name of a range of Scottish sports television programmes produced by BBC Scotland. History ''Sportscenes predecessors were ''Sports Special from Scotland'' and ''Sportsreel'', which was broadcast every Saturday at around ...
'', ''
It's a Knockout ''It's a Knockout!'' is a British game show first broadcast in 1966. It was adapted from the French show ''Intervilles'', and was part of the international ''Jeux sans frontières'' franchise. History The series was broadcast on BBC1 from 7 Au ...
'' (1967–1971), ''
Jeux sans frontières ''Jeux sans frontières'' (; "Games Without Frontiers" in French) is an international television competition organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for thirty seasons, from 1965 to 1999, between members of the union who participated ...
'', '' Miss UK'', ''
Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Mi ...
'', ''Quiz Ball'', ''Sunday League Cricket'', ''
Rugby Special ''Rugby Special'' was the main rugby union highlights programme on the BBC in the UK. The show ran from 1966 and past presenters included David Vine, Keith Macklin, Cliff Morgan, Chris Rea (rugby union), Chris Rea, Nigel Starmer-Smith, Bill Beaum ...
'', ''
Match of the Day ''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a Association football, football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights during the Premier League season. ''Match of the Day'' is one of the BBC's longest-runn ...
'', ''
A Question of Sport ''A Question of Sport'' (known as ''Question of Sport'' from 2021 until 2023) is a British television sports quiz show produced and broadcast by the BBC. It was the "world's longest running TV sports quiz". Following a pilot episode in December ...
'' (1970–1972, 1974–1977 and 1989), ''
Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...
'', '' Superstars'', '' Starshot'', ''
Ski Sunday ''Ski Sunday'' is a weekly magazine-style television show covering winter sports, broadcast on BBC Two in the United Kingdom on Sundays in a late afternoon or an early evening timeslot. It began in 1978 and is currently presented by Ed Leigh an ...
'' (1978–1996) and the BBC's Winter and Summer Olympic Games coverage. In August 1967, Vine presented the Wimbledon World Lawn Tennis Professional Championships, which was the first tennis tournament at Wimbledon to feature professional players and also the first colour television sports service in Europe, which
BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...
launched on 1 July 1967. Vine provided the
BBC TV BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios ...
commentary for the
Eurovision Song Contest 1974 The Eurovision Song Contest 1974 was the 19th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 6 April 1974 in the Brighton Dome, Dome in Brighton, United Kingdom. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the BBC, ...
which was the year that the pop band
ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...
won the contest for Sweden with their song Waterloo and also hosted the preview shows of the international entries, and compèred the 1975
Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Mi ...
broadcast, the latter resulting in some embarrassment because he found it difficult to understand what many of the contestants were saying. He introduced the 1967 professional tennis championships at Wimbledon in colour. In addition to the 1967 Wimbledon pro-event, he presented Wimbledon highlights from 1979 until 1982 and also BBC's Show Jumping coverage. He also hosted the first World Darts Championships in 1978. He was the anchorman at the
World Snooker Championships The World Snooker Championship, or simply known as the World Championship, is the longest-running and most prestigious tournament in professional snooker. It is also the richest event to date with a total prize money of £2,395,000, including ...
at the
Crucible Theatre The Crucible Theatre, or simply The Crucible, is a theatre in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which opened in 1971. Its name refers to crucible steel, which was developed in Sheffield in 1740 and drove the industrialisation of the city. ...
,
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
, from
1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...
—the first year the BBC covered the championships daily—until his retirement in 2000, as well as the Grand Prix,
UK Championship The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican in York, England. Ronnie O'Sull ...
and the Masters. Vine's supposed friendship with
Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, DJ, electronic musician and author. He dominated professional snooker in the 1980s, when he reached eight ...
was parodied in a ''
Spitting Image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ...
'' sketch in which Davis boasted, "I'm a mate of David Vine". Vine's final work for the BBC was covering the weightlifting at the 2000 Sydney Olympics a sport he had covered since the 1970s, after which he retired owing to a heart condition. He had a coronary artery triple bypass operation in 2001. He contributed to programmes on the
ESPN Classic ESPN Classic was an American multinational pay television television network, network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which controlled an 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which had 20%). The channel was ...
channel shortly before he died aged 74 at his home near
Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Thames, in the South Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, Berkshire, Reading, west of M ...
, Oxfordshire.


Personal life

He married his first wife, Shirley, in 1958. They had met through amateur dramatics and had three children. The family lived in Mannamead, Plymouth. Shirley died in 1970. Vine married his second wife, Mandy, in 1972 in
Wokingham Wokingham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It is the main administrative centre of the wider Borough of Wokingham. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 38,284 and the wider built-up area had a populati ...
. The couple had a son.


References


External links


Extensive biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vine, David 1935 births 2009 deaths BBC sports presenters and reporters Beauty pageant hosts English game show hosts English sports broadcasters English television presenters People educated at Barnstaple Grammar School People from Newton Abbot Snooker commentators