Eleanor Oldroyd (born in

Bury, Lancashire Bury (, ) is a market town on the River Irwell in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. which had a population of 81,101 in 2021 while the wider borough had a population of 193,846. The town was originally part of the ...

, 2 June 1962) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

sports broadcaster with

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

Early life

Oldroyd was educated at Oxford High School and

Girton College Girton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college at Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status by the univ ...

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Broadcasting career

Beginning her career in commercial radio, Oldroyd joined

BBC Radio Shropshire BBC Radio Shropshire is the BBC's local radio station serving Shropshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on Boscobel Drive in Shrewsbury. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 77,000 ...

as a Sports Producer in 1986 before moving to London in 1988. She worked at

Newsbeat ''Newsbeat'' is the BBC's radio news programme broadcast on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network. ''Newsbeat'' is produced by BBC News but differs from the BBC's other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for young people.

and then at

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

, reporting and presenting on both Radio 5 and its successor 5 Live. She first hosted the Sunday afternoon sports show on Radio 5 in 1993. In 1995, she became the first female presenter of ''

Sports Report ''Sports Report'' is one of the longest-running programmes on British radio, and is the world's longest-running sports radio programme. It started on 3 January 1948, and has always been broadcast from 17:00 on Saturday evenings during the foo ...

'' (since it started in 1948) when she stood in for Ian Payne on Radio 5 Live. She is a regular on 5 Live's ''

Fighting Talk ''Fighting Talk'' is a topical sports show broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live during the English football season. The show is broadcast on Saturday mornings for an hour between 11.00 and 12.00 and is currently presented by Rick Edwards. This show is ...

'' – known as the ''"First Lady of Fighting Talk"''. She hosted several weekly 5 Live shows, the evening 5 Live Sport programme, Saturday Breakfast (with Chris Warburton), and the Friday Sports Panel. She covers the

Wimbledon tennis championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...

and was part of the ''

Test Match Special ''Test Match Special'' (also known as ''TMS'') is a British sports radio programme, originally, as its name implies, dealing exclusively with Test cricket matches, but currently covering any professional cricket. The programme is available on BB ...

'' team from 2000 to 2005. She led the station's coverage of the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

from Sochi. She has reported from multiple Winter and Summer Olympic Games. She was named the Sports Journalists' Association Broadcast Presenter of the Year for 2014 and 2016 Following the death of His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 2021, she led the coverage of his funeral, sat in a small, specially built studio above the high altar. She was the only reporter or broadcaster present in

St George's Chapel St George's Chapel, formally titled The King's Free Chapel of the College of St George, Windsor Castle, at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is a Royal Peculiar (a church und ...

on the day of his funeral.

Personal life

Oldroyd was formerly married to fellow BBC sports presenter

Nick Mullins Nick Mullins (born 31 January 1966) is a British journalist and sports commentator, primarily working on BT Sport's English Premiership (rugby union), Premiership Rugby coverage and BBC One's The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon coverage. Ea ...

and has two children. She supports

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

despite coming from a family of Birmingham City fans.

References

External links

''Saturday Breakfast''
(BBC Radio 5 Live)
Biography

BBC Sport Website blog
1962 births Living people BBC sports presenters and reporters BBC Radio 5 Live presenters Women sports commentators English radio personalities People educated at Oxford High School, England People from Bury, Greater Manchester English women radio presenters {{UK-radio-bio-stub