Neville Laurence Oliver (born 11 November 1944) is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n politician. Before entering politics, he was an ABC sports commentator. On 22 April 2002, he was elected to the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Tasmanian Legislative Council, Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House, Hobart, Parliament Hou ...

as a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member representing Franklin in a recount following the resignation of Fran Bladel. Oliver represented the Labor Party. He was defeated for re-election on 30 July that year. In his previous career as a sports commentator, he frequently covered Test cricket on radio as part of the BBC's

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.

Brian Johnston Brian Alexander Johnston (24 June 1912 – 5 January 1994), nicknamed Johnners, was a British cricket commentator, author, and television presenter. He was most prominently associated with the BBC during a career which lasted from 1946 until h ...

recalled in his stage act that as the commentators' roster only showed their initials, Oliver was listed as NO. Johnston told Oliver "From now on, I will call you 'the Doctor'" (after the James Bond villain Doctor No). According to Johnston, this nickname 'stuck' to the point that listeners believed Oliver was a real doctor, and it was not unknown for surgeries to telephone him to ask if he could act as a locum.

References

1944 births Living people Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Tasmania 21st-century Australian politicians Australian cricket commentators {{Australia-Labor-politician-stub