August 2025

David Broom 1960

Admin August 4, 2025

The Games of the XVII Olympiad were held in Rome, Italy between August 25 and September 11, 1960, such that the results were fresh in the minds of readers of the ‘Radio Times’ when they voted for Sportsview Personality of the Year. In fact, the first three in the public poll were medallists, of one colour or another, in Rome. Equestrian David Broom, who won a bronze medal in the individual show jumping, finished first, racewalker Donald Thompson, who won a gold medal in the 50km walk, finished second and swimmer Anita Lonsbrough, who won a gold medal in the women’s 200m breaststroke, in a world record time of 2:49.5, finished third. Thompson and Lonsbrough were, in fact, the only British gold medallists at Rome 1960.

Born in Cardiff on St. David’s Day 1940, 20-year-old Broome and his horse, Sunsalve, had to settle for a podium finish in Rome, behind Italian brothers Raimondo and Piero D’Inzeo. It was a similar story in the Show Jumping World Championships, held on the island of Lido, in the Venetian Lagoon, immediately after the Summer Olympics. Defending champion Raimondo d’Inzeo and his horse, Gowran Girl, won the individual gold medal in that event, too, with Broome once again collecting a bronze medal.

He competed in the 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972 and 1988 Olympics and won individual bronze medals in 1960 on Sunsalve and in 1968 on his best-known horse Mr Softee. In 1960, he was also voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year, and at the 1972 Games served as the Olympic flag bearer for Great Britain. Nevertheless, Broome had done enough to become the first equestrian to be named BBC Sports Personality of the Year. At the award ceremony, to his surprise, Broome was joined on stage by Sunsalve and, at the behest of presenter Peter Dimmock, mounted up and rode his former Olympic partner from the studio.

David Broome went on to enjoy a show jumping career lasting over 40 years and, between 1960 and 1991, won 14 Olympic, World and European medals. Highlights included another Olympic individual bronze medal on Mr. Softee at Mexico 1968, and an individual gold medal on Beethoven at the World Show Jumping Championships in La Baule, France in 1970.

Dorothy Hyman 1963

Admin August 4, 2025

In 1963, athlete Dorothy Hyman was voted Sportsview Personality of the Year or, in other words, BBC Personality of the Year, largely in recognition of her achievements at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Western Australia in late 1962. Hyman topped the poll ahead of swimmer Bobby McGregor, who broke the world record for the 100m freestyle twice at Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) National Championships, and racing driver Jim Clark, who won seven Grands Prix and his first Formula One World Drivers’ Championship with three races to spare.

The best British female sprinter of her era, and one of the greatest of all time, Hyman was still only 17 when, alongside Heather Armitage, June Paul and Madeleine Weston, she won a gold medal in the women’s 4 x 110yd relay at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, setting a new world record of 45.37 seconds in the process. She subsequently won a silver medal in the women’s 4 x 100m relay at the 1958 European Athletics Championships in Stockholm, Sweden, silver again in the women’s 100m at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and bronze in the women’s 200m at the same Games.

In 1962, though, Hyman won six more medals, three at the European Athletics Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia and three more in the aforementioned British Empire and Commonwealth Games. In Belgrade, in September, she won the gold medal in the women’s 100m and in Perth, in November, two more, in the women’s 100yd and women’s 200yd events. In so doing, she interrupted the Australian dominance of both events, which had not been won by a non-Australian since 1934 and 1938, respectively.

Alongside Daphne Arden, Mary Rand and Janet Simpson, Hyman also won a silver medal in the women’s 4 x 100m relay at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. In a memorable final, all three medallists, Poland, the United States and Great Britain broke the previous world record. Hyman retired from competitive athletics in 1964, aged just 23, although she did come out of retirement, briefly, to compete at the Women’s Amateur Athletic Association (WAAA) Championships in 1969.

Christopher Chataway 1954

Admin August 4, 2025

In 1954, athlete Christopher Chataway won the inaugural BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, or Sports Review of the Year, as it was known at the time. Fellow athlete Roger Bannister finished second in the public postal vote, ahead of pioneering equestrian Patricia Smythe, who had became a household name in the years following World War II.

On October 13, 1954, Chataway recorded a a dramatic victory, but just 0.1 seconds, over Soviet athlete Vladimir Kuts in a televised 5,000m race at White City Stadium, London, which was broadcast to 12 million viewers. In so doing, he ran 13:51.6, thereby taking exactly five seconds off Kuts’ world record, which he had set in Bern, Switzerland just over six weeks previously.

By that stage, he had already won a gold medal in the men’s 3 miles event at the Empire Stadium in Vancouver, Canada during the British Empire and Commonwealth Games. At the same Games, Bannister defeated by-then world record holder John Landy, of Australia, in the final of the men’s 1 mile event, dubbed the ‘Miracle Mile’, with both men running under four minutes.

In a memorable year for British athletics, perhaps most famously of all, Chataway also played his part when Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile at the Iffley Road track in Oxford on May 6, 1954. Alongside Christopher Brasher, he acted as a pacemaker for Bannister, leading him into the final 250 yards on so, on his way to a historic time of 3:59.4. That world record lasted only until June 21, 1954, when the aforementioned John Landy ran 3:58.0 at the Paavo Nurmi Stadium in Turku, Finland.

5

Chataway went on to compete at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, but could finish only eleventh, behind Kuts, in the final of the 5,000m, having suffered stomach cramps. He retired from international competition shortly afterwards. Chataway subsequently became a newsreader, a Conservative Member of Parliament and, in 1995, received a knighthood for his services to the aviation industry, which he served as chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). He died of cancer in January 2014, aged 82.

Bobby Moore 1966

Admin August 4, 2025

Not altogether surprisingly, the 1966 FIFA World Cup, hosted and won by England, after a memorable final against West Germany at Wembley Stadium in London, had a major influence on the result of Sportsview Personality of the Year, or BBC Sports Personality of the Year, as the award is known nowadays. England captain Bobby Moore, who played every minute of all six matches in the World Cup campaign, topped the poll, ahead of speedway rider Barry Briggs and England teammate Geoff (later Sir Geoff) Hurst. Hurst, of course, scored a last-gasp hat-trick in the World Cup final, leading to the iconic exclamation, “They think it’s all over… it is now!” from BBC commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme.

In fact, it was Moore, himself, who provided the assist for Hurst to score his late, late goal and seal a 4-2 victory for England after extra time. With the ball at his feet just outside his own penalty area and referee Gottfried Dienst looking at his watch, but waving play on, Moore picked out Hurst just beyond the halfway line. The latter dribbled forward before blasting a left-foot shot beyond West German goalkeeper Hans Tilkowski.

Moore was the first footballer to be voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year and would be the last until Paul Gascoigne in 1990. He was made Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1967 New Year Honours, but three decades after his untimely death from colorectal cancer in February 1993, aged 51, a campaign, led by Sir Geoff Hurst and Sir David Beckham, exists to posthumously award the ‘golden boy of English football’ a knighthood.

Brazilian football legend Pele, arguably the greatest player ever, once said of Moore, “Bobby Moore was a great player, a talented player and I kept telling people “look at this guy, he’s like a Brazilian.’Good ball control, great dribbling ability.'” Moore went on to make 647 appearances for West Ham United, another 148 for Fulham and 108 for England, including at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. He retired from playing professionally in 1978, but still ranks inside the top 30 most popular sports personalities of all time in Briatin, according to YouGov Ratings.