Frank Bough
Encyclopedia
Frank Bough is a retired British
television presenter who is best known as the former host of BBC
sports and current affairs shows including Grandstand
, Nationwide and Breakfast Time
, which he fronted alongside Selina Scott
.
, Stoke-on-Trent
, England
. He was educated at Oswestry Boys' High School (a Shropshire County Council secular grammar school), Oswestry
, Shropshire
(not to be confused with the older independent Oswestry School
), and at Merton College, Oxford
, reputedly being one of the last generation of undergraduates to be awarded a fourth class degree. He played football
for the university against Cambridge, and performed his national service
in the Royal Tank Regiment
.
as an anchorman and reporter, presenting the new Newcastle upon Tyne based Home at Six. It was known by this title very briefly before changing to North at Six and then in 1963 changing to BBC Look North (North East and Cumbria)
. In 1964 he began presenting the BBC Sports Review of the Year
, which he would host for eighteen years. He also presented Sportsview, and in 1968 the BBC's flagship Saturday afternoon sports programme Grandstand
. He was one of the BBC's football commentators for the 1966 World Cup and covered the match where North Korea infamously defeated Italy 1-0. He went on to present the early evening magazine programme, Nationwide
. This made him one of the most familiar faces on British television throughout the 1970s.
In 1977 Bough was memorably a guest on the Morecambe and Wise
Christmas
special, performing a song and dance routine in a sailor's outfit with the likes of Eddie Waring
and Barry Norman
, among others. The programme's recorded audience figures remain a British record.
He was the main presenter of the BBC's coverage of the 1978 World Cup finals
in Argentina, and was the BBC
correspondent at Guildford
for the Election 79 programme.
He was a roving holidaymaker in the BBC's Holiday programme; and made history as the first presenter of the BBC's inaugural breakfast television programme, Breakfast Time
with Selina Scott
. He left Breakfast Time at the end of 1987, moving on to be the main anchor for the BBC's Holiday programme for the next year. When allegations about his private life surfaced, he was dropped by the BBC and moved to LWT (part of the ITV network) where he fronted a Friday evening magazine programme. At the same time, he had a short lived interview programme on Sky TV.
In the early 1990s he was a presenter on London's LBC
radio, staying on for the launch of London News Talk and moving to the News 97.3 service where he remained until 1996. He then presented Travel Live for the cable channel Travel.
) after leaving the army in 1959. They have three children, David, Stephen and Andrew.
Bough had a colourful private life which involved taking cocaine
and wearing lingerie
at sex parties. Allegations involving cocaine almost ended his television career, although he did briefly return to present ITV
's coverage of the 1991 Rugby World Cup
. He also made headlines in 1992, when his visits to an S&M prostitute's Welbeck Street flat were made known to the tabloid press by one of the women regularly employed there as a receptionist. In 1993, after his activities were regularly ridiculed in monologue
s by Angus Deayton
on Have I Got News For You
, Bough was invited on to the programme as a guest and agreed. He was not ridiculed by Deayton this time, although Ian Hislop
and Jo Brand
made light-hearted comments when a picture of a woman's legs in stockings were shown.
From 1994 he was a regular member of the Windsor based choir, The Royal Free Singers.
Bough had a liver
transplant
in 2001 after cancer
was found and now lives in retirement in Holyport
, Berkshire
.
In 2009, he returned to television, contributing to a programme looking back on Nationwide, which was broadcast on BBC Four.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television presenter who is best known as the former host of BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
sports and current affairs shows including Grandstand
Grandstand (BBC)
Grandstand was a British television sport programme. Broadcast between 1958 and 2007, it was one of the BBC's longest running sports shows, alongside BBC Sports Personality of the Year.Its first presenter was Peter Dimmock...
, Nationwide and Breakfast Time
Breakfast Time
Breakfast Time was British television's first national breakfast show, beating TV-am's flagship programme Good Morning Britain to the air by two weeks.The show was revolutionary for the time...
, which he fronted alongside Selina Scott
Selina Scott
Selina Scott is a British newsreader, journalist, television producer and presenter.- Background and early life :Scott was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire in 1951, the eldest of five children...
.
Early life
Bough was born in FentonFenton, Staffordshire
Fenton is one of the six towns of the Stoke-on-Trent conurbation which were federated in 1910. It is situated in the south-east of the city. Arnold Bennett called his fictionalised version of Stoke on Trent the "Five Towns", and Fenton has been dubbed the town Arnold Bennett...
, Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He was educated at Oswestry Boys' High School (a Shropshire County Council secular grammar school), Oswestry
Oswestry
Oswestry is a town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483, and A495 roads....
, Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
(not to be confused with the older independent Oswestry School
Oswestry School
Oswestry School is a co-educational independent school, located in the town of Oswestry, Shropshire, England. Founded in 1407 by David Holbache and his wife Guinevere Holbache, it is the second oldest non-denominational school in England....
), and at Merton College, Oxford
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...
, reputedly being one of the last generation of undergraduates to be awarded a fourth class degree. He played football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
for the university against Cambridge, and performed his national service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
in the Royal Tank Regiment
Royal Tank Regiment
The Royal Tank Regiment is an armoured regiment of the British Army. It was formerly known as the Tank Corps and the Royal Tank Corps. It is part of the Royal Armoured Corps and is made up of two operational regiments, the 1st Royal Tank Regiment and the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment...
.
Career
He joined the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
as an anchorman and reporter, presenting the new Newcastle upon Tyne based Home at Six. It was known by this title very briefly before changing to North at Six and then in 1963 changing to BBC Look North (North East and Cumbria)
BBC Look North (North East and Cumbria)
BBC Look North is the BBC's regional television news service for the BBC North East and Cumbria region. The programmes are produced and broadcast from the BBC Broadcasting Centre on Barrack Road in Newcastle upon Tyne with journalists also based at newsrooms in Middlesbrough, Durham, York and...
. In 1964 he began presenting the BBC Sports Review of the Year
BBC Sports Personality of the Year
The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of one titular award. Several new awards have been introduced, and , eight awards are presented. The oldest of these are the Team of the Year and...
, which he would host for eighteen years. He also presented Sportsview, and in 1968 the BBC's flagship Saturday afternoon sports programme Grandstand
Grandstand (BBC)
Grandstand was a British television sport programme. Broadcast between 1958 and 2007, it was one of the BBC's longest running sports shows, alongside BBC Sports Personality of the Year.Its first presenter was Peter Dimmock...
. He was one of the BBC's football commentators for the 1966 World Cup and covered the match where North Korea infamously defeated Italy 1-0. He went on to present the early evening magazine programme, Nationwide
Nationwide (TV series)
Nationwide was a BBC News and Current affairs television programme broadcast on BBC One each weekday following the early evening news. It followed a magazine format, combining political analysis and discussion with consumer affairs, light entertainment and sports reporting...
. This made him one of the most familiar faces on British television throughout the 1970s.
In 1977 Bough was memorably a guest on the Morecambe and Wise
Morecambe and Wise
Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, usually referred to as Morecambe and Wise, or Eric and Ernie, were a British comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984...
Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
special, performing a song and dance routine in a sailor's outfit with the likes of Eddie Waring
Eddie Waring
Edward Marsden "Eddie" Waring was a British rugby league football coach, commentator and television presenter....
and Barry Norman
Barry Norman
Barry Leslie Norman, CBE is a British novelist, impresario, film critic and media personality. He was the BBC film critic on television from 1972 to 1998.-Early life:...
, among others. The programme's recorded audience figures remain a British record.
He was the main presenter of the BBC's coverage of the 1978 World Cup finals
1978 FIFA World Cup
The 1978 FIFA World Cup, the 11th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in Argentina between 1 June and 25 June. The 1978 World Cup was won by Argentina who beat the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time in the final. This win was the first World Cup title for Argentina, who became the fifth...
in Argentina, and was the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
correspondent at Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
for the Election 79 programme.
He was a roving holidaymaker in the BBC's Holiday programme; and made history as the first presenter of the BBC's inaugural breakfast television programme, Breakfast Time
Breakfast Time
Breakfast Time was British television's first national breakfast show, beating TV-am's flagship programme Good Morning Britain to the air by two weeks.The show was revolutionary for the time...
with Selina Scott
Selina Scott
Selina Scott is a British newsreader, journalist, television producer and presenter.- Background and early life :Scott was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire in 1951, the eldest of five children...
. He left Breakfast Time at the end of 1987, moving on to be the main anchor for the BBC's Holiday programme for the next year. When allegations about his private life surfaced, he was dropped by the BBC and moved to LWT (part of the ITV network) where he fronted a Friday evening magazine programme. At the same time, he had a short lived interview programme on Sky TV.
In the early 1990s he was a presenter on London's LBC
LBC
LBC Radio operates two London-based radio stations, with news and talk formats. LBC was Britain's first legal commercial Independent Local Radio station, providing a service of news and information to London. It began broadcasting on 8 October 1973, a week ahead of Capital Radio...
radio, staying on for the launch of London News Talk and moving to the News 97.3 service where he remained until 1996. He then presented Travel Live for the cable channel Travel.
Personal life
He married Nesta Howells (grandniece of Rees HowellsRees Howells
Rees Howells was the founder of The Bible College of Wales.Howells was born in Brynamman in Carmarthenshire, Wales. When he was 12 years old he left school and worked in a tin mill and coal mine. He was affected by the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival.He and his wife were later missionaries in Africa...
) after leaving the army in 1959. They have three children, David, Stephen and Andrew.
Bough had a colourful private life which involved taking cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
and wearing lingerie
Lingerie
Lingerie are fashionable and possibly alluring undergarments.Lingerie usually incorporates one or more flexible, stretchy materials like Lycra, nylon , polyester, satin, lace, silk and sheer fabric which are not typically used in more functional, basic cotton undergarments.The term in the French...
at sex parties. Allegations involving cocaine almost ended his television career, although he did briefly return to present ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's coverage of the 1991 Rugby World Cup
Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is an international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board and held every four years since 1987....
. He also made headlines in 1992, when his visits to an S&M prostitute's Welbeck Street flat were made known to the tabloid press by one of the women regularly employed there as a receptionist. In 1993, after his activities were regularly ridiculed in monologue
Monologue
In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media...
s by Angus Deayton
Angus Deayton
Gordon Angus Deayton is an English actor, writer, musician, comedian and broadcaster. He is best known for his role as Victor Meldrew's long-suffering neighbour Patrick Trench in the comedy series One Foot in the Grave...
on Have I Got News For You
Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...
, Bough was invited on to the programme as a guest and agreed. He was not ridiculed by Deayton this time, although Ian Hislop
Ian Hislop
Ian David Hislop is a British journalist, satirist, comedian, writer, broadcaster and editor of the satirical magazine Private Eye...
and Jo Brand
Jo Brand
Josephine Grace "Jo" Brand is a BAFTA winning British comedian, writer, and actor.- Early life :Jo Brand was born 23 July 1957 in Wandsworth, London. Her mother was a social worker. Brand is the middle of three children, with two brothers...
made light-hearted comments when a picture of a woman's legs in stockings were shown.
From 1994 he was a regular member of the Windsor based choir, The Royal Free Singers.
Bough had a liver
Liver
The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...
transplant
Organ transplant
Organ transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be...
in 2001 after cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
was found and now lives in retirement in Holyport
Holyport
Holyport is a village in the civil parish of Bray, about 2 miles south of Maidenhead in the English county of Berkshire.-Amenities:Despite its size, Holyport possesses a small retail area...
, Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
.
In 2009, he returned to television, contributing to a programme looking back on Nationwide, which was broadcast on BBC Four.