Gary Newbon

Gary Newbon MBE (born 15 March 1945 in Cambridge) is a television sports presenter and executive. Biography Born in Cambridge, Newbon attended Culford School near Bury St Edmunds, where he captained the rugby first XV and edited the school magazine. Upon leaving school he became a junior reporter in Cambridge and then a freelance Fleet Street journalist reporting on tennis and rugby union. He began his television career at Westward Television in the 1960s, and then as an ATV sports reporter for their ATV Today programme in the early 1970s. The continuing illness ATV Controller of Sports Billy Wright meant that Newbon and a small team, including Trevor East, had to carry out Wright's functions whilst covering up the extent of his ill health. He himself later became Controller of Sports (West Midlands) for ATV and, later, Central Television, Newbon reported on football and hosted boxing and darts programmes for the ITV network, whilst hosting sports coverage on ATV and Central, while also presenting sports reports on the regional news programmes and performing his executive role. Newbon conducted post-match interviews, including a memorable exchange with Brian Clough after Nottingham Forest had lost 4-0 to Everton, when Clough responded to Newbon's question about Forest's lack of commitment by saying "Because they're just like you and me, Gary - a bunch of pansies", after which Clough kissed Newbon on the cheek and walked off. Newbon sparked a controversy in 1983 when he appeared to show two fingers to the Queens Park Rangers manager Terry Venables. Newbon left ITV after 36 years and moved to Sky Sports. He hosted the football phone-in show You're On Sky Sports, which was usually scheduled immediately after the evening's main game. He also hosts live greyhound racing on Sky Sports as well as Time of Our Lives. In 2004, he presented a phone-in show on talkSPORT, "Final Whistle", which was broadcast on Saturdays between 17:00 and 20:00 after the day's league fixtures. He later returned to talkSPORT with a weekend breakfast programme in August 2008. In 2005, he presented the inaugural Premier League Darts event on Sky Sports.