A Question of Sport


A Question of Sport is a British television sports quiz show produced and broadcast by the BBC. It is the "world's longest running TV sports quiz."

History

First edition

The first edition of A Question of Sport was broadcast on 5 January 1970.
Presenter David Vine was joined by captains Henry Cooper and Cliff Morgan.
The teams were composed of George Best, Lillian Board, Tom Finney, and Ray Illingworth.<

40th anniversary

On 8 January 2010, the BBC broadcast a 40th anniversary special.
Joining Sue Barker, Matt Dawson, and Phil Tufnell, were Pat Cash, David Coulthard, Laura Davies, and Michael Johnson.

2012 Summer Olympics specials

Following the 2012 Summer Olympics, A Question of Sport aired two special editions featuring champions from the aforementioned Olympics.

Gold Medal Winners special

On 1 September 2012, Katherine Grainger and Jason Kenny were among the gold medal winners featured.

2012 Olympics special

On 29 September 2012, Tim Baillie, Jade Jones, Laura Kenny, Greg Rutherford, and Etienne Stott partook.

1,000th episode

On 4 March 2013, A Question of Sport marked its 1,000th episode.
Each captain was joined by two former captains. Dawson was joined by Willie Carson and John Parrott, while Tufnell was joined by Bill Beaumont and Ally McCoist.Tufnell's team won.

2016 Summer Olympics specials

Shortly after the 2016 Summer Olympics, A Question of Sport held two special editions featuring champions from the above-mentioned Olympics.

The Olympic Champions special

On 7 September 2016, the Olympic Champions special featured gold medal winners, including Callum Skinner.

Gold Rush special

On 14 September 2016, for a Gold Rush special, A Question of Sport were joined by Maddie Hinch, Jason and Laura Kenny, and Sam Quek.

50th anniversary

A Question of Sport at 50

On 27 December 2019, the BBC aired a documentary that looked back on the programme's history.
As well as looking back through the archives, A Question of Sport at 50 saw a number of sportspeople recount their memories, these included: Jessica Ennis-Hill, Colin Jackson, and Denise Lewis.
Presenter Sue Barker and captains Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell also shared their experiences.

50 Not Out

On 3 January 2020, Sue Barker presented a 50th anniversary special.
Matt Dawson captained a team composed of Laura Davies and Beth Tweddle, while Phil Tufnell led Ally McCoist and Martin Offiah. Dawson's team won, the 1,255th episode, by 19 points to 16.

Rounds

The rounds regularly played during series 48, include:

Picture Board

Twelve numbered squares each reveal a sportsperson to be identified during this one minute round.

One Minute Round

Each team is asked nine questions in sixty seconds.

Sports Action

Contestants are asked questions about a montage of sporting action.

Observation Round

Sports action is shown and contestants are asked questions about details of what they have just seen, e.g. "What colour hat was a certain person wearing?" or "How many balls were there?"

Mystery Guest

Each team tries to identify a sportsperson in unfamiliar circumstances and using unconventional camera angles.

Home or Away

Each contestant can answer a one-point "home question" on the sport they participate or participated in or can answer an "away question" on a different sport for up to three points—away questions require three answers, a point per correct answer.

Buzzer Round

The teams play head-to-head, answering as many questions as possible in a minute.

Sprint Finish

The captains have sixty seconds to act out up to ten sporting terms for the remaining members of the team to guess.

Presenters and captains

Current presenter and captains

has presented A Question of Sport since 1997. Barker won the 1976 French Open tennis tournament and reached a World Ranking of 4.
The current captains are Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell.
Dawson is a Rugby World Cup winner, winning 77 caps, and scoring 16 tries. He played club rugby for Northampton Saints and subsequently Wasps.
Tufnell played 42 Test matches and 20 One Day Internationals for the England cricket team. He played county cricket for Middlesex.

Former presenters

A Question of Sport network coverage was first broadcast in January 1970, with David Vine at the helm for the first seven series.
David Coleman succeeded Vine—remaining as presenter until 1997.

Former captains

A Question of Sport's first captains were boxer Henry Cooper and rugby union player Cliff Morgan.
Over the history of the show, some captains have had long tenures, these include: rugby union player Bill Beaumont making 319 appearances and footballer Ally McCoist making 363 appearances.
Former captains, include:
3 rugby union players:
Bill Beaumont, Gareth Edwards, and Cliff Morgan
2 cricketers:
Ian Botham and Fred Trueman
2 jockeys:
Willie Carson and Frankie Dettori
2 footballers:
Emlyn Hughes and Ally McCoist
1 boxer:
Henry Cooper
1 long-distance runner:
Brendan Foster
1 snooker player:
John Parrott

Guest captains

Over the years there have been several guest captains standing in for one of the regulars when they have other commitments. Following Ally McCoist's departure, several guests, including Phil Tufnell, sat in the captain's chair before Tufnell was eventually selected as McCoist's permanent replacement:
97 episodes were wiped from the BBC archives. The episodes that survived in the archives are:

Spin-offs

The A Question of Sport format has been applied to various other areas of knowledge. The following spin-off series were all made by the BBC:
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
119 April 197124 May 19716

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
124 April 198828 August 198818

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
15 July 200129 August 20018

Roslin also hosted a one-off special, A Question of EastEnders, in 2000. Another one-off special, "A Question of Comedy" was to have been aired on 16 March 2007 as a part of Comic Relief 2007, but after a scandal involving contestant Jade Goody it was replaced with a special edition of Top Gear.
A Question of Spit was a short segment aired in 1988 as part of the inaugural Red Nose Day telethon, featuring Daley Thompson, Barry McGuigan and Mike Gatting forming a team, with their opponents being their own Spitting Image puppets, captained by an Emlyn Hughes puppet. The quiz was hosted by the Spitting Image puppet of David Coleman, with the real Coleman and the puppet Steve Davis also making an appearance.
On 21 March 2012, One Media Radio's Final Whistle produced a one off end of year special entitled, Final Quizzle: Final Whistle does A Question of Sport. Presented by Barry Landy, the show featured two teams consisting of Stuart Hodge, Rory Wilde, Phil Peacock, Steve Sanders, Ben Mouncer and Lewis Davies and included rounds such as 'Tiger's Eighteen Holes' and 'Whelan or Fortune'.
In November 2012, One Media Radio's Head of Sport Edmund Doc Crosthwaite confirmed that Final Quizzle would return for a one off Christmas special on 12 December 2012.
A Question of Sport Relief is a special version of the show usually presented by a guest presenter on Sport Relief night since 2002. The 2002, 2004 and 2006 versions were hosted by Stephen Fry. 2008's version was hosted by Jimmy Carr after Fry had to pull out having broken his arm.
BBC One Scotland aired a one-off A Question of Scotland as part of Children in Need 2008, with Jackie Bird as quizmaster.
The CBBC programme Dick and Dom In Da Bungalow made a parody called A Question of Muck as part of the creamy muck muck grand finale game.
The CBBC programme The Saturday Show did a segment called A Question of Busted featuring the pop band Busted answering questions about themselves it was presented by Fearne Cotton who in each segment was dressed as Sue Barker.

In popular culture

The What Happened Next? round was spoofed in an episode of A Bit of Fry & Laurie as David Coleman asks Emlyn Hughes to guess what happened after the action stopped in the previous sketch. The host's refusal to confirm whether the given answer is correct then leads into another round of the game, with the question of what happened following the original What Happened Next? sketch.
The show was one of many British TV shows reinterpreted by Chanel 9, a recurring sketch on The Fast Show, where it was titled Questo Sporta and featured the mystery guest round.

International versions