Mike Ingham
Mike Ingham (born
1950 in
Cheshire) is a
British football commentator and
broadcaster. After gaining a Bachelor of Law degree, he began his career working for
BBC Radio Derby in 1973, later joining the
BBC in
London in
1979. For some years he regularly hosted the Saturday afternoon sports programme
Sport on Two, and around
1984 he also became a match commentator, working alongside
Peter Jones and
Bryon Butler. In
1991 he took over from Butler as the BBC's football correspondent. He regularly files reports on the game which are heard mainly on
BBC Radio 5 Live.
Since
1990 Ingham has worked alongside
Alan Green as
BBC Radio 5's principal commentating pair, working on
FA Cup Finals,
World Cup finals,
European Cup finals and virtually all the biggest matches in Britain and throughout the world, with many of his commentaries also being heard on the
BBC World Service. He is noted for his measured, eloquent style, often seen as something of a throwback to earlier days of sports broadcasting. He also commentated on the BBC's coverage of
Princess Diana's funeral in
1997.
In 2004 Ingham was promoted to the post of chief football correspondent. He has become renowned with fans for "thinking aloud" when offering his opinion on the soccer matters of the day.
Mike Ingham lives in
Buckinghamshire with his wife and family. He is a keen record collector and music fan, and occasionally hosted
Andy Peebles' show on
Radio 1 during the early
1980s.
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Mike Ingham Q and A on BBC Radio 5 website
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BBC World Cup 2006 Press release (PDF file, 4MB)