John Inverdale

28/06/2010

Wimbledon host and ‘sports muskateer’, aged 52

What would you say to your 16-year-old self if you could go back in time? Every week we ask a well-known name to offer their younger self words of wisdom.

At 16 I was rather like I am now – I lived for sport and music. Maybe I haven’t grown up much. I played rugby and tennis, anything that involved a ball really. Any spare time I had I was collecting albums – my album collection is still my pride and joy. Then I was listening to David Bowie and Steely Dan, who remain my great heroes to this day.

My biggest regret is that I never learned an instrument. I used to go on rugby tours all over the world and nothing is better on a rugby tour than someone who can pick up a guitar or sit at a piano and play. I do have a guitar and I’ve plucked away at it and bought an idiot’s guide to playing so I still have hope. There’s a cool tennis rock band – John McEnroe, Pat Cash – who play during the Wimbledon championships, maybe they could give me a few pointers.

I always loved being part of a team. I think people who miss out on sport in life miss out on a sense of togetherness, that musketeer element you only get in a sporting environment. Some people are scathing about that but it’s very important, we’re all in this together. 

If I met my 16-year-old self now, I think I’d see him as a fairly upbeat, happy-go-lucky person, and I’d enjoy his sense of humour. I absolutely loved comedy, I was fanatical about Fawlty Towers.  I remember laughing to the point of combustion, I was out of control. I’ve always loved laughing.

Someone who was instrumental in my life was a guy called Alan Gibson who was the very first voice on the BBC’s Test Match Special. He came to dinner with dad when I was 12 and he’d just come back from covering the Ashes in Australia. I sat at dinner and heard him talk about five months’ watching cricket in Australia and sitting on beaches and getting paid for it and that planted the seed, I thought it sounded the best job in the world. I became editor of the school paper, then the university paper, then wrote for the local newspaper. My dream was to write about sport for The Telegraph or The Times.

I’d tell my young self that he will learn to live with the small percentage of people who are vindictive and unpleasant towards you when you become well known. Most people are very nice but some people just don’t like you. When you first get really horrible mail or read nasty comments on the internet, it does really hurt. But eventually you understand it’s just the nature of
the beast.

Would I swap my seven Olympics as a reporter for one as an Olympian? It’s a difficult choice. Part of me would rather have competed – such a tiny proportion of people can call themselves Olympians. But the trade-off is the longevity of a reporter’s career and the long, rich, varied life few other jobs can offer.

John Inverdale is one of the BBC’s main hosts during coverage of Wimbledon, on BBC TV, radio, online and Red Button from June 21 to July 4