When he’s not introducing the latest on the binmen’s strike, or handing over to Paul the Weatherman with a witty aside, BBC Look North’s Harry Gration returns to his first love, sport. Having broadcast at five Summer Olympics, the World Cup, Wimbledon, the Open Golf Championship and more, he’s met more than his fair share of sporting celebrities, and has turned this experience to good use in a new book, Harry Gration’s Yorkshire Sporting Heroes.
The book ranks the sporting greats of our county from 1 to 30, and he’ll be talking to numbers 13 (Ellery Hanley), 18 (Norman Hunter) and 19 (Darren Gough) in a special event at Headingley Stadium on 14 November, part of the Carnegie Sporting Words Festival. We caught up with him to find out a little more…
So, Harry, you’ve been broadcasting on sport for 40 years. Take us back further, though. What was your formative sporting experience?
My family was mad about every single sport, really. My father was a good cricketer, my brother was an all-round sportsman and I used to go to (Bradford) Park Avenue with them to watch Yorkshire.
I was also a commentator from an early age. I used to bowl at a wicket in the back garden and pretend it was the test match.
And have you kept the same team allegiances from those days?
Not really. I don’t have a passion for any one team, except Yorkshire county cricket, of course. Back when I was with Radio Leeds, I got very connected with Leeds United. Nowadays, I might gravitate towards Sheffield United, because I know the chairman well, but equally, I’m very supportive of Sheffield Wednesday, which makes me unique down there! And I always look out for the Bradford City results, as it’s my home town.
What was your starting point for the book, then? You say you didn’t necessarily see all the stars whilst they were playing?
The main criteria was that I had to have a story to tell about each of these people. I never saw Len Hutton live, only on newsreels, but I did have the privilege of meeting him. Similarly, I never saw John Charles in his pomp, but I did get to know him very well later. The two Charlton brothers, Jack and Bobby, said he was the greatest thing they’d ever seen, which is good enough for me.
Talking of John Charles, he’s not the only non-native Yorkshireman to make the list. I raised an eyebrow at Chris Waddle…
…Billy Bremner’s in there too. The main thing was they had to have a Yorkshire connection. Chris Waddle is probably the most controversial, because he only had a short connection with Yorkshire, but he is a Sheffield Wednesday legend. I wanted a book that appealed to the sporting public of Yorkshire and that meant not just narrowing it to Yorkshire-born stars.
There’s only one woman in the list too, Anita Lonsbrough…
Yes, I tried my best to think of others. I didn’t want to leave anyone out. There was Dorothy Hyman (Olympic silver medal sprinter). There were also female golfers and cricketers, but that’s a fairly modern phenomenon. The book’s about all-time greats, though, not just current sporting heroes. If I were doing it now, I’d include Jessica Ennis, of course. She would be number one. Maybe I’ll save that until book two!
So what do you think of the current generation? I notice Yorkshire football teams aren't doing so well right now. Are there future sporting heroes out there?
What I found with footballers of previous years is you could talk to them. The current crop aren’t interested in being talked about or being talked to. I hope I’m wrong but the golden age in that sense has gone. There’s young rugby league players and cricketers, but the current crop of Premiership players? No.
You seem to be such good friends with some of the people in the book. You tell us a story about drinking wine with Geoffrey Boycott on his South African estate. Is there anyone you feel you’ve missed out on meeting in your career?
No, I’m lucky I’ve got to know so many of them pretty well – Fred Trueman, God rest him… Geoff Boycott… Dickie Bird and I have been friends twenty years… Eddie Gray too, one of the nicest guys in sport. The people I’ve interviewed have just become part of my life!
Tickets for Harry's appearance at Carnegie Sporting Words Festival on 14 November are available on digyorkshire.com now, priced £5
Harry Gration’s Yorkshire Sporting Heroes (Dalesman Publishing) is out now, priced £9.99 in all good bookshops.