A Saturday morning staple for a generation of British sports fans, ‘Trans World Sport’ has been produced continuously since 1987 – until this week; the show introduced viewers across the globe to future legends like the Williams sisters and Tiger Woods; Philip Barker was the first person hired to work on the programme; here, he looks back on its unique broadcasting journey…
This week, TV viewers across the world watched the very last edition of ‘Trans World Sport.’
There was a time when it was required Saturday morning viewing on Channel 4, but now, after almost 38-and-a-half years, it was goodbye for the final time.
“We’re launching a ‘sports anthology’, and I’m looking for a researcher,” said an American voice on the other end of the telephone one summer’s day in 1986.
The voice belonged to Arthur Rosenblum, a very senior executive at Trans World International, the television arm of International Management Group (IMG).
This “sports anthology” – soon christened ‘Trans World Sport’ – was the brainchild of IMG supremo Mark McCormack. A high-flying lawyer from Cleveland, he’d represented top golfers Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player at a time when sports agents were unheard of.
It was decreed that TWS was to be produced in London, so in spring 1987, a production team came together in the production office at Pier House, overlooking the River Thames at Kew.
Led by Stewart Binns, a one-time teacher who’d worked for the BBC, it included some experienced hands but also gave a start to many talented individuals. One of the first production secretaries is now a senior figure in Olympic broadcasting; others became renowned producers and executives.
In 1987, Mike Tyson was about to become the undisputed heavyweight champion, rugby union’s first World Cup was won by New Zealand, and England had just retained the Ashes.
“Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” by Starship topped the charts. Prophetic?
The programme was syndicated worldwide, so everything needed international appeal. Regular calls to newsdesks on the other side of the world were a must, to be sure what was making news from Argentina to Zimbabwe.
The opening titles were just as international, with Sudanese runner Omar Khalifa the first to appear, followed by images from football, bandy, table tennis, golf, tennis, baseball, cricket, NFL, basketball, figure skating, sumo, windsurfing, boxing and bushkazi, of which more later.
Each programme began with a question. The answer was given before the closing titles rolled some 51 minutes later.
The first programme was narrated by the renowned football commentator Gerald Sinstadt.
Later, American actor Marc Smith, whose credits include “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and the late Helen Rollason did so before the arrival of Bruce Hammal and Sue Carpenter, a duo synonymous with TWS for over 30 years.
The technology has moved on. In 1987, there was an “offline” edit or rough cut. An edit assistant noted every edit by hand, before all the tapes needed were taken up to studios in central London to “stitch” the final programme together. A triumph of organisation.
Every Tuesday, the latest edition was shipped across the world on “one-inch” tapes the size of a “deep pan” pizza.
It was narrated in English, but interviewees were encouraged to speak in their native tongue. A full transcription was provided to help with translation and guidance on pace and mood of delivery. A special hand stamp with either a smiling or frowning face suggested the tone. Who needs computer emojis?
Teen sensations, ‘Cool Runnings’ and weird sports
One of the early producers was Jamie Baker, who’d cut his teeth in Brighton at the Argus covering Brighton and Hove Albion and Bognor Regis Town. He travelled to Montevideo to film at the Copa Libertadores Final, the South American equivalent of the UEFA Champions League. The atmosphere started at fever pitch and went up a few notches further, all a long way from “Sussex by the Sea.”
The African Cup of Nations (AFCON), largely unknown outside Africa, was given greater projection by TWS cameras.
The programme also carried the only post-match interview with Michel Platini, after he’d led France against the Rest of the World, captained by Diego Maradona in a gala testimonial in Nancy. Both wore a message on their shirts, “No Drug”.
The Berlin Wall was still in place, but East German television happily sent footage of many of their stars. The real story of how they’d dominated Olympic sport was only revealed much later.
Crews returned from Albania with footage of a player wearing an England football shirt. It turned out that goalkeeper Halim Mersini had swapped his jersey with Peter Shilton after a World Cup qualifier. Mersini insisted on wearing it for every subsequent training session.
The Olympics also became an important element as a crew was despatched to Lausanne to record a special feature on the International Olympic Committee. In subsequent years, almost every Olympic nation was visited in a “ring cycle” of sorts, but then the programme’s theme music had been written by Adrian Wagner, said to be a descendant of Richard.
At the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, the late Martin Marks, another of the early producers, uncovered the story of the Jamaican bobsleigh team and returned with their team song, a reggae number more tuneful than usual sporting offerings. The movie “Cool Runnings” wasn’t released for another five years.
Every tape shot was carefully logged, shot by shot and consigned to the TWS library.
The material included a young golfer named “Tiger” Woods and tennis-playing sisters Venus and Serena Williams. TWS could always spot a star “before they were famous.”
Other tapes included film of Belgian goalkeeper Jean-Marie Pfaff singing in the bath.
There was also plenty from the historic film archives. An early curiosity was Jesse Owens racing and winning against a horse in 1937, only a few months after winning four Olympic gold medals.
For some, the programme will also inevitably conjure up images of the weird and wonderful. Early hits were bog snorkelling and of course, buzkashi, similar to polo but with an animal carcass instead of a ball.
Eventually, a TWS crew travelled to Afghanistan to film it in 2008.
One thing is certain – whatever they find to fill the schedules, there’ll never be another ‘Trans World Sport.’
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