Ruth Holdaway on Helen Rollason

Great Lives

Ruth Holdaway - the former Chief Executive of Women in Sport - picks pioneering sports broadcaster Helen Rollason.

Helen trained as a teacher, but after stints in community and local radio moved to the BBC to report for and later present the BBC’s 'Newsround' for children.

She kept her hand in with sport and made history in 1990 when she was appointed as the first female presenter of BBC TV’s flagship 'Grandstand'. Sport was largely a male-dominated world at the time and there were plenty both inside and outside the Corporation who would have happily have seen her fail.

Presented by Matthew Parris, with John Caunt who helped Helen write her autobiography.

Plus contributions from Clare Balding, James Pearce and Deb Crook.

Producer: Toby Field

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2016.