Sporting Legends - Walter Winterbottom

By: Cliff Morgan OBE

Narrated by: Sir Walter Winterbottom, Cliff Morgan OBE CVO

Length: 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Cliff Morgan talks to sporting personalities of the past. In this recording he is in conversation with the first full-time manager of the England football team, Walter Winterbottom.

Walter Winterbottom was the first full-time manager of the England football team. He was appointed in 1946 and held the job for sixteen years. In the 1930s he played for Manchester United but his on-field career was cut short by a spinal condition. Under his management England had mixed fortunes, with impressive results statistics set against some spectacular failures, notably the defeat by the United States in the 1950 World Cup. After leaving the FA he became director-general of the Sports Council. Sir Walter, who was knighted in 1978, died in 2002 at the age of 89. “Morgan the Magnificent” was the title given to Cliff Morgan by South African newspapers when he toured the country with the British Lions team in 1955.

His success in that tour earned him the captaincy of Wales the following season. Cliff was born into a mining family in the Rhondda in 1930 and joined Cardiff Rugby Club straight from school, playing at fly-half. When his playing career ended in 1958 he joined the BBC, working as a TV commentator and producer. For the last ten years of his BBC career he was Head of Television Sport and Outside Broadcasts, with overall responsibility for the coverage of state occasions, as well as all major sporting events. After he retired from the staff of the BBC he became the presenter of the popular Radio 4 programme "Sport on Four".

©1999 Business Sound Ltd. (P)2008 Crimson Cats Audio Books

Critic reviews

"I’ve come across the most select little audio book company, Crimson Cats of Norfolk, who have just added ‘Sporting Legends” to their beguilingly bespoke list. These feature fabled old timer, Cliff Morgan." (Frank Keating, The Oldie Magazine)