BBC chiefs today paid tribute to Peter Dimmock, the first presenter of Grandstand, Sportsview and the Sports Personality of the Year awards, who has died aged 94.
Mr Dimmock joined the BBC as head of outside broadcasts in 1946, and brought the Queen's Coronation to the nation's screens in 1953.
He had cut his journalistic teeth on the racing desk at the Press Association.
BBC director-general Tony Hall said: "Peter Dimmock was a true pioneer of broadcasting. A man of many firsts - the first host of Grandstand and the first host of the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year.
"As the man who oversaw coverage of the Queen's Coronation he was also responsible for a seminal moment in British broadcasting history.
"Peter's broadcasting mirrored the man - charming, warm, and authoritative. He is a much-admired figure who will be deeply missed."
Former BBC One Controller Sir Paul Fox said: "Peter Dimmock led BBC Sports to some of its greatest successes.
"It was his driving force that brought viewers at home events that changed the history of sport. He was also the producer responsible for televising the Coronation of the Queen.
"It was Peter Dimmock who introduced the British public to television.
"He persuaded the people who mattered that the Coronation Service of the Queen should be televised, thereby ensuring the arrival of television in this country.
"More than 20 million watched the Coronation, the majority outside their homes. Within 12 months television licences had doubled."
Barbara Slater, the director of BBC Sport, said: "Peter was one of the great broadcasting pioneers.
"From Grandstand to Sports Personality of the Year, he made an extraordinary contribution not just to sport broadcasting but the whole of the industry.
"He was hugely admired by both the audience and those that worked with him. He will be sadly missed."
Dimmock, a former Royal Air Force flight lieutenant, worked for the BBC for 31 years.
He organised the corporation's coverage of Sir Winston Churchill's funeral in 1965, but told the Press Association earlier this year how the finest memory of his career was arranging coverage of the Coronation in 1953, when he is credited with persuading the authorities to allow the cameras into Westminster Abbey.
He said: "The Duke of Norfolk and I had long discussions about it, and momentum built up in the country so that in the end it happened."
Churchill is supposed to have said: "Why should the public get a better view than me?"
Mr Dimmock said: "I don't know whether he said that, but if he did it would have been as a joke. I met him seven or eight times and he was a charming man."
Of Churchill's funeral, he said: "I will never ever forget it. It was the most moving and wonderful day.
"I was in the discussions about whether the cranes (near the Thames) should dip or not. It was fascinating because some people, much to my surprise, in Cabinet, said no, but the majority view was that they should dip when his coffin was put on the barge."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here