Vassos Alexander's last day on 5 live
"....pur tenis ocrrsspoendte KJojatahsnda O verebed. Murrays foirst one court tgoday at 11 UK toime"
So read the scripts for one of our sports bulletins from last week. The author of this remarkable piece of prose is Vassos Alexander, who is leaving 5 live after seven years, the last two and a half reading the sport on Breakfast.
Despite what it looks like, the above text was delivered on air as '...our tennis correspondent Jonathan Overend. Murray's first on court today at 11 UK time'. When he's hurried, Vassos' typing becomes illegible.
Another example from the same day: "Andy Murray faces Florien Mayer today in teh quaretrbiaksslk of teh mastres 1000 tnenis in Rome", or "...anohte4r sporsman who's lost his aura of invincibility i slicking hois woulds in teh ewake of an9other shock defeat...". Somehow, this is delivered lucidly on-air.
In Vassos' time with us, he's been to World Cups, Summer and Winter Olympics, all four tennis Grand Slams, Ashes series, Ryder Cups, and golf majors.
Whether it's Amy Williams' gold medal in Vancouver, key points at the Ryder Cup, or interviewing David Beckham, he brings his unique style of broadcasting - often irreverent, but intelligent, insightful, with warmth and knowledge, and with the ability to point out aspects of top-level sport that you hadn't considered before. Plus, he's never afraid to show off his own athletic prowess:
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Vassos is unique to work with. Sometimes I'll marvel at some of the wonderfully crafted bulletins that he's written; other times, you'll notice that he hasn't started work on a bulletin with two minutes to go, and he's standing in the middle of the sportsroom having a shave.
The man's appetite is insatiable. He eats almost hourly, and legend has it that he can put away a whole loaf of bread in one sitting. If no food is to hand, he'll turn his attention to pen lids, often resulting in a streak of biro ink on his face.
But there's no-one who's more of a joy to work with than Vassos. Even when coming in at half past four after a few hours' restless sleep, you're still guaranteed at least three belly laughs per shift. He's someone that you always look forward to working alongside, either in the office, or on outside broadcasts.
It's a sad loss for us, and I'll miss the trail of chewed highlighter pens between his desk and the studio. Here are some of his best moments on 5 live:
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Tim Peach is the sport producer on 5 live Breakfast
Comment number 1.
At 07:07 27th May 2011, Sir Bruce Hall wrote:Where is Vassos going?
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Comment number 2.
At 07:38 27th May 2011, Nigel Smith wrote:Vassos is going to Radio 2. No hard feelings!
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Comment number 3.
At 08:42 27th May 2011, carrie wrote:More to the point, George Riley is joining Breakfast.
Enough said.
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Comment number 4.
At 08:45 27th May 2011, carrie wrote:Forgot to say, farewell and good luck to Vassos.
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Comment number 5.
At 08:55 27th May 2011, Chris Grant wrote:Vassos leaving; let's hope his successor is less obsessed with rubbish American sports and gives some county cricket news. When did Vassos last give a county result or mention highlights, not a word about Graham Napier's world record 16 sixes in an innings last week!!
Chris
Harold Wood
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Comment number 6.
At 09:40 27th May 2011, Binkie wrote:Vassos is ok with me.....he's a Villa supporter.
Good luck to you sir.
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Comment number 7.
At 09:40 27th May 2011, Pickle wrote:Lets just hope his successor remembers that he is a sports bulletin presenter and not a comedy sidekick for the other two!
Good luck Vassos. I think you are one of the better ones!
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Comment number 8.
At 10:15 27th May 2011, carrie wrote:So am I Binkie. Vassos has never shuvved that down our throats in the way that some sports presenters go on about their beloved teams.
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Comment number 9.
At 10:28 27th May 2011, Steve Cooke wrote:Wow - someone who can read the sports news on radio is going away and gets a blog all about him. And he's being replaced by another person who can also read the sports news on radio. AMAZING.
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Comment number 10.
At 10:48 27th May 2011, carrie wrote:Excuse me for saying this NonEnglish, but this blog about Vassos fits the brief outlined above: "Best bits, events, changes and announcements."
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Comment number 11.
At 11:28 27th May 2011, darlogas wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 12.
At 12:34 27th May 2011, Dinkleberry wrote:George Riley is joining Breakfast?.. so that's Rachel Burden's rugby talking sidekick sorted.
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Comment number 13.
At 14:31 27th May 2011, darlogas wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 14.
At 14:40 27th May 2011, David Shield wrote:Good luck with the new job Vassos.
But that is a strange one, is he really leaving Five Live where he has covered most of the biggest sports events on location for a studio based role on Radio 2, that seems an odd move??
George Riley for Breakfast is a good call, wonder who will be the lunchtime regular sports presenter then?
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Comment number 15.
At 15:01 27th May 2011, Fedster wrote:More to the point Nigel, WHY has he decided to join Radio 2, it is a strange 1, was he pushed or was he offered better terms by Bob Sheenan?
Can you shed some light on this Nigel?
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Comment number 16.
At 15:29 27th May 2011, what wrote:Salford!
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Comment number 17.
At 11:56 28th May 2011, ryanw wrote:Another victim of the move to Salford. It's pretty clear that as a radio sports news reader and broadcast journalist you'd be daft to move from _the_ BBC sports radio network where you get cushy assignments travelling the world to read out sports news headlines at some of the world's great sports events to a BBC music radio station UNLESS of course you were being forced to move.
So _why_ is Vassos moving?
All that said Vassos is an excellent broadcaster and will be a loss to the breakfast programme.
George Riley is a very poor replacement... I do hope he does remember that he is just a news reader and not a co-host.
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Comment number 18.
At 12:03 28th May 2011, darlogas wrote:"George Riley is a very poor replacement... I do hope he does remember that he is just a news reader and not a co-host."
Yes. No chance.
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Comment number 19.
At 12:39 31st May 2011, dickbilltil wrote:Am I missing the point. V Alexander (pause) presented his (pause) reports IN A manner that (pause) made the vast MAJORITY unINTELLIgible.
So no loss there.
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Comment number 20.
At 16:56 31st May 2011, ryanw wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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Comment number 21.
At 17:03 31st May 2011, Binkie wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
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