Ian Wooldridge facts for kids

Ian Edmund Wooldridge, an OBE, was a famous British sports journalist. He worked for the Daily Mail newspaper for almost 50 years. He was born on January 14, 1932, and passed away on March 4, 2007.

The Life of Ian Wooldridge

Ian Wooldridge was born in New Milton, Hampshire. He finished Brockenhurst Grammar School with two school certificates in English and art. After serving in the military for a short time (called National Service), he trained at newspapers in New Milton and Bournemouth. In 1956, he became a reporter for the News Chronicle. He later worked for the Sunday Dispatch before joining the Daily Mail in 1960. The Daily Mail took over the News Chronicle that same year.

Early Career in Journalism

Ian Wooldridge first worked as a cricket correspondent for the Daily Mail. From 1972, he started writing a weekly column that covered many different sports. He reported on 10 Olympic Games, including the Sarajevo Winter Olympics in 1984. Before those games, he thought something bad might happen, but he changed his mind after being there. He said they were some of the best games he had ever seen.

He also covered the Munich Olympics in 1972. Besides the Olympics, Wooldridge reported on many other big events. These included the Wimbledon tennis championships and heavyweight boxing world title fights. He also covered football World Cups, major golf tournaments like The Open and US Masters, and the America's Cup sailing races. His writing about the America's Cup made sailing interesting to many people who weren't usually fans of the sport. The last Olympics he covered was in Sydney in 2000.

Ian Wooldridge also wrote about other exciting topics. He reported on a revolution in Portugal and flew with the RAF's Red Arrows display team. He even rode the Cresta Run (a famous ice skeleton track) and ran with the bulls at Pamplona during the Festival of San Fermín. He also had a memorable experience sparring with Ugandan leader Idi Amin.

Wooldridge was named newspaper columnist of the year twice. He was also sportswriter of the year five times and sports feature writer of the year four times. His very first job was covering a coal merchant's funeral for a local paper. He stopped every person attending to write down their name, which delayed the funeral by over half an hour!

He once went to Alaska to cover a 1,100-mile dog sled race. He traveled with a photographer in a small plane. He later said, "You slept where you could... We stayed with Eskimo families, Indian families – there were no hotels."

Wooldridge also secretly wrote a column for golfer Max Faulkner. Once, he needed a good story about Faulkner winning The Open. So, he made up a story about the golfer writing "Open Champion 1949" on a ball and giving it to a young fan. Years later, Wooldridge met an American writer who loved the story. Wooldridge told him, "Total nonsense."

Television Work

Ian Wooldridge made over 120 documentaries for different TV channels, including the BBC. Some of his documentaries were called Wooldridge on Whiskey, In the Highest Tradition, and The Great Fishing Race. He was very active in TV during the late 1970s and early 1980s. He also did many voiceovers, including a famous British Gas advertisement where a baby swam underwater.

Standing Against Apartheid

Ian Wooldridge strongly opposed apartheid, which was a system of racial separation in South Africa. In 1969, he supported sportswriter John Arlott at the Cambridge Union. They spoke out against playing sports with South Africa because of apartheid.

His opposition began during his first cricket tour to South Africa. During a Port Elizabeth Test match, black South Africans were not allowed to enter the stadium and were even beaten by police. Because of phone problems, Wooldridge had to call his London office from the committee room. He had to read his report out loud in front of about 30 serious South African officials. He took a deep breath and dictated, "The wretchedly awful face of apartheid was displayed here today when..."

Awards and Recognition

Ian Wooldridge won many awards for his writing. In the British Press Awards, he was named Columnist of the Year in 1975 and 1976. He was also Sportswriter of the Year in 1972, 1974, 1981, and 1989. The Sports Journalists' Association chose him as Sportswriter of the Year for 1986, 1987, and 1995. They also named him Sports Feature Writer of the Year in 1990 and 1996.

In May 2006, he received the Edgar Wallace award from the London Press Club for his amazing reporting. The chairman of the Press Club, Donald Trelford, said that Wooldridge was "more than just a sports writer, he is a journalist of the highest calibre and a master of the written word."

Legacy

Ian Wooldridge passed away from cancer. A memorial service was held for him at the Guards Chapel in Wellington Barracks, London on July 27, 2007.

Hugh McIlvanney, another famous journalist, wrote about Wooldridge:

It is an honour to have worked in the same era as Ian Wooldridge, a precious privilege to have known him as a friend for more than 40 years. Though he would have snorted at the suggestion, he repeatedly pulled off the minor miracle of making our way of getting a living seem like a proper job for a grown-up person.

Ian Wooldridge's youngest son, Max, is a travel writer in the UK.