SPORTING MEMORIES - AND MORE - OF SKY TV PRESENTER MARK AUSTIN

 

 FOLLOWING a long and illustrious career with the BBC, ITV and now Sky TV, Mark Austin is a well-known face on TV screens in the UK.

Currently a studio-based  anchor man, Austin has worked in numerous war zones, including Iraq, Rwanda and Mogadishu.

But many of the early years of his life in the media were spent  as a sports correspondent, covering top events at Lords, Twickenham, Aintree, Wimbledon and overseas (including cricket tours and the Olympics).

Now in his newly-published book, And Thank You For Watching, he has recounted many of his most memorable experiences.

One amusing time came in 1990 when he was covering the England World Cup campaign in Italy.    

When he and his film crew arrived at their hotel in Naples for the match against Cameroon, the receptionist had no record of a booking under the name "Austin" and the premises were now
fully booked.

As they set off, dejected,  in search for another hotel, the receptionist called after them: "We have a booking tonight for a Mr Stin - Marco Stin."

Recalls the author: "The crew called me Marco for the rest of the trip!"

By complete contrast, Austin's experiences also included covering the Hillsborough tragedy of  the previous year.

He recalls: "As a sports correspondent you don't expect to turn up at a football ground to find scores of bodies lying on the floor of a gymnasium  that has become a makeshift mortuary.

"It was a story that was, in the most tragic way imaginable, to sum everything that was English football in the 80s - poor policing, inadequate and dangerous terracing and fans fenced in like animals".

This excellent memoir is published at £20 by Atlantic Books and available wherever books are sold.



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