Ian Wooldridge

Ian Edmund Wooldridge, OBE (14 January 1932 – 4 March 2007) was a British sports journalist. He was with the Daily Mail for nearly 50 years. He died from cancer. His memorial service was at the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, London on Wednesday 27 June 2007.

Born in New Milton, Hampshire, Wooldridge left Brockenhurst Grammar School with two school certificates, for English and art.

After National Service and an apprenticeship on newspapers in New Milton and Bournemouth, he became a reporter on the News Chronicle in 1956. After a spell with the Sunday Dispatch, he moved to the Daily Mail, which absorbed the News Chronicle in 1960

Initially a cricket correspondent at the Mail, from 1972 Wooldridge wrote a weekly column which spread to other sports. He covered 10 Olympic Games, including the Sarajevo Winter Olympics in 1984. Writing before these games, he predicted a tragedy, but changed his mind after being there, saying they were amongst the best he had ever seen. In 1972 he covered the Munich Olympics and caused resentment among British runners with a brutish and insensitive attack on David Bedford – it emerged that Wooldridge had had to take some ribbing from foreign journalists over Bedford's failure in the 10,000 metres. His last Games were in Sydney in 2000, as well as Wimbledon tennis championships, heavyweight world title bouts, football World Cups, Open and US Masters golf championships and America's Cups for the paper. His America's Cup reporting opened the sport to a wide audience other than sailing enthusiasts. He was assisted by PR and friend David Redfern, of whom Wooldridge said " with his help, the eyes of Coronation Street as well as the Squadron are on the Cup" but in reality it was Ian's writing and interest that was the key.

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