INTERVIEW
Above: South Africa v the Lions, Ellis Park, Johannesburg in 1955
Below: Cliff Morgan with wife Pat
Henry Cooper, who died last year,
as the original team captains of A
Question of Sport. In radio he found
a natural outlet for his love of music,
presenting for a time the BBC Radio
2 series These You Have Loved.
He retired from BBC television in
1987, and returned to radio, and the
following year was the subject of ITV's
This Is Your Life.
In 1974 Cliff became Head of
Outside Broadcasts for BBC Television
responsible for such programmes as
Grandstand, Sportsnight, Match of
the Day, Mastermind and national and
sporting events including the wedding
of Prince Charles to Diana, Olympic
Games and World Cups.
After Cliff and Pat stopped working
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they were still living in the centre of
London, but had no particular reason
to do so. On one visit to Singapore,
Cliff suddenly announced: “I never
want to travel again!”
So they decided to leave London
behind, and made the Island their
intended destination. They found
their dream home in Bembridge, put
in an offer that was accepted, and sold
their London flat. But two months
later the Island home was taken off the
market, so after searching in vain for
an alternative Pat decided they should
look elsewhere. Her comment was met
with a sharp response from Cliff who
said: “I am hooked – I want to live on
the Island.”
Thankfully for them, their original
choice was soon back on the market,
and this time the deal went through
without a hitch. He had been made
patron of Ventnor Rugby Club some
25 years earlier, and discovered soon
after he moved here that he was still
patron, and has maintained close ties
with the club.
It all began when he agreed to speak
at a club dinner on a Friday and then
had to make a mad dash via a tiny
boat across the Solent and then by car
to Aintree for the Grand National.
The older members remembered him
well for he tipped the winner of the
National, Rubstick, which came in at
66 to 1!
Cliff says: “I have been lucky all my
life. We love Bembridge, and we love
the whole Island. The one thing we
noticed when we came here was how
friendly everyone is. Bembridge is a
wonderful place to live. We have our
own bakery for fresh bread, a butcher’s
shop with wonderful meat, an
excellent fishmongers, an equally good
farm shop and a lovely deli.
“It is nice to live by the sea, because
when I was in Wales as a young boy
we saw the sea once a year – a chapel
trip on a double-decker bus to Barry
Island. I love it here on the Island.
Everyone greets you with a big smile
and the sun always seems to shine –
particularly when Wales win the Grand
Slam! What more could an old man
ask for?”