It was the decade when sportsmen became sports stars, when homegrown heroes became international icons and Britons learned to love sport like never before.

The Sixties set the template for sport on TV. At the beginning of the decade, men in blazers lectured viewers on the finer points of swimming, show jumping and cycling, and they listened attentively. By the end, household names such as Coleman, Carpenter, Vine and McClaren raved about football, rugby and cricket. TV brought the national games to the nation.

In this affectionate history of the decade, the pioneers and stars explore how sport itself was transformed by a revolution in broadcasting.

TV'S SIXTIES SPORTING HIGHLIGHTS

• 1960: The Grand National televised for the first time with the BBC Chairman and Director General's exclusive Pullman Car adapted to film tracking shots.
• 1962: World Cup - Italy vs Chile. David Coleman resents "the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football possibly in the history of the game", featuring more thrown punches than throw-ins.
1963: One-day cricket is born with the introduction of the Gillette Cup knock-out tournament which quickly becomes a fixture of the Sunday afternoon schedules.
• 1964: Seven million Brits stay up to watch Olympic gold medalist Cassius Clay's surprise victory over Sonny Liston in the first fight to transmit across the Atlantic by satellite.
  Tokyo Olympics is the first Games to be broadcast via satellite, causing anxiousness among presenters waiting for a live link-up.
• 1966: BBC and ITV broadcast the World Cup. As well as an England victory it also generates the most famous piece of commentary ever - Kenneth Wolstenholme's classic "They think it's all over, it is now".
• 1967: The first day of the All-England Tennis Championships at Wimbledon becomes the first-ever programme in Europe to transmit in colour.
• 1968: ITV launches World of Sport allowing Dickie Davies to introduce viewers to the delights of wrestling, speedway and stock car racing.
• 1969: Pot Black becomes a surprise hit on BBC Two - the only network broadcasting in colour - and establishes snooker as a television spectacle with a devoted following of millions.

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