Sue
Barker M.B.E.
Sue was born in Paignton on the 17th of April 1956.
Coached by Arthur Roberts she was described as ‘a natural
athlete with an especially potent forehand‘. Sue reached
the Australian Open semi-final in 1975. In 1976 at the age of 20 she won a Grand slam event - the French Open. In the following year she reached the semi finals at Wimbledon. This helped her reach a
career high world ranking of number four.
Sue helped Britain to win the Wightman Cup at the Royal Albert Hall in 1978 and she
also won 32 of her 45 Federation Cup matches.
Sue began her television career with Channel Seven in Australia
and since joining the BBC has presented many great sporting
events including the Summer and Winter Olympics, Wimbledon,
Grandstand and Sports Review of the Year. She also helped
present the BBC‘s coverage of the Royal Wedding of
the Duke and Duchess of Wessex.
She took over from David Coleman as presenter of "A
Question of Sport" in 1997.
In 2000 Sue was awarded the M.B.E.
for her services to sport and broadcasting.
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Ally
McCoist M.B.E.
Ally was born in Bellshill, on the 24th of September 1962.
He joined St Johnstone from Fir Park Boys Club and made
his debut during the 1978/9 season. After scoring 22 League
goals in the 1980/1 season, Ally joined Sunderland, but
stayed only two seasons before signing for Rangers.
Initially, the Ibrox fans were hard to please, but Ally
won them over with a hat-trick against Celtic in the 1984
League Cup final - and picked up the first of nine winners’
medals in that competition. Ally also scored the winner
in his only Scottish Cup final victory, in 1992.
Ally played in a record ten Championship winning teams for
Rangers (1987, 1989-97). He scored a club record 250 League
goals, and altogether managed 355 goals in his 581 games
for Rangers.
He won the European Golden Boot in the 1991-1992
season, after scoring 34 goals, and was also named Scotland’s
Player of the Year. The following season he won the Golden
Boot again, and helped Rangers to the brink of the European
Champions’ League final.
Ally won 61 caps for Scotland, scoring 19 goals. He
received the MBE in 1994, and became a team captain on A
Question of Sport in 1996. He joined Kilmarnock in 1998 and finally hung up his boots at the end of the 2000-01 season.
Ally has already established himself off the pitch as an all round entertainer. He has appeared in a BBC television chat show with Fred Macauley and regularly pops up as a football pundit. In March 2000 he and John Parrott clocked up 100 appearances
as team captains on "A Question of Sport".
In
time for Christmas 2000 Ally, back on the bench again, passed
judgement on a hilarious compilation of sporting bloopers
on the video "Ally
McCoist’s Trial and Errors".
Judge McCoist can be seen disclosing evidence of hilarious
out-takes from the ‘A Question of Sport‘ programme.
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John
Parrott M.B.E.
John was born in Liverpool on the 11th of May 1964.
John won Junior Pot Black in 1982 and 1983. He turned professional
in 1983 and has been ranked in the world's top 16 for 13
years. He won his first ranking event, and reached his first
world final in 1989. In 1990 John made the highest break
at the World Championships.
In 1991 he won the World Championship and the UK title -
one of only four players to do so in the same year. He
later described the first session of his World final victory
over Jimmy White as the best he has ever played - John took
all 7 frames and won the match 18 - 11.
Throughout his career
John has been in 33 professional finals, winning 15 of them. Nine of those wins have come in ranking events.
He made his 100th professional century
break in 1992/3 - the same season that he scored a maximum
147 in the Matchroom League.
A lifelong Everton fan and keen golfer, John has always been a horse
racing ’enthusiast’ and has hinted he may take up training once his snooker playing days are over.
John became a team captain on "A Question of Sport"
in 1996 and in March 2000 he and Ally McCoist clocked
up 100 appearances as team captains on the show.
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