Alan Weeks

Alan Frederick Weeks (8 September 1923 – 11 June 1996) was an English television sports reporter and commentator for the BBC from 1951 to 1996. He was assigned to work as the publicity manager of the Brighton Sports Stadium after he was demobbed from the Royal Naval Reserve in 1946. Three years later, Weeks was discovered by BBC Television outside broadcast producer Peter Dimmock and joined the corporation as a regular sports commentator in 1951. He covered more than 30 sports for the BBC such as ice skating, ice hockey, swimming, gymnastics, football, snooker, the Summer Olympic Games, the Winter Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games until his retirement in 1996. Weeks was the first director of the Sports Aid Foundation between 1976 and 1983, later serving as an elected governor of the foundation.

Early life and war service Weeks was born on 8 September 1923 in Bristol, the son of the Captain Frederick Charles Weeks and his wife Ada Frances Weeks. His family moved to Brighton when he was five upon his father becoming piermaster of the Palace Pier because of his deteriorating eyesight. Weeks attended Brighton Hove and Sussex Grammar School.

When he was 16 years old, Weeks left school to go to sea as a cadet in the British Merchant Navy. He was transferred to the Royal Naval Reserve as a midshipman in 1941,

Career He returned to Brighton after he was demobbed, and was assigned to be the publicity manager of the Brighton Sports Stadium by the London-based Tom Arnold entertainments organisation in 1946. He reported on every Winter Olympic Games held between 1964 and 1994, every Summer Olympic Games from 1968 to 1988, Weeks provided commentary on events such as the Speedway World Championship, Gymnastics World Championships, the World Archery Championships the World Handball Championship. the European Figure Skating Championships and the World Figure Skating Championships. He recovered to report on the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary but he was required to reduce his broadcasting commitments as a result. Major competitions he covered included five FIFA World Cup final tournaments from 1962 to 1978, and Newcastle United's last trophy win, the second leg of the 1969 Fairs Cup Final against Ujpest Dozja. From 1970 to 1984, Weeks presented the BBC2 snooker series Pot Black, which popularised the game in the country.

From 1973 to 1974, Weeks was director of the London Lions Ice Hockey Club, Weeks replaced the businessman and foundation chairman Peter Cadbury, Weeks was the president of the English National League from 1981 to 1982,

He made his last broadcast in March 1996, commentating at the 1996 World Figure Skating Championships in Edmonton, Alberta, after which he announced his retirement.

Personal life He married Barbara Jane Huckle, a figure skater, on 6 September 1947. Weeks died of cancer at his home in Hove, East Sussex early on 11 June 1996 at the age of 72.