Jackie Fullerton

John Alexander Fullerton, MBE (born 22 May 1943

Broadcasting career

UTV Fullerton's presenting career began in 1973 as a reporter and presenter for Ulster Television. and became the main sports anchor on UTV's evening magazine programme, Good Evening Ulster.

In his autobiography, Fullerton revealed he almost accepted a sports reporter position at Granada Television in 1978, but decided to remain in Northern Ireland for the sake of his family. He also disclosed the controversy caused by rumours of an affair with Good Evening Ulster presenting colleague Gloria Hunniford, which were untrue. The same year saw Fullerton undergo triple heart by-pass surgery following a period of ill health. He returned to commentary duties in January 2005.

In 2007, Sky Sports obtained live broadcast rights to Northern Ireland's international matches for £10million. Rumours circulated at the time that Fullerton had been approached by the network to commentate on their coverage of Northern Ireland games. These rumours were unfounded when Fullerton disclosed while he had talks with Sky, he had signed a 'rolling contract' to remain with BBC Northern Ireland.

DVDs In 2008, Fullerton interviewed Northern Ireland international David Healy on the footballer's DVD, David Healy, The Talisman.

Writing Fullerton published his autobiography, Jackie: "I Did It My Way", in 2006. He is married with three sons: Darren, Nicky and Gareth, who are all sports journalists themselves.

Personal life Before becoming a footballer, Fullerton trained to be an accountant. His uncle Alex Russell was a footballer who played for Linfield and earned one cap for the Northern Ireland national team.

Sporting honours Irish League: Crusaders 1972/73