It’s nearly 40 years since the plan to meet the Crazy Gang in a ground-breaking fixture hit the buffersIn a 47-year career at the BBC, Nicholas Witchell has covered a string of major events. The list includes the deaths...

It’s nearly 40 years since the plan to meet the Crazy Gang in a ground-breaking fixture hit the buffers

In a 47-year career at the BBC, Nicholas Witchell has covered a string of major events. The list includes the deaths of Queen Elizabeth and Diana, Princess of Wales, the Falklands and Gulf Wars, Lockerbie and Zeebrugge. On Christmas Eve 1983, it was his solemn duty to inform the nation of something less seismic: the final score in the Division Three fixture between Brentford and Wimbledon.

The 5pm news, tucked away between The Dukes of Hazzard and Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em, ended with a report from Griffin Park. The BBC had sent a crew to west London because it was the only professional game played in England. And though Leeds met Manchester United in the Premier League on 24 December 1995, it remains the last Football League fixture to be played on Christmas Eve.

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