Marjorie Pollard

Marjorie Pollard OBE (3 August 1899 – 21 March 1982) was an English field hockey player, film maker and writer. She was the first woman to commentate on sport for the BBC.

Marjorie Pollard
Personal information
Born(1899-08-03)3 August 1899
Rugby, Warwickshire, England
Died21 March 1982(1982-03-21) (aged 82)
Sport
Country United Kingdom
SportHockey

Life

Marjorie Pollard was born in Rugby, Warwickshire. She was educated at Peterborough County Grammar School for Girls, and St Peter's College, Saltley.[1]

She played for Northamptonshire county hockey association. She played hockey nearly every year for England from 1921 to 1937, playing 37 times.[2][3] In 1926, she helped found the Women's Cricket Association.[1]

Marjorie Pollard was the first woman to commentate on sport for the BBC, her first BBC commentary was on a men's cricket match in 1935.[2]

She was a keen film maker and although she did not play in the 1938 match between England and Wales she filmed it. She filmed it at the same time as the BBC, but her film was in colour. Her films have recently been digitised.[4]

She edited and wrote the weekly Hockey Field, and Women's Cricket. In 1965, she was awarded an OBE.[1]

In 2020 a blue plaque was unveiled in her memory on the site of her former school, the County Grammar School in Peterborough, by the local Civic Society.[2]

References
  1. Wilson, Judith. "Pollard, Marjorie Anne (1899–1982)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/65061. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. "Plaque remembers first BBC woman sport commentator". BBC News. 2020-06-25. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  3. "Marjorie Pollard | English athlete". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
  4. "Marjorie Pollard Goes Home". www.hockeymuseum.net. Retrieved 2020-06-14.


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