David Vine (b. 3 January 1936) is a British television sports presenter. He has presented a wide variety of shows since the 1970s. Born in Devon, he worked for various newspapers before joining ITV, though he worked for the BBC for the majority of his broadcasting career.
Programmes that he has hosted include Sportscene, It's a Knockout (1967-1971), Quiz Ball, Rugby Special, Match of the Day, A Question of Sport (1970-1978), Grandstand, Superstars, Starshot, Ski Sunday (1978-1996) and the BBC's Winter and Summer Olympic Games coverage.
He has also provided the BBC TV commentary for the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, also hosting the preview shows of the international entries and compered the 1975 Miss World broadcast, the latter resulting in some embarrassment owing to his lack of facility with languages. He was the first presenter to introduce the tennis championships at Wimbledon (1967) in colour. He presented Wimbledon highlights until 1982.
He was the anchorman at the World Snooker Championships at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, from 1978 – the first year the BBC covered the championships daily – until his retirement in 2000 as well as the Grand Prix, UK Championship and the Masters. Vine's supposed friendship with Steve Davis was parodied in a Spitting Image sketch in which Davis boasted "I'm a mate of David Vine"!
His final work for the BBC was as a weightlifting commentator at the 2000 Sydney Olympics which he had done since the 1970's, after which he retired due to a heart condition.
