Ned Boulting

Ned Boulting
Boulting in 2017
Born
Norris Edward Boulting[1]

(1969-07-11) 11 July 1969 (age 55)[2]
Andover, Hampshire,[2] England, UK
OccupationTV presenter
Notable credit(s)Sky Sports (1997–2001)
ITV Sport (2001–present)
Channel 4 (2012)
Bike (2016–2017)

Norris Edward "Ned" Boulting (born 11 July 1969) is a British sports journalist, television presenter and podcaster best known for his coverage of football, cycling and darts.

Early life and education

Boulting, pictured in May 2015.

Boulting was born in Andover, Hampshire,[2] but moved to Bedford as a child. He attended Bedford School, where he studied for A-levels in French, German and English, before reading modern languages at Jesus College, Cambridge.[3] He is the grandson of film director John Boulting.[4]

Career

After several "completely directionless" years,[3] his television career began in 1997 when he joined Sky Sports' Soccer Saturday alongside Jeff Stelling. He joined ITV Sports in 2001, and has covered a range of football events including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and the FA Cup. He became a reporter for ITV's Tour de France coverage in 2003 and has reported at every Tour since, as well as on other cycling events including the Tour of Britain and the Vuelta a España. He also covered the London 2012 Summer Paralympics for Channel 4.[2] He was awarded the Royal Television Society's Sports News Reporter of the Year Award in 2006.[5] Boulting branched out into commentating in 2015, providing commentary for ITV4's coverage of the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire[6] and the Vuelta a España alongside David Millar.[7] Boulting and Millar commentated for ITV4 on the 2016 Tour de France and subsequent ones.[8] Boulting produced and directed Dutch Master – A tribute to Dennis Bergkamp for Sky Sports in 1998, and Steven Gerrard – A Year in My Life for Sky 1 in 2006.[2]

Following on from the success of his Bikeology tour, in 2018 Ned announced his newly revamped 'Tour de Ned'. A one-man theatrical cycling roadshow that tours the UK in conjunction with the Tour de France from 28 September - 17 November.[9]

Boulting made his darts commentary debut at the 2020 Masters after being a long term pundit for ITV Sport PDC events.[10]

Since April 2020 Boulting has co-presented the podcast Streets Ahead with Adam Tranter and Laura Laker. The podcast involves discussions of active travel infrastructure and often includes interviewing guests.

Books

  • How I Won the Yellow Jumper: Dispatches from the Tour de France (Yellow Jersey Press, 2011) ISBN 978-0224083362[11]
  • How Cav Won the Green Jersey: Short Dispatches from the 2011 Tour de France (Vintage Digital, 2012)
  • On The Road Bike: The Search For A Nation’s Cycling Soul (Yellow Jersey Press, 2013) ISBN 978-0224083362[12]
  • 101 Damnations: Dispatches from the 101st Tour de France (Yellow Jersey Press, 2014) ISBN 978-0224099936
  • Square Peg, Round Ball: Football, TV and Me (Bloomsbury, 2022) ISBN 9781472979261
  • 1923: The Mystery of Lot 212 and a Tour de France Obsession (Bloomsbury, 2023) ISBN 9781399401548

References

  1. ^ Boulting, Norris Edward. "Birth Record". FreeBMD.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Ned Boulting". MTC (UK) Ltd. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  3. ^ a b Marquand, Rupert (11 August 2013). "Winning over the cycling audience". Bedfordshire on Sunday.
  4. ^ Boulting, Ned. "My grandfather John Boulting..." Twitter.
  5. ^ Brooke, Mike (3 May 2013). "Ned Boulting signs book at Canary Wharf on Britain's cycling obsession". Docklands and East London Advertiser.
  6. ^ "The Tour de Yorkshire 2015" (Press release). itv.com. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  7. ^ "La Vuelta a Espana 2015" (Press release). itv.com. 12 August 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  8. ^ "The Tour De France 2016" (Press release). ITV (TV network). 22 June 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  9. ^ "Ned Boulting on Twitter". Twitter.
  10. ^ Boulting, Ned (31 January 2020). "Tonight I will be commentating on darts for the first time in my life. I've reported on it for a decade, and I've even written a book all about it. I love the darts. But I am more nervous than I can ever remember being since I started out in TV. Go easy on me, folks. 7pm @itv4". @nedboulting. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  11. ^ Pidd, Helen (26 May 2011). "Review: How I Won The Yellow Jumper by Ned Boulting - Helen Pidd". The Guardian.
  12. ^ Pidd, Helen (29 May 2013). "Review: On The Road Bike by Ned Boulting - Helen Pidd". The Guardian.