{{Short description|British journalist and broadcaster (born 1965)}} {{Use British English|date=August 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Des Kelly | image = Des Kelly presents UEFA Champion League Final 2019.jpg | alt = Des Kelly at the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final | caption = Kelly presents pitchside at the 2019 UEFA Champions League Final | birth_name = Desmond Kelly | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1965|2|19}} | occupation = Journalist, broadcaster }}
'''Desmond Kelly''' (born 19 February 1965) is a British journalist and broadcaster.
Kelly was the chief reporter and interviewer for British broadcaster BT Sport for a decade. He was part of the live broadcast team mainly for the channel's Champions League and Premier League coverage. He was nominated as SJA Broadcast Journalist of the Year for 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022 - and highly commended in 2017 and 2018.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sportsjournalists.co.uk/awards-news/media-release-winners-at-the-british-sports-journalism-awards/ |title=Media release: Winners at the British Sports Journalism awards |date=26 February 2019 |publisher=Sports Journalists' Association |accessdate=28 November 2020}}</ref>
Kelly presented 136 editions of ''Life's A Pitch with Des Kelly'', a live, late-night sport/entertainment show on BT Sport. It was rebranded ''Follow the Football with Des Kelly'' for the new season in 2014. Kelly was also executive producer of the programme, which originally launched on 5 August 2013 and was nominated for SJA Television Show of the Year in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sport.bt.com/watchnow/programmes/des-kelly-presents-lifes-a-pitch-S11374092420899|title=Des Kelly presents Life's a Pitch|publisher=}}</ref> Kelly simultaneously presented SportsHUB, BT Sport's sports news programme, from Monday to Thursday, until the show closed in 2015. He left when BT Sport transitioned to TNT Sports.
Kelly was a long-standing presenter on Talksport, the commercial national radio station which broadcasts from London across the United Kingdom. He is the former host of ''The Press Pass'', a show introduced on the first weekend of the Premier League season in August 2011. It was twice nominated as SJA Sports Radio Programme of the Year in 2011 and 2012. Kelly quit in August 2014 to concentrate on his BT commitments, but is still an occasional contributor.
==Journalism== A winner of the SJA Sports Columnist of the Year award, Kelly was nominated as ''UK Press Gazette'' Sports Writer of the Year and commended on four occasions by the Sports Journalists' Association for his articles.
In 2012 Kelly was named among the top 10 most influential sportswriters in Britain by the trade publication, UK Press Gazette.<ref name = "UKPG Names Top Sports Journalists">In 2012 Samuel was named top in a UK Press Gazette poll of Britain's best sports journalists.</ref>
Kelly was a sports columnist on the ''Daily Mail'' for nearly a decade, having joined the paper in 2004.
Previously, Kelly was the Acting Editor and Deputy Editor of the ''Daily Mirror''. Kelly replaced Piers Morgan after he was sacked for publishing faked photos of Iraqi prisoners being "tortured" by British troops<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3716151.stm Editor sacked over 'hoax' photos] BBC News 14 May 2004</ref> and edited the paper in the wake of that controversy. Kelly was also forced out of the ''Mirror'' later in 2004 when Richard Wallace was handed the position.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/des-kelly-my-life-in-media-519169.html|title=Des Kelly: My Life In Media|date=12 December 2005|work=The Independent}}</ref>
A contributor to Sky News and BBC Breakfast, he is also a regular member of the BBC Radio 5 Live ''Fighting Talk'' panel show and has appeared on ''Sportsweek'' and the BBC Radio 4 ''Today programme''. He is a former assistant editor and head of sport of the ''Daily Express'', football editor of the ''Sunday Express'', and the chief sports reporter of the now defunct ''Today'' newspaper. He was previously a columnist for ''The Sunday Times'' and had a column in the ''London Evening Standard''. He has also written for ''GQ'', German newspaper ''Bild'' and ''L'Équipe'' in France.
==Broadcasting== Kelly was part of the BBC1's ''Inside Sport'' presenting team, which was hosted by Gabby Logan between 2007 and 2009. His contributions included interviews with Michael Schumacher,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tv_and_radio/inside_sport/7694331.stm|title=Inside Sport: Michael Schumacher|work=BBC Sport|date=28 October 2008}}</ref> Arsène Wenger,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tv_and_radio/inside_sport/7325569.stm|title=Inside Sport: Arsene Wenger interview|work=BBC Sport|date=April 2008}}</ref> Petr Čech<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/inside_sport/7412813.stm|title=Inside Sport: Petr Cech|work=BBC Sport|date=21 May 2008}}</ref> and a piece on GB Blind Football.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tv_and_radio/inside_sport/7404705.stm|title=Inside Sport: Des Kelly tries blind football|work=BBC Sport|date=16 May 2008}}</ref>
He has made television appearances on the BBC's ''Match of the Day 2'' and was the first journalist to appear as a pundit on either show. He has also guested on Channel 4's Clive Anderson's ''Sports Talk Show'', Sky Sports' ''Hold the Back Page'' show and one of his first assignments was to provide live reports for Sky News from England's 3–0 win over Poland in 1989. He has been a contributor to a number of programmes, including BBC's ''The Noughties... Was That It?'' and ''Britain's Most Annoying People'' as well as GMTV and others.
==Outside journalism== Kelly is patron of the Great Britain Blind Football team and opened the new Royal National College for the Blind Paralympic Centre in Hereford.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.herefordtimes.com/sport/4474740.State_of_the_art_facility_makes_an_impressive_bow/|title=State-of-the-art facility makes an impressive bow|publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.herefordtimes.com/sport/other/4456480.BBC_personality_Des_Kelly_launches_thePoint4/|title=BBC personality Des Kelly launches thePoint4|publisher=}}</ref> He was also a member of the Jaguar Sports Academy and on the judging panel for the Laureus World Sports Awards.
Kelly has also been an Executive Consultant for the PR agency Hill & Knowlton and director of the internet company Fast Web Media. At Hill and Knowlton he was Master of Ceremonies at various corporate nights involving supermodels Jerry Hall and Petra Nemcova at the Cannes Festival; the football manager Arsène Wenger in Switzerland, the BBC ''Match of the Day'' team, Cilla Black, chef Antony Worrall Thompson, the cricketers Nasser Hussein and Jeff Thomson and footballer Marcel Desailly.
He has completed two London Marathons, the Network Q Rally of Great Britain twice,<ref>[http://www.rallybase.nl/index.php?type=result&rallyid=68 RallyBase<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.djames.org.uk/2000/GB/entry.html|title=Network Q Rally of Great Britain 2000 Entry List|publisher=}}</ref> the Arctic Rally three times, the Belgium Bianchi Rally and others. He took part in the world's first two-seater F1 race with Fernando Alonso at Donington Park. He completed in the 2007 Isle of Wight Round The Island race on board an Extreme 40 sailing boat, made a solo parachute jump for MENCAP, has run with the bulls in Pamplona and climbed Kilimanjaro as part of a Football League team raising funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care in the summer of 2011.{{citation needed|date=October 2018}}
==Personal== Kelly lives in Bristol. Born in London of an Irish family, he was educated at Wimbledon College and has a University of Surrey BA (Hons) in English and History from Froebel College in Roehampton, London.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=5484&inst_id=50&nv1=search&nv2=|title=AIM25 collection description|publisher=}}</ref> He is married to Paulina. Their engagement was announced in The Times on 26 December 2014. They married on 13 June 2015 in the Bristol Planetarium.
== TV and filmography == {| class="wikitable" !Year !Show !Role !Channel !Notes |- |2014 - 2023 |''Live football Premier League & Champions League coverage'' |Chief reporter & interviewer | rowspan="6" |BT Sport |- |2013 - 2014 |''Life’s A Pitch with Des Kelly'' | rowspan="5" |Presenter |136 episodes |- |2014 |''Follow The Football with Des Kelly'' |6 episodes |- |2013 - 2014 |''Transfer Deadline Day'' | rowspan="10" | |- |2013 |''Football Tonight'' |- |2013 |''SportsHUB'' |- |2013 |Arctic Lapland Rally documentary | |Sky News |- |2012 |''Olympics Most Amazing Moments'' |contributor |BBC Three |- |2011 - 2013 |''Murnaghan'' |regular guest |Sky News |- |2010 - 2013 |''Daybreak'' |regular contributor |ITV |- |2009 |''The Noughties review'' |contributor | rowspan="2" |BBC2 |- |2008 |''Britain’s Most Annoying People'' | |- |2009 - 2013 |''Saturday Sport'' |regular contributor |Sky News |- |2007 - 2008 |''Inside Sport'' |Co-Presenter |BBC1 |Series 1 and 2 |- |2005 - 2012 |''Sunrise'' | rowspan="2" |regular contributor | rowspan="2" |Sky News | rowspan="7" | |- |2004 - 2013 |''The Press Preview'' |- |2004 - 2010 |''GMTV'' |regular guest |ITV |- |2001 |''Clive Anderson’s Sports Talk Show'' |contributor |Channel 4 |- | rowspan="1" |2000 - 2004 |''Hold The Back Page'' |multiple contributor |Sky Sports |- |1996 - 2012 |BBC News |multiple guest apps | |- |1999 |England v Poland Live | |Sky Sports |}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20071001083613/http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article332625.ece Independent interview]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Des}} Category:British broadcasters Category:British male journalists Category:English people of Irish descent Category:BT Sport presenters and reporters Category:Daily Mail journalists Category:Living people Category:People associated with the Royal National College for the Blind Category:People educated at Wimbledon College Category:Journalists from London Category:1965 births Category:Alumni of the University of Roehampton Category:Alumni of the University of Surrey