{{Short description|British sports journalist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Tom Fordyce | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing [[brackets]] --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = <!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} for living people supply only the year with {{Birth year and age|YYYY}} unless the exact date is already widely published, as per [[WP:DOB]]. For people who have died, use {{Birth date|YYYY|MM|DD}}. --> | birth_place = | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) --> | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Journalist | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | alma_mater = [[Girton College, Cambridge]] }} '''Tom Fordyce''' is a British sports journalist and author.<ref name="prolificnorth">{{Cite web |url=https://www.prolificnorth.co.uk/news/appointments-and-recruitment-news/2020/06/bbcs-chief-sports-writer-leaving-after-two-decades|title=BBC's chief sports writer leaving after two decades |date=1 June 2020 |publisher=Prolific North |accessdate=25 January 2022}}</ref> He wrote text commentaries on cricket and tennis, also writing features on various other sports and blogging from a number of different events.<ref name="pressgazette">{{cite web |url=http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/node/37866 |title=Live blogging Big Brother: A new take on journalism or mindless rubbish? |date=11 June 2007 |work=[[Press Gazette]] |accessdate=7 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714165354/http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/node/37866 |archivedate=14 July 2014}}</ref>
Fordyce graduated from [[Girton College, Cambridge]] in 1992 with a degree in Geography,<ref>The Year- The Annual Review of Girton College 2016–17, Cambridge University Press, 2017, p. 4</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.girton.cam.ac.uk/alumni-supporters/publications/publications-alumni |title=Fiction and non-fiction from Girtonian authors |publisher=Girton College, Cambridge |accessdate=30 December 2022}}</ref> and started his career as a features writer on ''Total Sport'' magazine and as a writer on the ''Sported'' magazine.<ref name="bbcbio">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/2008/03/about-tom-fordyce.html |title=About Tom Fordyce |last=Fordyce |first=Tom |date=1 March 2008 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=2009-12-26}}</ref>
In 2007 he "blogged my way round the [[2007 Rugby World Cup|Rugby World Cup]] in a camper van" with BBC colleague [[Ben Dirs]]. He drove 4,500 miles around France whilst producing written and video diaries of the matches and interactions they had during the 44-day tournament.<ref name="bbcbio" /> In 2008 he covered the [[2008 Summer Olympics|Beijing Olympics]] on a number of different sports. His contributions for the Olympics also included experiments to observe how well he could run in the [[Concerns and controversies at the 2008 Summer Olympics#Air pollution|Beijing smog]], and he also "road tested" the new [[Speedo]] swimsuit for "groinal roominess".<ref name="bejing">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/tom-fordyce/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080504024931/http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/olympics/tom-fordyce/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 May 2008 |title=Olympics Blog |last=Fordyce |first=Tom |date=16 October 2008 |publisher=BBC |accessdate=2009-12-26}}</ref>
In June 2009 Fordyce published his first book, entitled ''We Could Be Heroes: One Van, Two Blokes and Twelve World Championships'' with Dirs, charting the madcap escapades that resulted from trying to become the world champion in something.<ref name="amazon">{{cite book |title=We Could Be Heroes: One Van, Two Blokes and Twelve World Championships |edition=paperback |year=2009|publisher=[[Pan Macmillan]]|pages=256 |isbn=978-0-230-73615-3}}</ref><ref name="Unabridged">{{cite book |title=We Could Be Heroes |edition=Unabridged|year=2010|publisher=[[Pan Macmillan]]|pages=320 |isbn=978-0-330-51738-6}}</ref> Fordyce was the ghostwriter of [[Peter Crouch]]'s book, ''How to Be a Footballer''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nbmagazine.co.uk/how-to-be-a-footballer-by-peter-crouch/ |title=How to be a Footballer by Peter Crouch |date=20 February 2019 |publisher=NBMagazine |accessdate=2020-01-18}}</ref> and [[Geraint Thomas]]'s book, ''The World of Cycling According to G''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Geraint |title=The world of cycling according to G |date=2015 |others=Tom Fordyce |isbn=978-1-78429-636-0 |location=London |oclc=928402224}}</ref> He was co-host of ''[[That Peter Crouch Podcast]]'', with Peter Crouch and [[Chris Stark]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06kyljg/episodes/downloads |title=That Peter Crouch Podcast |publisher=BBC |accessdate=2020-01-18}}</ref> He is also co-host of the history podcast ''[[We Didn't Start the Fire (podcast)|We Didn't Start the Fire]]'' with [[Katie Puckrik]] and the ''Joe Marler Show'' with rugby player Joe Marler.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/we-didnt-start-the-fire-the-history-podcast/id1549243765|title=We Didn't Start the Fire: The History Podcast|date=25 January 2021 |publisher=Apple Podcasts}}</ref>
In June 2020, Fordyce left his post as chief sports writer at the BBC to "take up an opportunity in podcasting".<ref name="prolificnorth" />
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.bbc.com/sport/correspondents/tomfordyce?cps Tom Fordyce's analysis and opinion] at [[BBC Sport]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fordyce, Tom}} [[Category:BBC sports presenters and reporters]] [[Category:British sportswriters]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]] [[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]] [[Category:Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge]] [[Category:British association football podcasters]] {{UK-journalist-stub}}