BBC’s voice of football to retire after having larynx removed

One of the BBC’s most familiar voices for four decades, James Alexander Gordon, is bowing out from reading the classified football results on radio after having his larynx removed.

The 77-year-old has tantalised, delighted and disappointed listeners on Radio 2 and then Radio 5 Live but his voice is no longer strong enough to broadcast after surgery for throat cancer.

The presenter — popularly known by his initials as JAG — joined the BBC in 1972 and went on to become one of the most recognisable voices on radio.