Sir Ian “Beefy” Botham is to be the latest subject of Piers Morgan’s Life Stories this Friday night as he discusses his life and career as one of Britain’s most successful, colourful, and controversial sports stars.
Piers welcomes one of the nation’s biggest sporting heroes for an in-depth chat about his life and successful career as a cricketer for England, a popular TV commentator and his relentless charity work.
The former England captain looks back over the highs and lows of his time in the spotlight, including his career-defining innings of 149 at Headingley in the 1981 Ashes series, the sex-and-drugs allegations which dogged him for years and the two-year affair which almost cost him his marriage.
He also reveals all about the colour blindness which could have threatened his cricket career and recalls some choice tales from his wilder days, including the story of a match he played after a night on the tiles, when he went out to bat… without a bat.
Botham is fondly remembered as one of the best all-rounder that English and world cricket has ever seen.
He was the first man to score a century and take ten wickets in the same match and has featured every year since his retirement in the Wisden best ever World XI.
Since his retirement from cricket in the early 1990s, Botham has continued his involvement in the game having been an integral part of the Sky Sports commentary team.
He was awarded the OBE for his services to cricket and charity in 1992 and awarded a knighthood in 2008.
Botham is equally well-known for his famous charity walks which have secured his place in the nation’s affections.
As President of Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, he has been a staunch advocate for beating cancer, in particular childhood leukaemia.
His incredible work spanning many decades has helped increase the chances of surviving Leukaemia, which has risen from 20% to 80% largely as a result of the £10m that Botham has helped to raise.
Perhaps Botham was somewhere between a rascal and a rogue as a both a cricketer and a person, but he played the game in great spirit and delivered some of the sport’s most memorable moments.
Recorded back in June last year, the one-hour life story for ITV brings cricket fanatic Morgan head-to-head with one of sport’s most recognisable figures.
Describing Botham as one of his all time heroes, Morgan wrote about the interview in his Daily Mail column.
“He’s a swash-buckling, hard-drinking, pugnacious, courageous, inspiring and almost impossibly patriotic Great Briton – and it was a terrifically entertaining encounter.
“But all you really need to know about the great man is what he did when he bowled the final delivery of his record-breaking cricket career.
“My main aim with ‘Beefy’ was to try and make him cry, something he’d warned me beforehand would be impossible.
“But he came close, especially when talking about his final, incredibly moving, conversation with his mother Marie, on her deathbed.
‘She was there for me every step of the way,’ he said, ‘and I’m so glad I was able to get there in time to say thank you’.”
Morgan also praised the former England cricket star’s extraordinary charity work: “Botham has raised more than £12 million for research into the disease, over the course of 12 walks in 25 years, and often ripped his body to pieces in the process.
“When he started, the survival rate for children with leukaemia was 20 per cent, now it’s 90 per cent.”
Piers Morgan’s Life Stories: Ian Botham airs on ITV this Friday night (February 14) at 9.00pm.
The programme will be available to watch shortly afterwards on ITV Player via all devices.
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