Peter Sellers

Sports broadcaster Peter Sellers is interviewed by Jim Sullivan about his career from 1950 to 1985 in Wellington and Dunedin. Sellers recalls how he got into broadcasting after coming back from Australia.

He had thirteen interviews at 2ZB before being accepted for sports announcing. He talks about 'regulation 130', then recalls the sports broadcasting style in the 1950s and how different it is to now. Discusses the Saturday night sports link up at 6.30pm and the content of the programme.

He moved to Dunedin in 1958 as District Sports Officer. He talks about some of his old colleagues and his love of Dunedin.

He tells a story about an interview in1956 which occurred at Wellington's Athletic Park. The woman he was interviewing said they had made 20,461 pies for a rugby match, and Sellers comment was 'Christ, that's a bloody lot of pies'! However, he says he was never reprimanded for the slip-up.

He relates another anecdote about commentating a Waipukurau trotting meeting, where he mistakenly used outdated information from a copy of the Turf Digest, as he was not a big racing follower. He then talks about the use of inappropriate language on the air.

Sellers names some of his favourite sporting people he has met, with his favourite being Don Bradman. He recalls the story of him first interviewing Bradman.

He talks about his love of detail, and how he developed it. He has great recall for names, dates and scores.