John Anderson dies aged 92 as tributes paid to voice of original Gladiators

John Anderson, the voice of the original Gladiators TV show, has died at the age of 92.

Anderson’s booming voice saw him become a household name in the UK. As the referee on the iconic television programme Gladiators, his catchphrase “Contender ready! Gladiator ready!” shot him into stardom.

Before his spell on the show, Anderson earned a reputation for being a gifted track and field coach guiding the careers of multiple Olympians. One of his most famous pupils was Dave Moorcroft, who he coached to breaking the world 5000m record in Oslo in 1982.

Anderson also counted Olympic heptathlete Judy Simpson, Olympic middle-distance finalist Sheila Carey and Liz McColgan, who won Olympic 10,000m silver in 1988, among his charges.

As reported by Athletics Weekly, Glaswegian died in the early hours of Sunday, with Moorcroft one of the first to pay tribute. The former runner hailed Anderson's ability as a coach.

“I can’t speak too highly of John,” Moorcroft told Athletics Weekly. “He turned water into wine. At our club (Coventry Godiva) we’d never had anybody break four minutes for mile, but not only did I do it but Tim Redman, Colin Ridding and Steve James all broke four minutes.

“I don’t think any of them would describe themselves as world beaters but John just got the best out of people. I’m certain that I would never have been a decent athlete if it wasn’t for John. Not just because of the training he gave me, but he took a shy kid who didn’t believe in himself and just had that amazing ability to believe in me and others.

“He would die for his athletes and he never took a step backwards. He was a fighter in everything he did. He coached me from the age of 16 and never took a penny. It cost him a fortune for the privilege of working for nothing.”

Anderson also became one of the early National Coaches for the AAA of England, having been coach to an Olympian at every Games from 1964 to 2000. In total, he is estimated to have worked with more than 170 Team GB athletes.

But it was Gladiators that truly brought him into the national stage, starting as the programme's head official in 1992. He would spend eight years on the show before leaving in 2000, though did briefly reprise his role in 2008.

After retiring from TV work after that short stint, Anderson returned to coaching, with his biggest success in that period being turning William Sharman from a decathlete to a world class sprint hurdler.