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Even its staunchest defenders would acknowledge that the BBC seldom misses an opportunity to pat itself on the back. But ‘SPOTY’ has always been a curious beast: celebration of the year in sport, excruciating love-in and always horribly self-conscious (sportsmen and women who wish to be wacky should stick to ‘A Question of Sport’).
This tribute to a show which will enter its seventh decade on Sunday night should track its progression from strait-laced and parochial studio shindig to arena-filling global monster. Contributors including Steve Redgrave, Sebastian Coe and Princess Anne will join our host Gary Lineker in a vain bid to prove that the personality has always been as important as the sport in determining the winner.