BBC Sport has confirmed that it "will replace the legendary" James Alexander Gordon with former Radio 4 presenter Charlotte Green, who will be "the first female voice to read the classified football results at 5pm on Saturday afternoons," according to Charles Sale of the London DAILY MAIL. Gordon, 77, announced his retirement last month following throat surgery after nearly 40 years of "calling the scores in his distinctive melodious Scottish brogue, which became one of football’s most familiar voices." Test Match Special cricket reporter Kevin Howells, who concentrates on the county game, "will read the classifieds for the first weeks of the new season that started last Saturday." But the BBC "wanted to end that male preserve and give the permanent post to a woman, with Green the choice, as revealed by Sportsmail on Tuesday morning." Green, 57, once voted the most attractive female voice on national radio, "took voluntary redundancy earlier this year." Green: "The BBC’s days of employing people who sound like me are more or less over." However, she will "make an unlikely comeback." Green’s voice was once described as "a marvel, something to make one feel safe and secure, like being tucked up in bed with a hot water bottle" (DAILY MAIL, 8/6).
