Trans World Sport makes return to British TV for first time in two years on free-to-air channel FreeSports
NEYMAR, the Williams sisters, Roger Federer and Tiger Woods might be household names now - but chances are you will have seen them first on Trans World Sport.
Those nostalgic about the pre-broadband days of the 1990s will remember it fondly.
Satellite TV in the UK was not as common as it is now - and free sport was devoured on the four or five channels available on terrestrial.
Broadband internet was a pipe dream, and viral videos were limited to small segments on late-night TV.
TWS filled the void perfectly. It had no talking heads, lacked flashy graphics and relied on a male and female narrator - mostly Bruce Hammal and Sue Carpenter - who voiced the show in tandem.
The format was simple but brilliantly effective, showing bizarre sports from around the world, including Japanese snowball fighting, Mongolian Yak Polo and mainstream sports from other countries that never took off in the UK, such as cross country skiing and surfing.
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But now, fans of the brilliantly eclectic Trans World Sport will be glad to find it is back on FREE to air TV in this country.
Since August, TWS has been on the channel FreeSports - an event that has flown almost under the radar.
They recently broadcast coverage of the World Conker Championships, underwater chess and have been recording a feature from the DR Congo on former child soldiers who have taken up boxing.
Fans of the show will know many now familiar faces were first featured on TWS - and their record of interviewing top sporting starlets is pretty stellar.
The list includes Federer, Woods, the Williams sisters, Neymar and they were also early adopters in getting Eric Lamela (when he was 12), Luis Suarez and sprint legend Bolt when he was only 17.
Since it was broadcast on Channel 4 from 1987 to 2009, TWS was shared with Sky from 2002 to 2009.
It was then shown exclusively on Sky from 2009 to 2012 and back on C4 from 2013 to 2015.
But then there was two years when it was not broadcast on British TV at all - but now that has changed, thanks to the start-up channel FreeSport.
According to owners IMG, at its peak, Trans World Sport had over one million viewers every week and is still the longest-running international sports programme.
In the age of the internet and round-the-clock sports stories in video and text, TWS' niche may have disappeared.
But in recent months, the show has broadcast features with the likes of young Northern Irish golfer Josh McKibbin, British teen boxer and Southampton fan Ryan Garner as well as Team GB gymnastics bronze medallist Amy Tinkler.
If past form is anything to go by, it won't be the last time we hear about these starlets.
Luckily for fans, much of TWS' content is available for free on their excellent YouTube channel, including retro interviews with stars of yesteryear - and those of the future.
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