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Brian Viner

@vinerbrian

Brian Viner swapped London for the Herefordshire countryside, and his column ‘Country Life’ documents his attempts to chase the rural idyll. Chiefly a sports writer, he pens a weekly sports column and interview for the paper. He is the author of 'Ali, Pele, Lillee and Me: A Personal Odyssey Through the Sporting Seventies'.

Bannister just after his record-breaking run at the University of Oxford’s Iffley Road track in Oxford
Obituaries

Sir Roger Bannister: Runner who achieved the first four-minute mile

Michael Owen: 'When your horse wins, it’s relief more than adrenalin. But it’s just as addictive'
Profiles

Michael Owen: Hooked on the horses

Americas

How tourism got lost in the Bermuda triangle

Divided: Snooker or gardening?
Comment

Green baize takes on the green-fingered

Comment

So innocent those days growing up in front of the telly. Or maybe not

Webber fumes after Vettel steals win in controversial end to Malaysian GP
Comment

Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel and how we learnt that only the flag is

The studio from which the first programme was broadcast in 1960
News

BBC Television Centre: Farewell to the dream factory

'On the Cast Iron Shore', Moreton, Wirral
Features

Mersey beat: Ken Grant captured the spirit of Liverpool as it coped

Sir Ranulph is the perfect antidote to the modern phenomenon of rewarding modest achievement with instant fame
Profiles

Ranulph Fiennes: The iceman goeth

Laura Davies: 'Right now, my only thought on the first tee at the start of a tournament is winning'
Profiles

Laura Davies: She has still got drive despite tour transformation

Don’t call me Everyman: Martin Freeman ‘finds a sort of poetry in the ordinary man’, says writer Steven Moffat; inset, as Bilbo Baggins
Profiles

Martin Freeman: No ordinary Bilbo Baggins

Profiles

Mary Berry: Flour power

Nick Faldo shaking hands with Tom Watson after his singles victory in 1977
Profiles

Nick Faldo: 'Sure, I would have done it differently'

Profiles

Nick Faldo: 'Sure, I would have done it differently'

Nick Faldo shaking hands with Tom Watson after his singles victory in 1977
Jason Leonard tries to clear US team-mates and fans from the green at Brookline in 1999
Golf

From polite applause to wild catcalls: how Ryder Cup fans have changed

The US captain, Davis Love III, still enjoys the adrenalin rush
Golf

Ryder Cup: Tough Davis Love up for fight after life studded with

Cricket

Bowling over the viewers: Behind the scenes of televised cricket

Bright vision: the view from the Dionysos Estate
Europe

Turkey: Hidden pleasures

Bright vision: the view from the Dionysos Estate
Europe

Turkey: Hidden pleasures

At peace: one of the duplex suites at Castel Monastero
Hotels

Room Service: Castel Monastero, Tuscany

Balding was good from the start, and she has spread her wings beyond sport
Profiles

Clare Balding: Queen of the screen

He says: 'The quest for medals is not everything, but it is important.'
Profiles

Jacques Rogge: The quiet Olympian

He says: 'It would be naive of me to sit here and say that nothing could go wrong.'
Profiles

Sebastian Coe: Lord of the rings

Brian Viner

Brian Viner: And so the long wait goes on

The 'Cheers' bar in Boston
Americas

Boston: Destination of independence

She says: 'I think that anybody who knows me knows that I'm not a pushy mum.'
Profiles

Judy Murray: More than a tennis mum

He says: 'Football is a fantastic and intelligent game which teaches us how to live together.'
Profiles

Michel Platini: A great attacker forced on to the defensive

The 'Cheers' bar in Boston
Americas

Boston: Destination of independence

She says: 'I think that anybody who knows me knows that I'm not a pushy mum.'
Profiles

Judy Murray: More than a tennis mum

He says: 'Football is a fantastic and intelligent game which teaches us how to live together.'
Profiles

Michel Platini: A great attacker forced on to the defensive

She says: 'I don't expect to be swept into first class and treated better than everyone else. I expect to have the same experience, and that is often just not the case.'
Paralympics

Tanni Grey-Thompson: Paragon of the Paralympics

Paralympics

Tanni Grey-Thompson: Paragon of the Paralympics

She says: 'I don't expect to be swept into first class and treated better than everyone else. I expect to have the same experience, and that is often just not the case.'
MCC members look on from Lord's pavilion, resplendent in the club's egg-and-bacon stripes
Cricket

Saturday at Lord's, once a carnival now a crypt of codgers

Profiles

Jimmy Mulville: 'The Scouser in me helps me cut through middle-class

John Lindley (top), Alan Price and Bob Fisher
Cricket

Old Ealing hands keep game in rude health

The100-year-old Fenway Park nestles in Boston's modern city centre
Others

Baseball: Fenway - more than just a park

The100-year-old Fenway Park nestles in Boston's modern city centre
Others

Baseball: Fenway - more than just a park

Parents can relax while their children take part
Europe

Scrum in the sun in Sardinia

Victor Chandler would love nothing more than owning a Cheltenham Gold Cup winner
Racing

Victor Chandler: Always playing his cards right

Thinking Creatively Under Pressure is Sir Clive Woodward’s mantra and it is one of many winning ideas he’s developed during a multisport career and is now passing on to Britain’s Olympic hopefuls
Olympics

Clive Woodward: From World Cup to T-CUP

Profiles

Dereck Chisora: From drugs and weapons to a fight with Dr Ironfist

Decca’s Dick Rowe, left, turned down the Beatles
News

The man who rejected the Beatles

Karen Brady vice-chairman of West Ham United says they will not give up on the Olympic Stadium
News

Karren Brady: Grounds for optimism

Kermit returns, and not before time
Brian Viner

Brian Viner: It's time to play the music (not a moment too soon). The

Others

Brian Viner's Christmas Quiz Answers

Winter wonder: Taking to the slopes in Espace Killy
Skiing

Slopes with savoir faire: Val d'Isère still retains its centuries-old

The epic rivalry of Arkle and Mill House from the 1960s can be evoked when Kauto Star and Long Run meet at Kempton on Boxing Day
Brian Viner

Brian Viner: Festive season provides top sporting fun

<p>From l-r: David Ginola, Bernie Ecclestone and Vinnie Jones are just a few of the sporting personalities Brian Viner has interviewed</p>
Brian Viner

Brian Viner: From Ginola to Vinnie, I've had a ball...

Brian Viner

Brian Viner: From Ginola to Vinnie, I've had a ball...

<p>From l-r: David Ginola, Bernie Ecclestone and Vinnie Jones are just a few of the sporting personalities Brian Viner has interviewed</p>
<p>Pope John Paul II led a service at which sports arena? See question 27</p>
Brian Viner

Brian Viner: Tackle this! Our annual Christmas Quiz

News

Vinnie Jones: The caring side of bullet-tooth Tony

Was the era of Ian Botham really better than that of Brian Lara?
Brian Viner

Brian Viner: A golden age? Try the one we are living in

Alex Corbisiero shows his frustration at the World Cup
News & Comment

Alex Corbisiero: good and proper

Alex Corbisiero shows his frustration at the World Cup
News & Comment

Alex Corbisiero: good and proper

Boston Red Sox 'messiah' Bobby Valentine is all smiles at Fenway Park
Brian Viner

Brian Viner: Valentine feels love as he tries to pull Sox up

Jimmy Hill took the nation’s jokes on the chin but he deserves much greater recognition as one of football’s great innovators
Brian Viner

Brian Viner: Hill's Sky-Blue thinking was ahead of times

Gus Poyet takes Brighton training
heifi-sport-archive

'The word negrito isn't offensive in Uruguay' - Gus Poyet speaks out

Alex Corbisiero: 'Rugby is a game built around banter, but it was nothing worse than at my club'
International

World Cup questionnaire made me uneasy, says Corbisiero

Gus Poyet takes Brighton training
Profiles

Gus Poyet: 'Negrito isn't offensive. Such people are part of our

Jackie Leven, Scottish songwriter and folk musician
Obituaries

Jackie Leven

The drunken antics of 'rugger buggers' are supposedly about bonding
Brian Viner

Brian Viner: It's time to boot rugger 'culture' deep into touch

The best spinner in the world, Graeme Swann
Cricket

Graeme Swann: Swann goes below the surface

The best spinner in the world, Graeme Swann
Cricket

Graeme Swann: Swann goes below the surface

Gary Player (right) says golf brings people together. It seems Ian Woosnam is in agreement, even if the majority of people would beg to differ
Brian Viner

Brian Viner: Bunkers lie in wait for golfers and politicians

Brian Viner

Brian Viner: Jockeys stand up for little man (literally) in battle

Brian Viner

Brian Viner: Jockeys stand up for little man (literally) in battle

Brian Viner

Brian Viner: Real shame of England's exit is that we've seen it all

Racing

John Gosden: 'Flat racing is in peril. the future is in the East...'

I don't suppose Bill Kenwright would have mortgaged his home to buy Everton if he'd known the scale of abuse, including death threats, that was in store
News

The Last Word: Everton fans split in half but I must come down on side

Reviews

Last Night's TV: The Secret Life of Buildings/Channel 4<br />One Man

Reviews

Last Night's TV: The Secret Life of Buildings/Channel 4<br />One Man

News

The Independent experts pick this season's winners and losers...

Brian Viner

Brian Viner: Cricketing blancmange may be fashionable but it can't

Golf

Lewis fades but his memories will not

Golf

'I'm told I play better fat. I've obviously been adhering to that

Golf

Donald stays in the shadows but cannot locate missing putter

Reviews

Last Night's TV - Strictly Kosher, ITV1; The Truth About Wildlife,

Reviews

Last Night's TV - Sirens, Channel 4; Dirty, Sexy Things, E4; Guilty

Tennis

Emotions run high on Henman Hill as British No 1 falls short of summit

Tennis

Djokovic forced to produce his best to subdue sublime Tsonga

Tennis

Kvitova's barrage silences Azarenka in end

Tennis

Sharapova's big forehand forces the giant-killer into submission rush

Tennis

Hold the Six O'Clock News &ndash; this is serious! Murray's chances

Reviews

Yesterday's TV - Wimbledon 2011, BBC1; Made in Britain, BBC2

Tennis

Lopez goes distance to set up Murray tie

Tennis

Nadal faces scan on foot after battling victory

Tennis

Zvonareva falls by the wayside as Pironkova exacts sweet revenge

Tennis

Lopez goes distance to set up Murray tie

Tennis

Nadal faces scan on foot after battling victory

Tennis

Zvonareva falls by the wayside as Pironkova exacts sweet revenge

Tennis

Robson potential burns bright but Sharapova douses Briton's flames

Tennis

Razzano's pain puts contest with World No 1 Wozniacki into context

Tennis

Lisicki's power play sends Li crashing down to earth

Tennis

Simona falls flat after giving Serena a scare

Tennis

Berdych hits his stride for another tilt at glory

Tennis

Nadal still looks the man to beat even if he is not the main event

Tennis

Isner makes short work of Mahut. Nine hours shorter...

Tennis

Wozniacki has little trouble as Hantuchova revival goes on

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