BBC presenter defies cancer for comeback

Sports presenter Helen Rollason will return to the BBC's screens at the weekend after a six-month battle with cancer. Ms Rollason, who underwent an emergency operation for cancer of the colon five months ago, will present sports bulletins during news programmes on BBC 1 and BBC 2 at the weekend.

Ms Rollason was the first woman to present the BBC's flagship sports programme Grandstand.

The former Newsround presenter, 41, said she had felt "out of things" while off work: "I'm feeling fine, I'm on the way back, I hope. There is a long way to go yet," she told BBC Breakfast News.

"I'm only coming back part-time. I wish it was back to breakfast programmes straightaway but at the moment I have got to leave that until I get myself really fit."

In another development, the the BBC and ITV announced they will split up the first six England and Scotland games of the World Cup finals in June. The BBC will broadcast the opening game, Scotland v Brazil, and England's first game, against Tunisia. The later stages of the tournament will be simulcast by both channels.