Cigars and showmen: the summer that changed English football punditry

Over half a century later, it’s almost impossible to imagine what it was like to see colour TV for the first time. “When I first caught sight of myself,” recalled Jimmy Hill, “I was quite alarmed. The colours in those days were very garish. I looked like I had terribly high blood pressure. But the ‘wow’ factor of colour was amazing. We wanted our coverage in 1970 to have a carnival feel to it.”

ITV’s opening credits had the feel of a fiesta, with whistles and bands incorporated into the theme tune. Footage showed coloured balloons being released, bands marching and monstrous crowds in the giant Azteca Stadium. For the privileged few, a kaleidoscope of colours poured into their living room from their screens. Whether it was Brazil’s golden shirts dazzling, the baize-green pitches blazing or England’s white shirts shining, Mexico 70 provided a sensory overload.

Throw in the omnipresent midday heat haze and the fact the satellite link caused the commentators’ words to hiss constantly, and viewers knew that they were watching football from a long, long way away. From another planet, almost. In the weeks leading up to the World Cup, the then president, Richard Nixon, expressed hope that, by 2050, the USA might have “sent a man to Mars”, and Rupert Murdoch, who’d recently purchased the News of the World, predicted that the proliferation of satellites in space would revolutionise TV by the end of the 20th century.

In the London Weekend Television studio, the commercial upstarts got their presentation spot on. The wall behind the panel had Aztec-style writing on it and the pale-orange backdrop gave the appearance of a Mexican sunset. The panellists’ clothes were also eye-catching. Stylists told them to avoid wearing the same