Helen Rollason Helen Rollason Helen Frances Rollason, MBE ("née" Grindley: 11 March 1956 – 9 August 1999) was a British sports journalist and television presenter, who in 1990 became the first female presenter of the BBC's sports programme "Grandstand". She was also a regular presenter of "Sport on Friday", and of the children's programme "Newsround" during the 1980s. Born in London, Rollason studied to become a PE teacher before entering radio broadcasting in 1980. After directing sport related content for Channel 4, where she helped to bring American football to British television, she anchored coverage of the 1987 World Student Games and
Grandstand (TV programme) major international events like the Olympic Games, the Paralympic Games, the Commonwealth Games and the FIFA World Cup. A Sunday edition, simply named "Sunday Grandstand", launched in 1981 and ran on BBC Two. Until 1997, the Sunday edition was only broadcast during the summer months but from February 1998 "Sunday Grandstand" aired all year round, incorporating the "Ski Sunday" and "Rugby Special" programmes. Grandstand was not shown on 20 May 2000 as no major sporting events broadcast by the BBC were taking place. Also Grandstand did not broadcast when a major national event took place or if Christmas or New