In 1981, Icke became a sports presenter for the BBC's national programme "Newsnight", which had begun the previous year. Two years later, on 17 January 1983, he appeared on the first edition of the BBC's "Breakfast Time", British television's first national breakfast show, and presented the sports news there until 1985. In 1983 he co-hosted "Grandstand", at the time the BBC's flagship national sports programme. He also published his first book that year, "It's a Tough Game, Son!", about how to break into football.