A Question of sport first appeared on our screens in 1970, the television quiz was promised to have ‘50 years of world sporting action on film, 50 of our greatest sporting stars – in the studio during the series’ by the Radio times. This has definitely been accomplished as it is now one the world’s longest running tv sports quizzes filming 1,285 episodes over 50 series, having over 3,000 different sporting stars appear on the show such as Jessica Ennis Hill, Denise Lewis, Chris Hoy, Anthony Joshua, Martina Navratilova, Michael Owen and Sebastian Coe along with many others. As well as a very special appearance from Princess Anne on the 200th episode attracting an audience of over 19 million viewers.

Its long lasting and iconic history has given way to many changes throughout the program such as font, typeface, colours and technology, however the format of the quiz has remained largely intact and overall normally starts and ends as originally played.

The opening title card in the 1970s showed the question of sport title screen with a QS in the centre and ‘A Question OF SPORT’ underneath. The QS is designed in a connective figuration with the font using a heavy weight throughout with a low contrast this allows it to be more legible and pronounced through a tv screen capturing the viewers’ attention and drawing them in. As well with multi coloured strips following along in a design that I believe to be representing a track. The multi coloured pattern was very new and enticing at the time to the viewer as regular colour broadcasting went live on BBC1 and ITV in November 1969 this allowed the designers to experiment more and add their own personal touch to the question of sport brand. This of course grew throughout time as the technology advanced so did the quality of television brands along with it.

Advancing through the ages the design of the opening title card changed again around 1992. In this new title sequence a globe object is presented within the centre of the screen and the question posed throughout entirety of the show at the bottom reading ‘A Question of Sport’. This new design demonstrates a whole new take on the title screen as it moves away from the heavy weight and low contrast font and moves towards a more classical display with regular contrast and regular weight. This allows the text to be seen more clearly and gives a more professional reputation to the brand. However, the ‘A’ and ‘of’ are reduced in size compared to the other body of text making the it less legible and harder to read than the previous title card. Also not giving the audience a recognisable logo to associate the brand with as thy have moved away from the recognisable trach within the letter giving them a link to a sporting brand.

Finally moving to the modern day the 2021 opening title card demonstrates the advance in technology and in digital design as they have brought back the track design but also incorpororated it more within the letters and allowed it to flow more throughout. It also demonstrates more digital innovation within the background design as it presents a more modern touch making the rectangles and also the Q and S look 3D. The change of focus from the 1992 globe to now the main characters Q and S signifies a development within the programme and their own change of focus maybe more towards the questions. We can also see a change in typeface as the title ‘A QUESTION OF SPORT’ is now a consistent font, size, weight and contrast as well being all in capitol letters this could represent consistency in the way they perform the programme and their set schedule. The most dramatic change from both the 1970s and the 1992 title screen is the typeface of the Q and S. They have been consistently promintent within A Question of Sport title screens however not as much as the 2021 version where they seem to be racing for the screen and the S being larger may sugesst that sport is the main focus and the questions are less important.

Overall this sports quiz show has shown the development of both the show and the technology that has developed along with it as well as the typological changes that have been seen through this iconic sports show history.