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| Born | Brian Christopher Moore (1962-01-11)11 January 1962 (age 64) Birmingham, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Crossley and Porter School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | University of Nottingham | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Solicitor, pundit | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Brian Christopher Moore (born 11 January 1962)[1] is an English formerrugby union footballer. He played as ahooker, and is a rugby presenter and pundit forBBC Sport,Talksport and Love Sport Radio.[2] He qualified as a Rugby Football Unionreferee in 2010.
Moore was born to single mother Rina Kirk inBirmingham.[3] Abandoned by his father, his mother gave him up for adoption at 7 months old toMethodistlay preachers Ralph (deceased) and Dorothy Moore, ofHalifax, West Yorkshire,[4] where he lived in Illingworth and attended theCrossley and Porter School. He first played rugby union for the Old Crossleyans.[5]
The shame he felt at being a victim of abuse made him keep silent about it until he visited theChild Exploitation and Online Protection Centre in London in 2008.[6] He said the trauma made him ferociously competitive on the rugby field, and commented "If you have been abused, you feel tainted by association with the awfulness of the crime."[7]
Moore studied law at theUniversity of Nottingham gaining an LLB (Hons) degree in 1984, and was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Law on 14 July 2010. In 2023 he gained a Master's degree in Psychology from the University of Westminster as well as diplomas in counselling and psychotherapy from Guildford College in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Moore played as an amateur senior forNottingham, the club where he made his name.[4] During his time at Nottingham he won his firstEngland caps and toured Australia with theBritish and Irish Lions. In 1990 he moved to London to train as a solicitor, and played forHarlequins. Moore ended his club career atRichmond.
Moore representedEngland, winning a total of 64 England caps between 1987 and 1995, making him the 13th most-capped Englishman (as of July 2007). Known for readingShakespeare – in particular, parts ofHenry V before a game in the dressing room to his teammates,[4] Moore played in threeRugby World Cups including in1991 where along withJason Leonard andJeff Probyn he was part of a destructive English front row as they reached the final, losing a tight match 12–6 toAustralia atTwickenham. Moore was also a member of the England side which wonGrand Slams in 1991, 1992 and 1995. In 1991, he was voted Rugby World Player of the Year, a decade before the sport's governing body (theIRB), began itsawards programme.
He went on twoBritish and Irish Lions tours, winning five test caps. In Australia in 1989, the Lions won the series 2–1, and Moore was famously caught celebrating the morning after onSydney Harbour Bridge, doing aeroplane impressions.[8]
Having been a vocal critic of referees for many years, Moore took the Rugby Football Union's Entry Level Referee Award course and qualified as a referee in 2010.[9]
Moore trained as a solicitor, and he was a partner in both Edward Lewis LLP, and later Memery Crystal LLP.[5] Although still qualified to practise, he has not done so since 2003.[5][10]
After retirement, Moore continued his legal career, and was asked regularly by the BBC to supplement theirrugby commentary team. It is his full-time career, and he regularly commentated alongsideEddie Butler on the BBC'srugby union coverage, including the English matches in theSix Nations Championship. Moore is known for his blunt and straight-talking style. in 2008, he was heard to yell "They've kicked it away again,for God's sake!", whenEngland did not run the ball in Rome, and shouted "You halfwit!" when an England forward played aFrench restart which had fallen short of the required ten metres, causing England to lose possession when they would otherwise have been awarded ascrum. His 6 Nations broadcasting was, as part of the overall BBC coverage, shortlisted in the Sport category of the 2011BAFTA Television Awards.[citation needed].
Moore covered the 2011 Rugby World Cup for TalkSport Radio as lead co-commentator. He commentated on this tournament alongsideMichael Owen,Scott Quinnell,Gavin Hastings,Paul Wallace,Phil Vickery,John Taylor, Andrew McKenna andDavid Campese. The coverage was shortlisted in the Broadcast of the Year category in the 2011 Sports Journalists Awards.[citation needed] He returned to Talksport in 2013 for their exclusively live coverage of the British and Irish Lions Tour of Australia, he presented every tour match live withMark Saggers and commentated on the 3 test matches live. He commentated with Andrew McKenna, David Campese,Shane Williams,Michael Lynagh,Sean Holley and SirIan McGeechan. He joined talksport permanently in 2013–14 and now hosts their rugby show, Full Contact, every Sunday from 8 pm to 10 pm. He also co-hosted the Sports Breakfast alongsideAlan Brazil on Tuesday mornings from 6 am to 10 am before leaving the station in 2016.
Moore writes on rugby, with a Monday column forThe Daily Telegraph, and was shortlisted for Sports Journalist of the Year in the 2009 British Press Awards. After meetingRichard Stott at a corporate dinner, he wrote a winecolumn in theToday newspaper,[4] transferred to theSun for four years. He was a judge at the IWSC awards in 2018 held at the Oval, London.
Moore has made other media appearances, including in November 2008 onQuestion Time.
Moore has had books published bySimon & Schuster. His updated version of his autobiography,Beware of the Dog (2009), won the 2010William Hill Sports Book of the Year award, among what was described as one of the strongest shortlists ever assembled.[11][12] In 2011 it won the Best Autobiography award at theBritish Sports Book Awards.[13] He has also publishedThe Thoughts of chairman Moore, andMore Thoughts of chairman Moore (2011).
He has been a regular invitee at leading UK literary festivals – including Hay, Keswick, Dartington Hall, Salisbury and Wimbledon.
Moore drew criticism for a comment he made during the 2020 Six Nations match between Ireland and France where he referencedbulimia when a player vomited at the side of the pitch during the match. Following criticism Moore apologised the next day, stating that he had meant the comment humorously but realised it was misjudged. The BBC later stated they had spoken to Moore about the comments and that the matter was now resolved.[14]
Moore was the guest onBBC Radio 4'sDesert Island Discs on 24 February 2012 where he was interviewed at length byKirsty Young. His music choices wereWolfgang Amadeus Mozart —Queen of the Night aria;Ian Dury and The Blockheads — "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick";Genesis — "In the Cage";Samuel Barber —Adagio for Strings;Pink Floyd — "Us and Them";The Stranglers — "Always the Sun";Green Day — "Jesus of Suburbia";Pietro Mascagni — The Intermezzo fromCavalleria Rusticana. His choice of book wasGerminal byÉmile Zola and his luxury choice was aspherical football.[15]
Moore's first marriage was to Penny and second marriage was to Lucy Thompson in 2000 inKensington and Chelsea, London, by whom he had a daughter, Imogen.[15] Both those marriages ended in divorce.[16] His third wife is Belinda, who he married in 2008. They have three daughters including twins.[17][18][19]
He is a supporter of, and season ticket holder at,Chelseafootball club. In 2001 it was reported that he was a lifetimeLabour Party voter. He left the Party after the decision to go to war in Iraq in 2003 and is now non-affiliated.[4]
Moore attended the funeral of his birth mother in January 2020. He revealed afterwards on Twitter that he had discovered in so doing he was half Chinese, not half Malaysian as previously believed, and his grandfather had been a steelworker inRotherham.[20]
He, along withPrince Harry, both argued that in response toBlack Lives Matter, the song "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", should no longer be sung in a rugby context.[21][22]
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