Great Britons

A day of undoubted triumph for my beloved Britain. Our version of the Oscars - the Baftas - took centre stage in Leicester Square and whilst your Hollywood movies scooped up the majority of the awards, you can't deny we know how to host a good show. The MC was the world's cleverest man, Steven Fry, and his terrific tone received respect from the impressively A List crowd. His theme of British schooling was majestically weaved throughout the broadcast and Jon Stewart would do well to study the tape and act more like him in two weeks time and less like last year's Oscar host Chris Rock. Though I fully expect him to take the rise out of Jude Law and, hopefully, make him Obscure (sorry to get all Thomas Hardy on you but it is late).






And as Fry took centre stage, 18 year old British tennis sensation Andy Murray took centre court over in San Jose to win his first ATP tour title. Talk about impeccable timing: not only does the championship put Murray into the World's Top 50 for the first time but he did so at the expense of an Aussie in Leyton Hewitt! You've got a bright future, son, and I'll even have to forget your keeping me waiting for an interview that never did take place at last year's US Open (pesky teenagers). His 2-6 6-1 7-6 victory was a mini classic of a match, culminating in a thrilling tie-break that Murray ultimately took with his now trademark backhand. The fact that he partially put the win down to his girlfriend watching for the first time will not be lost on potential sponsors though someone needs to do some media work on the boy and quick - he might have claimed this was "the best week of my life" (he had beaten Andy Roddick only the night before) but his face and voice suggested otherwise. My tip for you (that's you the reader, not you Andy Murray) is to slap a cheeky tenner on Murray winning the Sports Personality Of The Year award because if England fail to bring home the World Cup then a solid showing from Murray at Wimbledon might nab him the prize and you a very flush end of year. Fry and Murray then: an unlikely doubles team if ever you saw one but you couldn't have hoped for better service or return on your day's television viewing.

PS This just in from the BBC Sport website. Hope you've already made your Murray bet...

The bookmakers have also installed Murray as 8-1 to win BBC Sports Personality of Year, in from 40-1 on Friday.