Alan Hart: Former BBC One controller and head of sport dies

Alan Hart was BBC head of sport from 1977 to 1981

The BBC's former head of sport Alan Hart has died at the age of 85.

Hart also served as controller of BBC One from 1981 until 1984, during which time he commissioned the popular drama EastEnders.

He spent a long period as editor of Grandstand and was also editor of the coverage of the Olympics and the BBC's Sports Review of the Year shows.

Hart leaves behind his wife Celia and children Dominic, David and Gabrielle.

"Alan was a major figure in the BBC - a key pillar of BBC Sport in the 1960s and '70s, when he was such a distinguished editor of Grandstand in its heyday, among many other successes, before heading up first the sports department and then BBC One," said Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport.

"All our thoughts and sympathies are with his family and friends."