Few programmes can boast a 10,000 per cent increase in their viewing audience since first going on air. But Match of the Day, which celebrates its 30th birthday this week, proudly makes that claim. It was in August 1964 that Kenneth Wolstenholme introduced highlights of the game between league champions Liverpool and Arsenal. The programme went out at 6.30pm on BBC2 and attracted just 50,000 viewers. Tonight, when highlights of the Premiership match between reigning champions Manchester United and, coincidentally, Arsenal is screened, it is estimated that the audience will be in excess of five million.
