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Radio Times football covers
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Radio Times football cover: black and white image of pitch divided into grid for radio listeners, 1930 1930
Radio Times FA Cup final cover: black and white image of stadium from above, 1939 1939
Radio Times football cover:  black and white image of footballers, 1940 1940
Radio Times FA Cup cover: two players in black and white, 1942 1942
Radio Times FA Cup final cover: blue and white, two players and cup, 1956 1956
Radio Times FA Cup final cover: black and white image of cup, 1958 1958
Radio Times FA Cup cover: black and white illustration of player and cup, 1963 1963
Radio Times football World Cup cover: colour illustration of player and flags, 1966 1966
Radio Times FA Cup cover, 1970: colour photo of Tony Book, 1969 1970
Radio Times World Cup cover: Bobby Moore, 1970 1970
Radio Times football World Cup cover: Paulo Cesar, 1974 1974
Radio Times football World Cup cover: flag-covered football, 1978 1978
Radio Times FA Cup final cover: West Ham team line-up, 1981 1981
Radio Times football World Cup cover: pixilated image of player, 1982 1982
Radio Times FA Cup final covers: close-up of football, 1984 1984
Radio Times football World Cup cover: World Cup trophy, 1986 1986
Radio Times football World Cup cover: Peter Shilton, 1990 1990
Radio Times football cover: Alan Hansen, 1994 1994
Radio Times football World Cup cover: Ginola, Hansen, Lineker, Lynam, 1998 1998
Radio Times football World Cup cover: Alan Hansen, Gary Lineker, Mark Lawrenson, 2002 2002
Radio Times football cover: David Beckham, Euro 2004 2004
Radio Times World Cup cover: David Beckham, Michael Owen, John Terry and Stephen Gerard, 2006 2006
Radio Times football World Cup cover: Alan Hansen, John Motson, Gary Lineker and Ian Wright, 2006 2006
Radio Times football cover: illustration of player and flag-covered football, Euro 2008 2008
Radio Times football cover: black and white image of pitch divided into grid for radio listeners, 1930
Before television, people would crowd round their radios to listen to the FA Cup final. Radio Times published a grid like the one on this cover, dividing the pitch into squares, and commentators would refer to the numbers so that listeners could picture where on the pitch the players were. It's widely believed that this is the origin of the phrase "Back to square one".
(Picture - Radio Times copyright)
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