Lesser men might be caught rolling their eyes in between takes.
But not Manish Bhasin. As the presenter of the BBC's magazine show Football Focus dutifully records his teasers - all slightly different variations for the multi-platforms of the mighty Beep that the latest edition will be broadcast on - he does so with nary a blink of an eye. As he sits upright and looks straight to camera on the sky high set of the global BBC show, Manish Bhasin smiles as he's surrounded by the set's rich amber glow on a cold Cape Town day.
I spoke to Manish Bhasin about his World Cup experience of doing Football Focus from the tip of Africa, how its been different from previous major sports events he's covered, and how he keeps track of everything football related as the presenter of this global magazine show with multiple weekly editions covering all the World Cup football action.
For my interview with Manish Bhasin of the BBC's Football Focus, click on READ MORE below.
What has the World Cup been for you, covering this one in South Africa, that you haven't expected it to be so far?
Well, I suppose its my first taste of mainland Africa. I've been to Egypt and I've been to Tunisia but this is a whole different experience for me. I've always wanted to come here on holiday and business but to come here and combine the two has been terrific. It has been 90% work and 10% holiday but I hope to do so sight-seeing so I can get some memories to take home with me. But its been great. You can clearly see that the host nation has gone to a lot of effort to make everyone feel welcome. Big parts of the country here is still underdeveloped so to see this massive spectrum of backgrounds and people here. . . its been humbling and a privilege to be here.
And covering the World Cup from Cape Town, how is that experience different for you, from covering other sports elsewhere?
Okay, I've covered the Ashes in Australia, which involved a lot of traveling across the country and the same for the Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean. Here, its different in that the traveling is far less; based in Cape Town; I get to know one place fairly well as opposed to seeing many venues fairly briefly and not getting to know the history of each city or town. I'm hoping to know a lot more of Cape Town once we're finished.
How do you yourself - I suppose you do watch the BBC - how do you keep track of the news especially around the World Cup and staying up to date besides the producers telling you?
We've all done our research before the tournament anyway - the players and nations to look out for and the nations who may cause a surprise or two. The internet of course has become invaluable for any journalist just to pick up stats and data which can be updated 24 hours a day.
And do you find that there's enough time for you to digest everything because there is such a lot of information?
Yes information comes thick and fast especially in the initial stages. I think that's quite difficult if you've got two games kicking off at the same time, so trying to keep up with that . . .you can see the scoreline but it doesn't tell the story of the match itself. Thats where newspaper journalist and internet bloggers come into their own because you need a flavour of how people are feeling about it.
What have you've seen of Cape Town so far?
I've been here for a while now. I'm hoping to take in Robben Island and go to the top of Table Mountain.
They call it the beautiful game but I was quite impressed watching you do an edition of Football Focus and the high production quality of it all and the little details that go into making this show. Obviously people have a lot of options in terms of where they can get their news, especially during the World Cup, what is it that you want to bring across to the viewer and that you're trying to do with Football Focus?
Well, the high production values is something that we, working for the organisation that's the Beep, pride ourselves in. Football Focus is a UK programme primarily, and on a Saturday. Now we take it out on the road. We take the originality of the pieces and the thoughts behind it and bring it here. The same people, the brains that do the UK operations are here - and I think they're the ones helping to make it such a fantastic little watch. It's only 22 minutes, but in that we cram in so much. The quality of the video pieces is what makes Football Focus so special.
Obviously England isn't in anymore . . .
Yes. Thanks for reminding me. Thank you . . .
. . . ha ha. What do you want to do with Football Focus?
We're on every match day. A lot of people watch us across the globe, particularly in hotels. If they can get a live edition of a show such as Football Focus, updating them with everything that's gone on in the last 24 hours. We're going to have a programme as well on the afternoon of the final match as well. There's not a lot of programmes that can go out to a worldwide audience and deliver that, so we're hoping to give viewers a wonderful taste of what's to come.
ALSO READ: Behind the scenes at Football Focus and the high in the sky super set of the BBC in Cape Town.
Football Focus on BBC World News (DStv 400 / TopTV 400) at 14:30 during the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
