Sports Personality of the Year was created by Paul Fox, who thought of the idea while he was editor of the magazine show Sportsview.

[1] For the first show, votes were sent by postcard, and rules presented in a Radio Times article stipulated that nominations were restricted to athletes who had featured on the Sportsview programme since April.

Approximately 14,500 votes were cast, and Christopher Chataway beat Roger Bannister to win the inaugural BBC Sportsview's Personality of the Year Award.

[2] The shortlist is announced a few weeks before the award ceremony, and the winner is determined on the night by a public telephone and on-line vote.

Counting Torvill and Dean separately, there have been 48 English winners of the award, six Scottish,[5] five Welsh,[6] three Northern Irish,[7][8] and one Manx.