Gary Lineker and Zoe Ball top BBC pay list

Gary Lineker again topped the BBC pay list in the 2023-24 financial year, receiving more than £1.3m (R31m) for presenting Match of the Day and other sports coverage for the British broadcaster.

Radio presenter Zoe Ball retained second place on the list, receiving more than £950,000 (R22.5m) for hosting the breakfast show on BBC Radio 2, according to the broadcaster's annual report published on Tuesday.

The BBC, which is funded by licence fees paid by TV watching households, has to publish the salaries of its top presenters and journalists.

Many of it best-known presenters, however, do not feature in the list because their salaries are paid by production companies, including the BBC's own entertainment unit which makes shows such as Strictly Come Dancing.

Lineker, a former England player and top scorer for Leicester City, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur, has been the face of BBC sport for 25 years and receives the brunt of viewer complaints that he earns too much from the public service.

On the news side, Huw Edwards, the leading presenter who announced the death of Queen Elizabeth to Britain in 2022, was the highest paid, receiving more than £475,000 (R11.2m). Edwards was taken off air in July 2023 amid allegations that he had paid a young person for explicit photos, and he resigned in April this year after medical advice.