Favourite Commentators & Commentaries

[White Noise]

Just reading the thread on the passing of Harry Carpenter and Lighthouses comments about all the great voices of the past being silenced I wonder who your favourite sports commentators and commentaries are?

I can hardly find a thing with John Arlott and sadly not the great interviews he gave to Mike Brearley. This will have to do -

Rotherham United players in early 50's

[White Noise]

No speakers on my computer but has this got the commentary -

'Suddenly Ali looks very tired indeed, in fact Ali, at times now, looks as though he can barely lift his arms up... Oh he's got him with a right hand! He's got him! Oh you can't believe it. And I don't think Foreman's going to get up. He's trying to beat the count. And he's out! OH MY GOD he's won the title back at 32! Muhammad Ali!'


Ali vs Foreman - Round 8

[HatterDon]

forgive my lack of facility with names, but I would nominate

1. The gentleman who was the primary voice of Wimbledon every summer AND

2. The wonderful old geezer who did cricket test matches.

Both wonderfully entertaining without feeling the need to yammer constantly -- as is the case over here and increasingly so in Britain as well.

Anyone help me with the names?

[White Noise]

The voice of Wimbledon HD was 'Whispering' Dan Maskell who had been commentating since the 30's or 40's.
I think the chap you refer to on the cricket front is John Arlott who you can hear doing football in my first post. There was also the Jim 'Have to hurry' Laker and more recently the Australian Richie Benaud. Legends all.

[mrska]

Brian Moore..  He was the voice of ITV's 70's football coverage, hosting the Big Match...

Probably the last time ITV had a decent commentator!

[jarv]

The geordie who does the darts. Only for his completely over the top comments. It would not work with anything else but darts!
In a similar vein, Eddie Waring.  He gave voice to a sport which, quite frankly, was as dull as dishwater.

In football, Tony Gale, without doubt.

[Lighthouse]

The  Commentator learned his craft on the radio before moving on to the telly. Kenneth Wolstenholme was lucky enough to commentate on 66 and his famouse line will live forever. The cricket radio commentary had little to do with the love of cricket and more to do with the love of words and laughter. Brian Johnson was another great cricket commentator.

Funny Cricket Commentating

[CorkedHat]

I am saddened to read that Harry Carpenter has died.
Long before Frank Bruno was attending Swaffield Road school in Wandsworth, Harry was the voice of boxing, but I guess his commentary with poor old Frank was how Harry will be best remembered.
There was a magic about boxing in the fifties and sixties when a string of British heavyweights like Cockell, Erskine, and London had more grit than talent.
Harry brought all this to life, first of all on radio and then on television.
Rest in Peace, mate. Know what I mean 'arry?'
In my view the best commentator by a country mile on any sport was the late Brian Johnson. He brought cricket commentating to a new level. You used to yearn for rain to stop play so that "Johnners' could go to work on entertaining his audience until the covers came off.
More than this he was the quintessential Englishman, a bit like Eddie Waring who someone else has mentioned on this thread  and Mr Ska is right about Brian Moore.
With the exception of Martin Tyler the current band of football commentators are woeful. Where do they get them from?

[finnster01]

I know I will be shot down for this, but I always liked John Motson.

His never ending way of saying silly and stupid things completely by accident made it a pleasure to listen to

[finnster01]

Then of course there is the recent day and the unbeatable Gentleman Jim.

I really like the chap and being across the pond, he is often a life saver.

Just like his "the ref is a twit" rants, "that was never a foul", complete Fulham bias, and the daily fashion report of "Okaka in his green boots"

[HatterDon]

The voice of Wimbledon HD was 'Whispering' Dan Maskell who had been commentating since the 30's or 40's.
I think the chap you refer to on the cricket front is John Arlott who you can hear doing football in my first post. There was also the Jim 'Have to hurry' Laker and more recently the Australian Richie Benaud. Legends all.

Thank you sir. I remember Messers Laker and Benaud, but Maskell and Arlott [I remembered "Arnot"] were the gents I was referring to. I remember a 25-30 stroke rally on center court one year with the crowd going bananas. When finally the winner ended the moment, Mr. Maskell said, "Oh my." It was the only thing he said, and he said it all.

Mr. Arlott was a joy. There was always a TON of chatting that had to be done with cricket, especially during tea intervals and rain delays, and he was the master of filling time. It's like you had been invited into the box to sit and have a cup of tea and share in the discussion.

About Mr. Wolstenholme, there are few lines in sportscasting as famous as "They think it's all over. Well it is now!"

What a wonderful thread.

[CorkedHat]

I know I will be shot down for this, but I always liked John Motson.

His never ending way of saying silly and stupid things completely by accident made it a pleasure to listen to

I don't know why anyone should shoot you down over John Motson, Mr Finn. There were/are many worse than him.
What about whispering Ted Lowe who said on Pot Black, "and for those of you who are watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green"
Or John Snagge commentating on the boat race - Änd I can't quite see who is in the lead but it is either Oxford or Cambridge."
These are ones that I remember but I'm sure if I look them up I would unearth many more just like them.

[TheDaddy]

Another boxing great was Reg Gutteridge

Las Vegas is the oasis of outstretched palms.

Reg Gutteridge
used to tell a terrific story about his friend Muhammad Ali.
It related to a dinner at which Gutteridge was seated next to the great man. 'You think you're hard,' said the Londoner, 'but are you as hard as this?'
Whereupon he stuck a fork into his left leg. Ali screamed with shock, as did all the victims of that party piece and the famous Gutteridge sense of humour. At that stage in their acquaintance, Ali did not know about his dining companion's wooden leg

[GoldCoastWhite]

What an excellent thread and I'm sure 'Arry wouldn't mind being remembered amongst these masters of the trade.

And I have to ask - did this cricket commentary actually happen or is it a fiction ? I refer of course to "the batsman's Holding, the bowlers Willie."

And just for the late and fondly remembered Mr Carpenter;

Harry Carpenter at the Oxford-Cambridge boat race 1977 - "Ah, isn't that nice. The wife of the Cambridge President is kissing the Cox of the Oxford crew."

[Crede15]

As far as soccer/football goes I've only followed it closely for around the last five years so I don't have a long list of favorites but I find Ray Hudson and the bizarre things he says to be pretty hilarious. For example his commentary on the Dempsey goal had a number of gems including

"he takes account of everything in the universe into consideration here" haha what?

"this is a wonderful, considerate stab home" how he worked considerate into that is beyond me

"he doesn't need to look cause he knows the goalpost ain't moving"

It seems like I remember a Gentleman Jim thread on here sometime back which had some absolutely hilarious lines.

[finnster01]

But then on the other end of the spectrum, there was always Alan Partridge  :011:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZhysyhUL9k#

[TonyGilroy]

There was of course the famous Grandstand link :

"Harry Commentator is your Carpenter"

Virtually all football commentators and pundits piss me off whereas I could listen to most cricket broadcasters endlessly. The present Sky crew are all excellent IMO.

Harry Carpenter was old school - easy to parady yet universally liked.

[Dragoman]

Another boxing great was Reg Gutteridge

Las Vegas is the oasis of outstretched palms.

Reg Gutteridge
used to tell a terrific story about his friend Muhammad Ali.
It related to a dinner at which Gutteridge was seated next to the great man. 'You think you're hard,' said the Londoner, 'but are you as hard as this?'
Whereupon he stuck a fork into his left leg. Ali screamed with shock, as did all the victims of that party piece and the famous Gutteridge sense of humour. At that stage in their acquaintance, Ali did not know about his dining companion's wooden leg

Agreed about Reg. I thought he made a great team with Jim Watt when they used to commentate on ITV's boxing matches shown on Saturday nights in the 80's and early 90's.