- This topic has 16 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 17 years, 4 months ago by
.
- Posts
Anybody see Brough today on Channel 4?
66!
No, really, he’s 66!
He looks in great nick. Listening to him speaking he seemed just as alert and keen as he was over 20 years ago.
He could/should still host Ch4 racing.
"Alert and keen" is not how i remember Brough Scott presenting C4
racing 20yrs ago, more like "mumbling and stuttering" if there was a worse
presenter of racing i havent seen them! and that Vacant expression of his!
your having a laugh!"Alert and keen" is not how i remember Brough Scott presenting C4
racing 20yrs ago, more like "mumbling and stuttering" if there was a worse
presenter of racing i havent seen them! and that Vacant expression of his!
your having a laugh!But it was usually worth putting up with his faults for what he actually said. His writing in the Telegraph on any sport is worth a look.
There are some accomplished contributors (presentation-wise) on Channel 4 but they are only good at stating the blindingly obvious.
Brough was fine; a soothing, old school counterpoint to the ranting, entertaining madness that was the eighties Big Mac.
There was a touch of melancholy about him (still is), but he had an amazing knack of turning a race into a significant event without shouting too loudly about it.
Brough Scott 66 Wow!!!
A great advesary he is/was often called.
Brough is a genuinely nice guy and anyone who ran into him a couple of hours before racing dodging about the course getting prepared for the days TV show would get at least a nod and a wink of him…..if time allowed he would stop and have a quick chat with any racing fans that as much as said hi! to him …A down to earth guy he had loads of time for the racing public in his early days with Channel 4 and the public loved him for it.
Peter O’Sullivan was always known as the voice of racing but when it came to Mr Nice Guy Brough Scott shone like a beacon.
"Alert and keen" is not how i remember Brough Scott presenting C4
racing 20yrs ago, more like "mumbling and stuttering" if there was a worse
presenter of racing i havent seen them! and that Vacant expression of his!
your having a laugh!Does the name John Rickman ring a bell?……when it came to speakin in public if he was the George Bush of racing then Brough was like Barack Obama in comparison.
Brough was fine; a soothing, old school counterpoint to the ranting, entertaining madness that was the eighties Big Mac.
There was a touch of melancholy about him (still is), but he had an amazing knack of turning a race into a significant event without shouting too loudly about it.
Oh Max, what a way with words
Spot on
But it was usually worth putting up with his faults for what he actually said. His writing in the Telegraph on any sport is worth a look.
You won’t be seeing him in the Telegraph again. They dispensed with his services just this week.
But it was usually worth putting up with his faults for what he actually said. His writing in the Telegraph on any sport is worth a look.
You won’t be seeing him in the Telegraph again. They dispensed with his services just this week.
Pity, but the Telegraph has some recent form in this regard. They got rid of a load of other sports journalists earlier on this year.
Does he not still present it? Much better than that fat so and so Down who seems to think he speaks for all. Not seen the Noble Lord on for ages too, does he not still do it either?
I have two personal memories of Brough Scott.
One occured in the 1980’s when I took a photograph of him at York. It was just before racing and the place was packed, he’d nipped up the side of the weighing room for, presumably, some quiet last minute study of the day’s card or somesuch. There was a bike leaning against the wall just beside him and he was sat on a kerb or something like that. He looked up with a quizzical look (probably thinking ‘what the f** is that T*** up to’) just as I was taking the shot and it ended up being one of those rare photographs where everything falls (accidentally as is always the case with my photography) into place. It remains my favourite racing picture of those I’ve taken. I’ll post it on teh forum if I ever get around to digitising it at some point.
My second memory is of the year Coshocton came to grief in the Derby. I was watching the race from the rails about a hundred yards from the winning post and Brough was about five yards nearer the post but just inside the spectator rail, between the running rail and the spectator rail.
As the leaders thundered past my eye followed them but was then instantly distracted back as half a ton of stricken horse, poor Coshocton, slid along the grass in the centre of the course right on front of me. Brough immediately vaulted the rail and made his way to the horse’s side, holding it’s head down to, I suppose, calm it and stop it trying to get up. There were lots of people there, as you can imagine, but Brough was the first to act, not only knowing the right thing to do but getting on with it instinctively.
I think he was a big loss to Channel 4 and he’ll be a loss to the Telegraph as he is a fine journalist. He was instrumental (I think, although I could be wrong – I’m sure one of you closer to the world of racing publishing will correct me) in getting the Racing Post up and running and is clearly someone who gets things done.
Two nice stories there, Cormack; enjoyed reading them.
Channel 4 used to do a piece which allowed the public to write into them talking about favourite horses etc. My dad wrote in and mentioned some handicapper that I can’t remember, ‘something’ Cottage, that apparently had a good record winning races on Saturdays.
Anyway, the letter was never read out, but a couple of weeks later my dad received a hand-written letter (though it was the mid 1980s) from Brough giving details of the horse.
From that day on, whenever Scott appeared on Channel 4, my dad would nod his head and say to everyone in the room (though usually just me):
‘There’s my mate Brough.’
I think racing is like an elixir of youth for some people; look at Francome and ex jockeys such as Carl Llewellyn, Brendan Powell and Ben de Haan..all probably up at the crack of dawn most days but looking really young..must be great to do a job that you really enjoy. Met Brough a couple of times; once when I went on a tour of the Racing Post office and last year when he came to out Grand National preview..lovely, charming man.
It was a long time ago…late 70’s maybe so forgive me if I mis-remember.
There was an amateur riders hurdle race at Sandown and a horse called Ali, ridden by a Norwegian or Italian, I think. In the build up to the race Scott, who was leading the broadcast, without actually bluntly saying so gave the impression that Ali was by far the best horse and was ridden by…by far the best rider. He didn’t actually wink at the camera but it came very close. The message was clear ..this will win. It duly did by a wide margin having been heavily supported. Might have been returned about 6s.
Anyway after a very professional wrap up, at the end of the slot and before a break, Scott looked directly into the camera and said quietly and sincerely…" some of us have helped ourselves".
Apologies if the details are awry but I thought that little moment beautifuuly combined the love of racing and the thrill of landing a nice bet.
"Alert and keen" is not how i remember Brough Scott presenting C4
racing 20yrs ago, more like "mumbling and stuttering" if there was a worse
presenter of racing i havent seen them! and that Vacant expression of his!
your having a laugh!Does the name John Rickman ring a bell?……when it came to speakin in public if he was the George Bush of racing then Brough was like Barack Obama in comparison.
Fist, if John Rickman is related to Alan Rickman then i could listen to him all day! Brough is renowned for looking into the camera like only Brough
can and then repeatedly mutter and mumble, Nick Luck certainly
hasn"t moulded himself on Brough!Brough’s most famous gamble was on Tolomeo in the States when, cottoning onto the fact that the horse was likley to start an absurdly high price on the American ‘machine’ he lumped on. It won at 39/1 or something and I think the winnings were very significant.
I’d recommend his book – "On and Off the Rails", which is a collection of a variety of his articles and illustrates what a fine journalist he is.
I had a quick look tonight, prompted by this thread, and came across the following story, involving another, ahem, well known racing personality, which I hope the publishers won’t mind me quoting –
"In Chicago, for the Budweiser Million this August, I ended up doing Sheik Mohammed’s owner’s duties for Piggott’s horse, Noalto. I bottled it. Instead of giving my jockey a serious lecture on tactics, I lamely asked: "What’s your plan Lester?" That long look and then the muttered reply: "See those starting stalls. Then one and a half circuits."
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.