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Evening all,
I noticed that the last race at Uttoxeter today is named the "Graham Goode’s Commentating Swansong Maiden Open NH Flat Race" and was actually called by GG.
His last course commentary after a whopping 40 or more years of doing the job!
Well done Graham and all the best.
Evening all,
I noticed that the last race at Uttoxeter today is named the "Graham Goode’s Commentating Swansong Maiden Open NH Flat Race" and was actually called by GG.
His last course commentary after a whopping 40 or more years of doing the job!
Well done Graham and all the best.
I had a little chuckle at his ‘this is the… My Commentating Swansong Maiden Open NH Flat Race’
Got all his thankyous & plaudits in & still commentated on a good finish. Nicely done.
‘That’s all folks!’
Good luck to him.
I know he is not quite as sharp as he was once but, there are lot worse that we hear in broadcasting.
I was listening to Timeform radio this afternoon and one of the presenters was constantly saying "err" most of the afternoon after every sentence he uttered.(No, it wasn’t "GC"!)
Regards
Wish I’d been able to get there this afternoon. I’ll very much miss his dulcet tones. Along and happy retirement GG….
Lovely chap, once took time for a chat with me at a Nottingham jumping fixture. Hope his retirement is long and happy after what was a long and distinguished career.
I Will miss hearing GG over the tanoy at the races, what a shame we wont hear him again, one of the best commentators we have had along with the likes of Raleigh Gilbert. I wish GG all the best for the future
I was listening to Timeform radio this afternoon and one of the presenters was constantly saying "err" most of the afternoon after every sentence he uttered.(No, it wasn’t "GC"!)
That would have been David Cleary – a huge influence on me at the
Sportsman
, an excellent judge of horse conformation and the absolute go-to man on the station for expertise on bumpers. Possessive of a wickedly dry sense of humour also.
Honeyed tones and uninterrupted delivery alone doth not a compelling broadcaster make, and I’d give my eye teeth to be able to get my points across on air as succinctly and pertinently as DC enough of the time – my own nice-bloke-with-severe-concussion delivery can get on even my nerves sometimes…
Be that all as it may. I don’t know if this was writ large anywhere in the
Post
yesterday or earlier, but Graham’s first racecourse commentary was at Worcester in spring 1968, giving him 42 and a half years in active service all told.
I’m not sure even any the first generation of commentators, such as Ken Grainger, Cloudesley Marsham as Varlien Vyner-Brooks, ever achieved quite such longevity (can anyone confirm?), and if not, that’s one record he can point to proudly hereafter if nothing else.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
2000 Guineas, 1993
Zafonic on the left is absolutely pulling double…but Eddery gives the go on Zafonic. This is the tonic we waited to see…but this is a very good horse. This is Zafonic.
Magical stuff.
All the best, GG.
GC, Twas April 67 when GG made his Worcester debut, the same day Foinavon won the National.
GG (along with Peter O’Sullevan on the Beeb) was one of the voices that grabbed my interest in Racing. May he enjoy a long & happy retirement.
For gentlemen of a certain age and beyond Goode and O’Sullevan were the callers one expected to hear when glued to the box during the ’70s and ’80s, and will therefore always dwell within a special place heart-wise. The race, the horse, the caller meld into one – as time goes by
Which doesn’t mean either were better than the thoroughly professional roster of callers we have today. Fact is, fact wise they weren’t: Machin, Hoiles etc knock them into a cocked hat
But that dulcet baritone – and don’t underestimate the satisfaction that the unknowingly duly delivered received-English spoken word can provide – forgave inconsistencies in accuracy
Enjoy your retirement Mr Goode
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Oooh no, Drone, I can’t have that!
O’Sullevan in his pomp had a wonderful way of building a crescendo into his delivery as the big race unfolded which made the experience as potent as a glass of Chateau Margaux or a Beethoven symphony. Throw in that (much imitated) gnarled velvet tone and you have as great an artist in his chosen vocal field as my sainted avatar, Ezio Pinza!
The wondrous Mr Hoiles may take the palm for observation and alertness to moment by moment events; Mark Johnson can on occasion equal O’Sullevan’s histrionic gift; but neither have the voice, nor the vocabulary, nor the style.
O’Sullevan has a place which only the most pre-eminent ever achieve, in any art form – because that’s what Racing Commentary is, albeit a minor one.
O’Sullevan in his pomp had a wonderful way of building a crescendo into his delivery as the big race unfolded which made the experience as potent as a glass of Chateau Margaux or a Beethoven symphony. Throw in that (much imitated) gnarled velvet tone and you have as great an artist in his chosen vocal field as my sainted avatar, Ezio Pinza!
The wondrous Mr Hoiles may take the palm for observation and alertness to moment by moment events; Mark Johnson can on occasion equal O’Sullevan’s histrionic gift; but neither have the voice, nor the vocabulary, nor the style.
O’Sullevan has a place which only the most pre-eminent ever achieve, in any art form – because that’s what Racing Commentary is, albeit a minor one.
Nicely put Pinza, and I quite agree that no one has matched – in your words –
the voice, nor the vocabulary, nor the style
of O’Sullevan at his wondrous best. As an adjunct to the the race itself his commentaries added substantially to the entertainment provided.
I was only trying to make the point that neither he (to a limited extent) nor Goode (to a greater extent) had the matter-of-fact driza-bone pared-down ability to get the nuts and bolts of a race across to the viewing/listening audience that Machin and Hoiles in particular are so adept at doing
For the punter interested in only clinical black-and-white race analysis then the modern breed of caller usually satisfy
It is a great shame though that none have the bred-in-the-shires plum-pudding Mr-Kipling-Cakes base-of-the-lungs-phlegmy vowels and intonation the voices of yesteryear had
Raleigh Gilbert? Magnificent gently-booming delivery, technically average caller (in hindsight)
- Total Posts 17716
Part of this, Drone, was O’Sullevan’s need to communicate the excitement to a rather larger, less specialised audience than Hoiles or Machin have to consider today. A stylistic opportunity which P O’S grabbed with both vocal chords – with the result that nearly everyone in the country over 40 knows who he is!
"That would have been David Cleary – a huge influence on me at the Sportsman, an excellent judge of horse conformation and the absolute go-to man on the station for expertise on bumpers. Possessive of a wickedly dry sense of humour also."
No, GC.
It was the main presenter.
David Cleary, can be a bit ponderous to my ears at times but, I am always interested on his input.
Regards
Part of this, Drone, was O’Sullevan’s need to communicate the excitement to a rather larger, less specialised audience than Hoiles or Machin have to consider today. A stylistic opportunity which P O’S grabbed with both vocal chords – with the result that nearly everyone in the country over 40 knows who he is!
Yep, you’re right there. The RUK/ATR/SIS audience of today don’t need, don’t expect, and in all likelihood don’t want a race call embellished with ‘excitement’ whereas the more casual terrestrial viewer did and does
O’Sullevan was very much the commentators’ commentator too. Recall Bill McClaren, Harry Carpenter and Richie Benaud (no less) all citing him as the role model to which they aspired and from whom they learnt.
Oooh no, Drone, I can’t have that!
O’Sullevan in his pomp had a wonderful way of building a crescendo into his delivery as the big race unfolded which made the experience as potent as a glass of Chateau Margaux or a Beethoven symphony. Throw in that (much imitated) gnarled velvet tone and you have as great an artist in his chosen vocal field as my sainted avatar, Ezio Pinza!
The wondrous Mr Hoiles may take the palm for observation and alertness to moment by moment events; Mark Johnson can on occasion equal O’Sullevan’s histrionic gift; but neither have the voice, nor the vocabulary, nor the style.
O’Sullevan has a place which only the most pre-eminent ever achieve, in any art form – because that’s what Racing Commentary is, albeit a minor one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcCuIVn6egM
and for GG fans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTA-aUKF1s0
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