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Sad news – I know he polarised opinion but for a lot of us, brought up on and inspired by television coverage of racing, he was a central part of the action.
RIP.
Real shame. He provided some of my favourite National calls in the 70’s and 80’s.
"And it’s High Ken out in front, what a ride Barry Brogan’s having!"
"As the leader comes to Becher’s Brook for the second time and… Andy Pandy’s down!"
"On the inside is Stands of Gold and Strands of Gold is down!"Even something as simple as "And Dixton House is down!"
Still gives me goosebumps.
Very sad news for me he represented all that was good about tv racing when I got into racing back in the mid-eighties a very far cry from the dumbed down ch4 of today.
Thankfully some of his work is available to enjoy on YouTube.
My thoughts are with his familyDixton House…isn’t it amazing how the mere mention of those names brings it all back.
Very, very sad loss.
I remember reading Julian’s book and him saying how the BBC’s standards had slipped from what they once were and people weren’t employed due to their quality. How right he was the BBC’s racing coverage used to be quality then it became less and less and now we have none.
Wilson / O’Sullivan and co, those were the days.
Sad news. As a teenager (many years ago), I had a job on the fringes of racing and had to deal with him and some of his other contempories. He was always polite and a gentleman – more than could be said of some of the others.
The story doing the rounds when he got the job was that there were 3 candidates who traveled to London for the interview. JW was the only one who’d done so on a first class ticket.
If you’ll forgive the clatter of dropped names, the first time I met him was in the surreal surroundings of Patrick Martell’s Chateau. While deer grazed on the lawn, I played JW at French Billiards. He seemed a nice bloke. Condolences to his loved ones.
I know Triptych had some good and funny tales of him.
RIP JulianBlackbeard to conquer the World
Sad news. Part of a great era of BBC racing coverage. A fine all rounder in terms of presentation, interviews, commentaries and summaries.
Very sad news for me he represented all that was good about tv racing when I got into racing back in the mid-eighties a very far cry from the dumbed down ch4 of today.
Thankfully some of his work is available to enjoy on YouTube.
My thoughts are with his familySame as me, RIP Julian Wilson
Julian Wilson seemed a gentleman on TV. Bit amateurish, but that was quite endearing in its own way. Bit like Robert Cooper today. But Julian and Clare never got on and it came across as jealousy when subsequently attacking BBC coverage; probably didn’t do him justice.
RIP Mr. Wilson
Value Is EverythingI shall miss seeing him at Newmarket, he was almost always alone apart from his copy of Timeform and my only real claim to fame was to have stood behind him when he had backed Singspiel and our horse Posidonas somehow beat him at 20/1, I think we gave him a headache that day but he gallantly returned my pen that had rolled down the step to his feet during the race with a wry smile.
Over the years his visits had become fewer obviously due to his illness but will remember him as the face of racing as it used be and his knowledge of racing was second to none.
Condolences to all his family.
RIP Julien
a great loss to racing.Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...Sad news. I grew up watching racing with him at the helm, and it was never quite the same with out him. He was
BBC Racing to me.His commentaries, when he got the opportunity, along with John Hamner, were always enjoyable, if a little different, and a shame he didn’t get more of a chance, and we had to endure O’Sullevan year after year.
Like GT said, he was amateurish at times, but that was all part of the appeal.
I used to have a couple of Julian Wilson’s books but they mysteriously never got returned when I loaned them out to relatives. One was a biography of Lester Piggott which contained a very irreverent comment made by the jockey regarding the transparent raincoat worn by one of the French jockeys.
Julian wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea and I remember a fellow viewer disgusted by the apparent snobbery of Julian’s comment that a shock winner had "Gasted his Flabber"
Several years ago I read a review of one of his books in The Sporting Life Weekender where the reviewer was less than impressed and suggested that the book should have carried the warning:-
"Please do not attempt to drive or operate heavy machinery after reading this book"
I have to say I enjoyed him as a presenter and a writer. Pity I’ll never get my books back from the grasping relatives.
All the best to his family and friends.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
I shall miss seeing him at Newmarket, he was almost always alone apart from
his copy of Timeform
and my only real claim to fame was to have stood behind him when he had backed Singspiel and our horse Posidonas somehow beat him at 20/1, I think we gave him a headache that day but he gallantly returned my pen that had rolled down the step to his feet during the race with a wry smile.
Over the years his visits had become fewer obviously due to his illness but will remember him as the face of racing as it used be and his knowledge of racing was second to none.
Condolences to all his family.
RIP Julien
a great loss to racing.I seem to remember Julian once saying he hated Timeform because it gave information to a lot of punters and therefore more difficult for others/him to make a profit.
Value Is EverythingI seem to remember Julian once saying he hated Timeform because it gave information to a lot of punters and therefore more difficult for others/him to make a profit.
Not a view I hold, nor one I hold about the current buzz humming around the incipient explosion of sectional timing into the public domain
A plethora of nformation is useful but if not interpreted correctly or even satisfactorily is of no use at all
I may well be guilty of harbouring a cynical attitude towards the majority of my fellow punters but collectively I don’t have the highest regard for them
So Ginger stop banging on about possible loss of edge if sectionals or whatever become commonplace: many may well attempt to use them but most will only entangle themselves further as the web of information grows larger
As for Juilan Wilson: a face ideally suited to radio; a wooden, stilted presenter; thorough knowledge of the subject he was paid to talk about. Compare and contrast to today…
The (rather short-lived) threesome of Wilson, O’Sullevan and Rock was for me the pinnacle of terrestrial racing coverage
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