- This topic has 83 replies, 32 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 11 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Lee doesn’t shout! Well, may be if you’re used to the monotone of Irish commentators it could seem like shouting.
If you want to hit out at something after a losing bet Ruby, it might say more about your own frame of mind than Lee’s voice.
Value Is EverythingHe is screaming more often than not…..its completely ridiculous and almost everytime I turn on Timeform radio and he is commentating their always taking the complete piss out of him.
Screaming and shouting is not commentating!!!!
P.Bromley used to bellow a bit –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpIzPuiDN60
I loved it when the ‘growl’ used to appear in his voice.
The commentary on the Magnet Cup was dreadful, I was at Chester Races listening to it and no one had a good word to say about it!
Ruby, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head – it’s all about subjectivity.
When one watches a race, only one horse is on the radar, the one we’ve backed. We watch the horse’s progress and know from some way out if it’s likely to win, so we become the expert on that one horse’s progress. The commentator has up to 20 to process, so he’s not going to single ours out unless it’s doing something special.
The one pundit who makes me squirm is Gordon Brown, who covers northern and Scottish courses for ATR. His coverage is certainly comprehensive, but he needs to reduce the information he dispenses. Never a second is left blank, and after a few minutes it sounds as if he’s wheedling and I have to turn the sound off.
I am generally astounded when I read on here that Lee McKenzie is ‘one of the best’ commnetators that we have……..his commentary ‘style’ never fails to get in the way of my enjoyment and even if you had no opinion on it I genuinely can’t see anything at all that makes him ‘one of the best’.
I am generally astounded when I read on here that Lee McKenzie is ‘one of the best’ commnetators that we have……..his commentary ‘style’ never fails to get in the way of my enjoyment and even if you had no opinion on it I genuinely can’t see anything at all that makes him ‘one of the best’.
Lee made a mistake at York, big deal, everyone, even Hoiles and Holt make mistakes. I find Lee makes few mistakes and doesn’t go through the runners like – "Blah Blah, behind Blah Blah is Blee Blee, behind Blee Blee is…" or "further back is Blah Blah, then comes Blee Blee who’s giving them a fair start". Lee is also good at building the race in to a crescendo. Do think people shouldn’t judge on one race / day, go back and look at a better commentary like the King George.
May be he says "brilliant" and "terrific" too much, but other than that, it’s generally very good.
It’s all a matter of opinion WFTW. Many punters like Thommo, Jim (Aussie) McGrath and John Hunt, which is fine. Personally I don’t rate them that much.
Value Is EverythingThink his call on the 2.05 left a bit to be desired too. As i recall didnt name Amour Propre until very late on, even though was travelling suprememly well. Well enough to have got laid at 1.08 as i recall
Maybe commentators should do what they get paid for and not concentrate on building up crescendos, semi quavers or tower blocks for that matter…. A lot of commentators have beared the brunt on this forum over the years, and its a shame these are the guys that actually turned up to work to give you an accurate no nonsense description of the race. John Hickman and the late Doug Fraser spring to mind!
I didn’t see the racing today, so missed him on Ch4, but he was bound to be nervous on this step up to network TV.
A small point, but I don’t think Saturday would actually have constituted a "step up to network TV".
Having just watched Saturday’s playbacks for RUK meetings on the Sporting Life website, it looks as if Lee was the Racetech rostered commentator for the entire York card, and it’s increasingly common for Channel 4 to use such a commentator for its second or third meetings in an afternoon broadcast than hire one just for their own use.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
I am afraid I found Mr Mckenzies commentaries so poor on Saturday I watched all of the racing there after the John Smiths Cup with the volume off.Too Loud,Too inaccurate and a distraction from the racing itself.
Apologies, Mr Grayson – I was not aware Lee worked on network TV, having heard him only on ATR and on course.
I still think he shines like a good deed in a naughty world.
Lee was BBC Radio’s main man for a few years after Peter Bromley retired, I don’t know why he left
Jeremy
Yes, it’s definitely Ken Grainger doing the commentary in the early stages. Have just listened. There’s no mistaking his hesitant delivery.
Hope this solves a mystery for you and Dave. Would be interested to see the earlier thread you mentioned, if it’s possible to dig it out for me or point me in the direction of it.
Ken Grainger did the first few furlongs of the Cesarewich for several years for TV, taking over from Lionel Hampden, whom I heard only once doing the same thing.
Grainger was also the main course commentator at Newmarket many times for bigger meetings, often with Robin Gray, in the days when two commentators were employed because of the nature of the track and much of the action being a long way from the grandstand.
Lionel Hampden was mentioned by Graham Goode in one of his interviews at about the time he finished as a racecourse commentator but, needless to say, the Racing Post got his name wrong and called him Lionel Hampton. You may be able to track down the article in the online archives.
Great to hear Raleigh Gilbert doing the middle section of the Cesarewich again. So-called progress now means that instead of three commentators for the Cesarewich, the one TV and one course commentator is now expected to commentate on the entire race, doing the early stages from the monitor. I would still prefer to hear three commentators, with their varying styles and delivery.
And the first clip on the YouTube video, with my other favourite, John Penney, commentating was also very welcome.Hmmm, on reflection I wonder if it was on Twitter that I was asking after the mystery "Ces" commentator. The commentator-identifying clip I was referring to was this one;
http://www.theracingforum.co.uk/horse-racing-forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=87427&start=0
…and the answer to the puzzle that day was Johnnie Turner! Ergo some point or other.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
One of the real stalwarts of the commentary circuit in the West Country was dear old John Cotterell, an old-style, minimal-service commentator, in the tradition of Cloudesley Marsham.
He did mainly meetings at Exeter and Newton Abbot, wearing his usual flat cap, but ludicrous rota planning by the commentators’ employers meant that once, on a day when the two meetings were at Exeter and Hereford, they sent Cotterell to commentate at Hereford and not his local Exeter.John Cotterell was still employed until at least the end of the 1980s, as my visits to Newton Abbot or (Devon and) Exeter during family holidays back then invariably had him on the mike (save for one 1989 meeting at the latter venue, where Simon Holt made a rather better job of getting the small fields right than was evidently the case at that Chepstow fixture you mentioned!).
Do you suppose, or better still know, whether this is the same John Cotterell who co-authored
The A-Z of the Grand National
with Marcus Armytage a few years back? The often bizarre allying of subject matter to headings (coupled with an absence of an index) rendered the thing mighty hard work to use as a reference tool, which defeated the object somewhat.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
I have to say I don’t know if it is the same John Cotterell who was the aged racecourse commentator I saw all those years ago but I would be surprised if it is him.
When I saw him in the flesh at Exeter in the early 1980s, he looked as though he was well into his 60s, if not over retirement age, even then. He had grey and white hair and certainly gave the impression of being verging on being a pensioner. I don’t know if he is still alive but haven’t ever read any report of his death.
I have seen mentions of a John Cottrell (different spelling) in racing circles, perhaps as a steward, but don’t know anything about him.
Would be interested in any more info you have on Michael Seth-Smith and Bob Haynes. Just so this so-called Lee McKenzie thread isn’t deemed by purists to be going totally off at tangents, I think I am right in saying that Lee McKenzie was sometimes the number two commentator to Michael Seth-Smith for BBC radio commentaries from Newmarket. I think he provided the down-the-course commentary before handing over to the grandstand.
I know Lee McKenzie played second fiddle to Peter Bromley on BBC Radio for many years until Bromley’s retirement. He then finally got the number one position but appears to have had a bit of a fall-out with the BBC and left as the main radio commentator.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.