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I have very much enjoyed reading this thread, with many of the names of yore being new to me.
This is probably the best place for this question – who is the course commentator in the following Youtube link – the 1981 Tingle Creek featuring News King, Western Rose and Anaglog’s Daughter (stop drooling noslagia fans!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAPQDdaP2wQ
He appears on a few of the old vids of late 70s/early 80s races that I’ve seen and the style is, shall we say, laconic. I’m sure he’s been mentioned several times on this thread.
Ta
Old Applejack — it’s dear old Ken Grainger, the amiable old buffer who, incredibly, for quite a time in the good old days, was regarded as the number one course commentator.
I say "incredibly" because his hesitant style and poor voice quality, punctuated by many pauses and "ers", was distinctly lacking in the fluency of most of the present-day commentators.
Having listened to the commentary you provided a link to, I hadn’t realised just how bad he was. It’s incredible to think that he was the number one commentator at Cheltenham, Goodwood and Aintree for several years. I think it was just a question of his seniority of service in those days, rather than actual professionalism and fluency.
As mentioned earlier in the thread, Geoff Lester once slated Grainger in the Sporting Life for his mistakes in commentary at Newbury.
Ken Grainger is the commentator who did the early stages of the three-man TV commentary for the Cesarewich at Newmarket back in the 1980s, supplied earlier on this link by Jeremy Grayson.
Grainger, as mentioned earlier, died about this time last year, aged about 85, I think. Tribute was paid to him in the Racing Post by another old stager, Cloudesley Marsham, who died only a few weeks later, in his 90s.So what does Mr J S Hickman get upto these days?? is he still involved in racing?? In the 80s you could always hear him in the background of the big meetings relevised on C4. Infact this vid of dessie certainly sounds like him calling them home on course.
http://www.youtube.com/user/jessejames3 … vr6Sh8Zhbw
I used to enjoy his ATR commentaries which you can still watch in their archives at the likes of Bath and Chepstow and Windsor(monday nights). I always remember he had a knack of getting photo finishes right every time. I presume he was disposed of to make way for Mike Cattermole who seems to be farming more and more of the bigger RUK meetings and Windsors monday nights!.
Dave
Certainly sounds like John Hickman to me. He must have had one of the highest-pitched voices of any racecourse commentator and certainly one of the fastest deliveries at the time, although this example is certainly not one of his finest efforts.
He was secretary of the Association of Racecourse Commentators for a number of years and was a noted behind-the-scenes champion of the interests of commentators over working conditions of service.
He was based in the south and had non-racing interests as well as having one of the finest shining bald heads you will ever see. Often covered it up with a hat, though. Often to be seen in the commentary box with his head buried in the Sporting Life moments before the runners lined up. Sometimes saw him heading off to the betting ring for a bet in between races.
John Hickman seemed to do a lot of meetings at Chepstow, Bath and Salisbury but the first meeting where I came across him as a commentator was at Windsor. He also did quite a few Newmarket meetings in the days when there were two course commentators but he also popped up at Wetherby and other northern courses, however.
He regularly used to be praised for his accuracy, although I was never keen on him.
I think he fell foul of the enforced age-based retirement rules for course commentators when he got to the age of about 60 quite a few years ago now.
By the way, the reason Mike Cattermole farms the Windsor meetings these days is probably because I think he still lives at Bray, which is just up the road from Windsor. It will be his local course. Same reason, no doubt, why Malcolm Tomlinson, who lives in Beverley, does most of the Beverley meetings.
Mike Cattermole was the course commentator at a Windsor Monday meeting I went to a couple of years ago. He was being positively genial, as you would expect, and was to be seen in between races chatting to various people, in his black polo-neck top, before nipping up to the commentary box. He always thanked course announcer Milton Johns during the hand-over as he began identifying the runners as they came out on to the course. Such a charmer. You can’t fault him. He also religiously gave the names of the jockeys aboard every runner as they went to post, even in big fields, as well as bits of form. Very good attention to detail.
Contrast his friendly attitude with that of John McCririck, who was working for At The Races that day. He virtually ignored his co-presenter, Jason Weaver, all afternoon and sat morosely puffing on his cigar and staring at the monitor, near the weighing room, not moving once from there all afternoon. McCririck didn’t even speak to Cattermole, while I was watching at least, but The Booby, who was also milling around, did at least briefly give Cattermole the time of day.I take my hat off to Lee McKenzie after reading a snippet in today’s Racing Post.
The paper reveals that Lee, a racecourse commentator for 25 years, has been signed by the London Olympics to report on a variety of sports via the world broadcasting feed to more than 100 countries.
Lee is quoted as saying: "It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m also covering the youth Winter Olympics in Austria next month and I’m having a year away from the racecourse commentary box.
"At the youth Summer Olympics in Singapore, I covered weightlifting, volleyball, tennis and football but I have no idea what awaits me in London."
I had no idea he was so versatile. All credit to him.
Let’s hope he didn’t do his "they are OFFFF and RAAACINNG" at the start of the weightlifting or volleyball. Wonder if the lucky so-and-so has managed to commentate on any beach volleyball.
The only other racecourse commentator I can think of is who so versatile is Mark Johnson, who has also covered a whole host of different sports for television.
Looks like the poster on the David Fitzgerald commentator thread who was calling for Lee to be removed from the racecourse commentary rota altogether will get his wish, at least for a while, judging by the "having a year away from the racecourse commentary box" quote.Lee has been covering many sports for a long time.
He was, for many years, one of the general sport correspondents for BBC South.
Simon Holt had a stint commentating for the bbc at the commonwealth games. Covered the lawn bowls coverage.
I remember reading about Simon Holt’s stint at the lawn tennis. Below is an article from the Racing Post that appeared at the time.
The sheer range of sports that Mark Johnson has covered is eye-watering. Fencing and athletics were among them. He hosted some Channel 4 athletics a few years ago.
He must take the prize for the most prolific in terms of non-racing assignments.———————————————————————————————————–
CHANNEL 4 commentator Simon Holt faces a change of pace this October when he heads out to India to work at the Commonwealth Games Commonwealth games, series of amateur athletic meets held among citizens of countries in the Commonwealth of Nations. Just days after wrestling with 30-odd horses charging up the Rowley Mile course in the Cambridgeshire things should be rather more leisurely as he describes the decidedly less frantic action in the New Delhi lawn bowls arena.
"Jim Ramsey, a producer friend of mine who has done directing on Channel 4, has been out in New Delhi for months now preparing.
"It is SIS who have got the world feed and I asked him if there might be anything going. I eventually got an e-mail back saying they needed a lawn bowls commentator. I said I know absolutely nothing about lawn bowls but I thought ‘bloody hell, go and do it, go for the experience’.
"I have never done any sport other than racing – so it is about time! I thought it was an opportunity to do something a bit different.
"I suppose deep down it would have been nice to have got some athletics or some swimming, something involving a race might have been better. But of course they are going to be the most popular sports with commentators."
So Holt, who will return to Britain in time to be back at Newmarket for Champions day, will be doing his homework over the summer to make sure he is up to speed when he heads east.
"Fortunately the internet is fantastic," he says, "and there is a tournament down in Worthing, which is quite a centre for lawn bowls, and I will put it in my diary and I will definitely go down there for a day. I have got to put the research in.
"I kind of figure that if I can call horse races I ought to be able to call a lawn bowls match but there is obviously a great tactical dimension to it which I have got to learn.
"I am told there are three other commentators, two Australians and an English guy who is an ex-professional, so I am a bit worried that I am going to be a bit out of my depth."
He adds: "I just hope that I can pull it off. I am a bit nervous because it is out of the comfort zone – but that is the point of doing it."I can just see it…
The crowd in the Olympic stadium are hushed and the world watches on. Usain Bolt bends down, positions his feet on the starting blocks, arches his body and raises his head to look dead straight down that 100 metre track.
You can cut the tension with a knife
The starter walks to his rostrum, hesitates, then, slowly, slowly raises the gun….
‘BANG’ –
"they are OFFFF and RAAACINNG"
Good luck with it Lee. Lifetime opportuunity is right, enjoy every second.
I can just see it…
The crowd in the Olympic stadium are hushed and the world watches on. Usain Bolt bends down, positions his feet on the starting blocks, arches his body and raises his head to look dead straight down that 100 metre track.
You can cut the tension with a knife
The starter walks to his rostrum, hesitates, then, slowly, slowly raises the gun….
‘BANG’ –
"they are OFFFF and RAAACINNG"
Good luck with it Lee. Lifetime opportuunity is right, enjoy every second.
Brilliant post David – I’ve just sent a copy of it to Lee
I had a heads up on this when David Cormack introduced me to Lee at Kelso a while back. Lee said he was hoping to get work on the international broadcasting for the Olympics. I’ve been doing some work for the Shooting venue at Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, and it may be that it’s the kind of event he will be covering.
"Rifles at the ready, THEYYYY’RE OFF and SHOOOOOTING!"
Rob
He was my mum’s favourite on Radio Solent – so he’ll do for me….
….also as someone that mostly follows racing on Timeform Radio I get a little good feeling when I hear Lee is commentating at one of the race meetings – I’m sure he will be the first to admit he’s not everyones cup of tea, but for me he could make paint drying sound interesting and fun….
The Paint is on, anddddd Dryinggggg
Its a shame, but I think Lee has become a bit self-conscious about his "watch-word" now, and there isn’t quite that utterly UNself-conscious, youthful exhuberance about it, these days.
In the days of yore, you could almost imagine him running along side the track, trying to keep up with them!
Unlike women, I don’t think we ever grow up. They’re "a bit" more grounded than us most of the time, aren’t they? I know at least one woman who laps up Laurel and Hardy, but my wife is pretty scornful when they crease me up with laughter. Still, maybe they do have a more universal appeal than her reaction suggests, so maybe it’s not a good example.
Its a shame, but I think Lee has become a bit self-conscious about his "watch-word" now, and there isn’t quite that utterly UNself-conscious, youthful exhuberance about it, these days.
In the days of yore, you could almost imagine him running along side the track, trying to keep up with them!
I know at least one woman who laps up Laurel and Hardy, but my wife is pretty scornful when they crease me up with laughter.You’re dead right, Grimes. I used to love it when Lee McKenzie said: "They are OFFFF and RAAACIIINGG" in his exuberant way — and sometimes I even went so far as to shout my girlfriend from another room while I was watching At The Races and tell her: "Quick. Come and listen to this. He’s going to say it in a minute!" — only for him to let me down and hardly put any enthusiasm into it at all or, if he did, to say it in a very muted sort of way which left both her and me distinctly unimpressed.
He’s been very restrained for months now, leaving me to do my own more animated impression of him, rather than hearing the real thing. Sad but true.
Glad someone else likes Laurel and Hardy. Oliver Hardy was the originator of the "doh" now attributed more commonly to Homer Simpson. Hardy used to say it when, for example, he ended up after some disaster slumped in a fireplace under a chimney and a brick suddenly fell on his head. Often followed by "Why don’t you do something to HELP me?" or "That’s another fine mess you’ve gotten me in to".Something about that excited, high-spirited growl, when he lets rip spontaneously, made it infectious. Footballers play best when they’re enjoying the match, and if we are ever to hear it again, I expect he’d have to refind the enjoyment he obviously used to feel when he hollered it with such madcap exuberance in the past.
You didn’t get the impression he was letting rip to conform to any TV guidelines, as is the reality behind most of the raving during race commentaries, particularly near the finishing line. He just seemed to find each race great fun; excited as a sixteen or seventeen-year old.
And, yes, there was something about Ollie which made his testiness in the face of the calamities which always seemed to stalk him in the company of Stanley, especially funny: pompousness and sychophancy were his middle names, weren’t they? And those daft little embellishmentments, such as twiddling his tie, as if he was an eighteen-stone toddler.
I know at least one woman who laps up Laurel and Hardy
We are blessed to have our own latter day version of Laurel and Hardy in John McCririck and Tanya Stevenson.
Tanya is looking more like Stan Laurel every week. On the rare occasions they now stand together in the betting ring, she looks the spitting image of Stan, with the increasingly ridiculous hats and her tall, skinny build. Stan didn’t have the huge flared trousers though.
Why McCririck has to wear those huge knee-high boots inside for the Morning Line is beyond me. The others all manage to change into different outfits after the programme.
Mind you, Alice Plunkett seems to have her own line in ridiculous, unflattering hats. Simon Holt did have a point, however, when he said on Friday that a lot of people are fans of her black leather trousers. Alastair Down managed to don his Benny Hill-style cap when the weather turned colder at Cheltenham. Looked like the one that Tommo and Jim McGrath often wear.
Alastair and Alice seem to be setting themselves up as the new Two Ronnies. The other week they said "Hi Al" and "Hi Al" to each other and, at the end of the programme, Alastair often tries to engineer some Two Ronnies-style signing off, such as "It’s goodbye from Al" followed by her saying "And it’s goodbye from Al". She often fluffs the line and gets it wrong, though.
He doesn’t half stare at her when she’s saying her bits….
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