Dad was on Radio Five Live with Colin Murray ahead of the Carling Cup Final today, doing what IMHO was the best interview I’ve heard of his in recent years. If you missed it, you’re interested, and you have 20 minutes to spare, you can hear it here and here (it runs over the half-hour split) for the next seven days. It starts 4 minutes and 26 seconds in.
I liked the reference to the coverage of the Euro96 semi-final made right at the start of the second clip, because I’d forgotten it. As you seem to be able to do with everything, I found it on YouTube. You realise, on watching it, quite how things have changed in the last 15 years. I can’t imagine them letting it breathe like this these days!
Loved part one of the interview with your dad. The net is a bit ropey where I am so pt 2 will have to wait, but I was agreeing with every word.
It’s just that your old man is a great commentator, he talks such sense about it all. Especially about interviewing.
I heard a classic example on ‘Front row’ on R4 where the interviewer spent the whole time talking to Elvis Costello by giving him a question that was an opinion.
‘you did this because of a,b,c, and d…?’ To which Elvis would often disagree. I was shouting ‘where’s the question? where’s the question?’
During the world cup which we watched on Aj Jazeera, the Arab commentators were driving us nuts with the constant rattling and screaming, we then discovered an alternative audio feed where, Barry Davies style the commentator would actually illuminate. But unlike most people when he did illuminate he would actually make noises more than words.
He’d go ‘whoooooaaaa…….bahhhhhh…lalalalalah….babbabbab….’
very funny, but it exemplified that you didn’t really need to know the language for the commentator to communicate. His pauses and then brief excitable noises were all we needed.
It was the perfect, multi lingual commentary, with the odd acceptable word like ‘goal’ thrown in.
Today I was sent a link of interviews with two broadcasting legends, your Dad, and David Rodigan the reggae DJ who was on ‘Today’ last week. Both ends of the broadcast scale, but I could easily hear your dad playing dub reggae tunes, and Rodigan commentating on sport!
Your dad holds a very special place in the hearts of all Leeds United supporters of a certain age. Firstly as hero for the magical commentary when the Don Revie Leeds side finally proved they had more than Norman ‘bite-yer-legs’ Hunter tactics and played a Southampton side off the park. To quote the much repeated sequence of Leeds play as pass after pass bounced around a 1970’s Elland Road “its almost cruel, to say that Leeds United are playing with Southampton is an understatement – poor Southampton simply don’t know what day its”. And then the sympathy as a ref famously robbed Leeds of a title at the hands of W.B.A with the mother of all off side cock ups. He could even understanding why supporters got on the pitch.
Although a beautiful commentary, the Tomas Brolin goal in Euro 92 sees him cast as villain (perhaps a touch unfair) for the rising brolin broLIN BROLIN as he danced past defenders to score. This goal contributed to the myth of Brolin which was shattered the moment he tugged on a by then ill fitting Leeds shirt. Universally acknowledged as the worst player in the history of the club. But for the marvelous BBC Match of the day videos of 1970’s Leeds you dad is THE voice of my childhood – arrive home after a long trip back from Leeds in the Hillman Imp to watch MOTD wonderful – arise Sir Barry i say!.