Grandstand all day. Bough, Coleman and Gubba. Football Focus with Bob Wilson. Horse racing with Peter O'Sullevan and Julian Wilson. Boxing with Harry Carpenter. Even Rugby League with Eddie Warring was good. The teleprinter and then the classified results read by the best of the lot, Len Martin and Tim Gudgin did the racing and rugby results.
Grandstand had a better theme tune too.
World of Sport was just soooooo ITV. Cheap, unprofessional and tacky. High cliff diving from Hawaii and the pathetic wrestling. For goodness sake! Only good thing was the boxing they showed from the USA. Especially the golden age of the middleweights in the late 70's and early 80's....Sugar Ray, Hearns, Hagler, Durran etc etc.
Used to flick beween the two, didn't give the quality of the programme a lot of thought at the time; just watched whatever sports interested the most - though in reality I guess we'd probably have watched more WoS because we all liked the wrestling and my dad always did the ITV7.
Grandstand all day. Bough, Coleman and Gubba. Football Focus with Bob Wilson. Horse racing with Peter O'Sullevan and Julian Wilson. Boxing with Harry Carpenter. Even Rugby League with Eddie Warring was good. The teleprinter and then the classified results read by the best of the lot, Len Martin and Tim Gudgin did the racing and rugby results.
Grandstand had a better theme tune too.
World of Sport was just soooooo ITV. Cheap, unprofessional and tacky. High cliff diving from Hawaii and the pathetic wrestling. For goodness sake! Only good thing was the boxing they showed from the USA. Especially the golden age of the middleweights in the late 70's and early 80's....Sugar Ray, Hearns, Hagler, Durran etc etc.
Brilliant. Daft as it sounds now, my parents disapproved of adverts on TV, so it was Grandstand I watched as a kid. Yes, the voice of Len Martin - even the "classified football results" were read with more authority, more gravitas, than on ITV.
Sportsnight With Coleman - a stirring theme tune here too. And Coleman was a fund of amusing gaffes, immortalised in the Colemanballs column in Private Eye. While commentating on an athletics race: "He came off the bend, opened his legs, and showed his class...."
that's it ooh aaah the best ever, remeber laying in bed listening to the night time commentaries what great mermories.That's when the F.A.Cup was proper, not just one replay and penalties, remember the Arsenal v Sheff Wed going to quite a few replays. Fuck the premier league proper football. The European Cup being a knock out competition, Liverpool drawing Forest in a early round.
I think the midweek football tune was still used on 5Live on Saturdays for Sport on Five until fairly recently. Indeed European Cup nights on Radio 2 in the 70's and 80's. Following the fortunes of Liverpool, Forest and Villa. You seemed to have more interest in those days because there wasn't today's overkill. Also I think I always supported the English teams regardless, today's football seems to have so much more hatred for other clubs. Commentaries by Brian Butler and Peter Jones with Des Lynham in the studio.
Peter Jones is/was the best football commentator I ever heard.I also remember after listening to the football waiting until I heard sportsnight music, creeping downstairs and cuddling up to my old man on the settee, I knew he never had the heart to make me go back to bed.
Any football was gold dust back then and the saturation coverage now means its lost that magical appeal on telly and radio Used to try and avoid the scores for the sportsnight or midweek special program's
Works perfectly, Len - great stuff. Note the enthusiastic crowd, recoiling in fright when a bike lands close to the rope. There's a good spill at 5.30, and a thrilling finish.
Works perfectly, Len - great stuff. Note the enthusiastic crowd, recoiling in fright when a bike lands close to the rope. There's a good spill at 5.30, and a thrilling finish.
Can you imagine the H&S police allowing that bike recovery to take place nowadays. Let alone having the crowd being separated from the race by a length of rope!
Works perfectly, Len - great stuff. Note the enthusiastic crowd, recoiling in fright when a bike lands close to the rope. There's a good spill at 5.30, and a thrilling finish.
Can you imagine the H&S police allowing that bike recovery to take place nowadays. Let alone having the crowd being separated from the race by a length of rope!
That's exactly what I thought! I didn't catch the date of that race, but seem to remember watching scrambles on even rougher courses (1960s?), with bikes sliding sideways down muddy banks....
re the tunes above, I thought the midweek sports special had a different tune for TV (ITV)? anyway great memories, seemed to be mainly about league cup and fa cup (replays) football and not forgetting the european cup/uefa cup too
Comments
Grandstand had a better theme tune too.
World of Sport was just soooooo ITV. Cheap, unprofessional and tacky. High cliff diving from Hawaii and the pathetic wrestling. For goodness sake! Only good thing was the boxing they showed from the USA. Especially the golden age of the middleweights in the late 70's and early 80's....Sugar Ray, Hearns, Hagler, Durran etc etc.
Cars as well. Huw Wheldon ? drove a mini. Roger Marshall - Ford Capri.
Sportsnight With Coleman - a stirring theme tune here too. And Coleman was a fund of amusing gaffes, immortalised in the Colemanballs column in Private Eye. While commentating on an athletics race: "He came off the bend, opened his legs, and showed his class...."
Vic Eastwood had (could still have) a motor bike shop in swanley once upon a time.
Indeed European Cup nights on Radio 2 in the 70's and 80's. Following the fortunes of Liverpool, Forest and Villa. You seemed to have more interest in those days because there wasn't today's overkill. Also I think I always supported the English teams regardless, today's football seems to have so much more hatred for other clubs. Commentaries by Brian Butler and Peter Jones with Des Lynham in the studio.
Used to try and avoid the scores for the sportsnight or midweek special program's