Womens Euros

[pistonbroke]

I think I would prefare the infuriating Murray Walker with James Hunt occasionally grabbing the mike off him rather than todays lot , though I did enjoy Raymond Baxter back in the days of black & white telly . Bolster was more pit lane reporter than commentary 

[Blatman]

On 04/08/2022 at 10:42, Man On The Clapham Omnibus said:

We watch on Channel 4, Bernie, and apart from the loony Steve Jones, the partisan Red Bull fanboys Webber and Coulthard, the in-race screaming at the slightest thing borders on hysteria sometimes. Bring back John Bolster and Raymond Baxter - true exponents of understatement. 

 

What gets me about the current C4 commentator (so non-descript I don't even remember his name) is the way he puts incorrect emphasis on lots of his sentences. He also has a habit of talking without punctuation which he does at least twice a race and can be very confusing, almost like a haiku poem but without any mastery of poetry, or even basic sentence structure...

[Rory's Dad]

True!!

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

15 hours ago, Blatman said:

 

What gets me about the current C4 commentator (so non-descript I don't even remember his name) is the way he puts incorrect emphasis on lots of his sentences. He also has a habit of talking without punctuation which he does at least twice a race and can be very confusing, almost like a haiku poem but without any mastery of poetry, or even basic sentence structure...

He, among many other people in the audio/visual media, has graduated from the Robert Peston School of Speaking in a Confusing Manner. Peston employs the circular breathing technique developed by the Australian Aborigines when playing the digeridoo. His variant involves breathing in through his nose and speaking through his anus.

[Blatman]

4 hours ago, Man On The Clapham Omnibus said:

His variant involves breathing in through his nose and speaking through his anus

 

There's a LOT of that around. As with many of us, we become a bit of a product of our environment so when people on TV see other people on TV talking crap, they follow suit. Same for politics...

 

Peston has spent a LOT of time trying to improve his delivery. If you watch his monologues from a few years ago he had a very weird speaking pattern. Credit to him, he's worked hard to change it but his new way of speaking is, if anything, even more irritating 'cos now, ironically, it seems like an affectation. His old way, whilst annoying could at least be seen as quirky. Not any more, and I just can't watch or listen to him.

I wouldn't mind but I think the current F1 guy was a radio commentator, as was Crofty over on Sky and my issue with them is this; Because they cut their teeth on the radio, they talk all the time trying to describe everything to the listener. Fair enough, it's radio and peoples "inner TV" (or imagination, trying to imagine what's being described is actually exciting, but I digress...) needs to be fired up. When they get to TV, they forget we can see what they see and there is no need to fill every moment of a race with the irritating noises that come from the hole under their nose. They need to remember the great Richie benaud. Here are two of his quotes about the job of commentating:

"My mantra is: put your brain into gear and if you can add to what's on the screen then do it, otherwise shut up."

"The key thing was to learn the value of economy with words and to never insult the viewer by telling them what they can already see."

 

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Peston had a stammer and his quirky delivery was/is a device to suppress it. Fair enough, but do we have to be subjected to both his biassed opinions and the stop-in-weird-places delivery? Why not have a nice Scottish gentleman such as Iain Watson of BBC fame who blethers, giggles, and generally delivers a word salad over dressed with an impenetrable accent when gets excited. 

[Blatman]

OK but we had Richie Benaud, Peter Alliss, James Hunt as benchmarks. I have to say the current crop of commentators for World Superbike and British Superbike are excitable and chatty, but in a good way like good old Murray. I didn't care that Hunt had to occasionally snatch the mic 'cos Muddy's excitement was always genuine, and infectious. And he was well liked and respected by EVERYONE in the F1 paddock as well as any other event he was at. I happen to know that he was often at Silverstone for WEC and British GT events (well he had a free pass) and would often walk around the paddock like any other punter with no expectation of preferential treatment. He was just one of the enthuisiasts who was there to watch a days racing. Of course he did get preferential treatment from the teams but he wash humble and grateful. There will never be another like him and that's a shame for us.

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Agreed.

[MR.C]

Strange how its left footy, but Murry walker was 10 respectful steps above James hunt.

[pistonbroke]

Hunt and Walker , light years apart , put together they made a perfect team,  Hunt being the catalyst to Walkers well researched comments . 

[BigSkyBrad]

When I go abroad, I just get the standard Euros, the exchange rate is better.