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John Arlott
Discussion started by Loyal of Lhasa. , 25 February, 2014 14:05
John Arlott
Loyal of Lhasa. 25 February, 2014 14:05
Let us celebrate the life of John Arlott, born a hundred years ago today, a man who probably added more to the sum of human happiness than the rest of us put together.



LoL

Sixty-six Seasons a Somerset Supporter

Re: John Arlott
SheptonPaul 25 February, 2014 14:13
thumbs down amen to that

Re: John Arlott
Big Jim 25 February, 2014 14:41
A brilliant man, the original Basingstoke Boy.

Re: John Arlott
Sloop John B 25 February, 2014 15:34
Great man!

Re: John Arlott
North Berwick John 25 February, 2014 16:13
I grew up listening to his commentaries, and which whetted my appetite for cricket. He was, in my opinion, the greatest commentator there has been in any sport (including Bill McLaren). His commentaries have only been matched in their simplicity, style and common decency by Alistair Cooke's Letters from America. I taped his (Arlott's) last commentary, but cannot find it, and suspect that one of my darling daughters over-taped it with a David Bowie number or something equally important.

Re: John Arlott
Wickham 25 February, 2014 17:13
I agree with all those comments. The doyen of sports commentators and a thoroughly decent man (the person who, when answering a question on a South African immigration form about his race, inserted "human").

Re: John Arlott
cricketharris 25 February, 2014 18:36
Interesting that whenever the names of the best commentators are talked about (Arlott, McLaren, Peter O'Sullevan ....) they are all from a certain era.

Re: John Arlott
Grockle 25 February, 2014 20:05
Really? Didn't they just cover a long period of time? McLaren and O'Sullivan seemed to start in my childhood and take me into middle age. Arlott's great days were before my time to be honest



(Sm72)

Re: John Arlott
Bagpuss 25 February, 2014 22:46
Also interesting that participation in their chosen sport at the highest level was not a prerequisite for their commentary position

Re: John Arlott
Grizzers 26 February, 2014 00:44
"And there goes another sumptuous square cut to the boundary, from the man with the mop of blonde hair.They call him the "Dasher" in this part of the world"

And so goes my first recollection of JA's commentary, in a one day quarter (or semi ?) many years ago.

Unfortunately, we went on to lose (albeit I can't remember to who - maybe Lancs ?) !

Grizzzly

Re: John Arlott
AGod 26 February, 2014 12:21
Interesting, perhaps, but also, I think, not remotely surprising, Bagpuss?

After all, you'll get a lot more practice at something if you start earlier rather than not beginning until after a lengthy professional playing career.

Re: John Arlott
Big Jim 26 February, 2014 15:16
Not to forget that the vast majority of ex-pros are as thick as mince.

Re: John Arlott
Bagpuss 26 February, 2014 15:49
It was more a comment on the fact that today it is far more difficult for an 'unknown' commentator without a distinguished playing career behind him (for it is almost always a 'him') to get into commentary on TMS, even less so television commentary.

Re: John Arlott
AGod 26 February, 2014 16:59
Indeed it is, regrettably.

I wonder when the point was that TV executives concluded that the average sports fan won't watch pundits/commentators that had long playing careers?


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