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Kenneth Wolstenholme
Anyone who plays tapes
of Sixties and early Seventies English football will know
the sound of Kenneth Wolstenholme's voice. He was amongst
the earliest voices of TV football, and his commentry
defines the era as it is inseperable from the the action
he described.
There's very few pieces
of commentary that people can quote word for word, but
Kenneth most definately uttered one of them. Seconds
before the final whistle of the '66 World Cup Final,
England were 3-2 up at Wembly against West Germany.
'There's some people on the pitch', he began, 'they think
it's all over... (Geoff Hurst completes his hatrick) ...
it is now!'
The phrase is the title
of a sporting comedy series, and it must be the most
sampled sentance ever used by the media. It has become a
catch phrase used entirely out of the context of football
or even sport. It even helped spark a resurgance in his
career as he played an active role in football coverage
right up to this season.
But, and now I share my
personal experience of the legend that is Kenneth
Wolstenholme, he also gave his name to an excellent
series of football annuals, 'Kenneth Wolstenholme's Book
of World Soccer' ! A fact missed out on all the
reflections of his career I've read so far !
Kenneth's greatest
achievement for me, though is that his commentating has
defined how commentry should be done. Kenneth was ahead
of his time. Maybe his BBC accent and the players names
give away the age of the recording, but his style and his
description give an excitement to the action only ever
equalled, never beaten by the commentators to this day.
In tribute to Kenneth,
I have now included on the site 'Saturday
Sport' an
article which appeared in the 1963 edition of 'Kenneth
Wolstenholme's Book of World Soccer'
As always the very best
obituary is on the BBC website which includes some
soundbites of Kenneth's voice ... Just in case these
pages are withdrawn in the future, I've included one of
the write ups here.
BBC SPORT FOOTBALL
Wolstenholme The voice of football reports
For more than 20
years Kenneth Wolstenholme was the voice of football
on television, as commentator on all the big matches
- the FA Cup Final, World Cup and internationals.
But it is for his
commentary on England's victory in the 1966 World Cup
final that he will be best remembered.
And in particular
for eight words - words etched on the memory of every
England fan.
Kenneth
Wolstenholme was born at Worsley in Lancashire in
1920, and began his working life as a journalist on a
weekly newspaper in Manchester.
He served in the
RAF throughout World War Two, completing 100 missions
as a bomber pilot, and was awarded the Distinguished
Flying Cross, to which was added a Bar.
He returned to
civilian life to work as a freelance journalist and
broadcaster with BBC radio.
Kenneth
Wolstenholme moved to television in 1948 and gave the
first of his 22 FA Cup final commentaries in 1950. He
was soon established as the BBC's authoritative voice
of football and went on to cover the climax of five
World Cup championships and the finals of 16 European
Cups and 23 FA Cup finals besides dozens of
internationals.
His most famous
commentary, though, came at the 1966 World Cup final
between England and West Germany at Wembley Stadium
on Saturday 30 July 1966.
It was a tense
game, between two well-matched sides, with a
contoversial English goal still debated today.
Germany equalised
in the dying seconds of normal time and extra time
was played, during which England went 3-2 up.
As extra time drew
to a close, and the English fans spilled onto the
Wembley turf in premature celebration, Wolstenholme
remarked: "Some people are on the pitch. They
think it's all over," before adding, as Geoff
Hurst scored his third goal to make it 4-2, "it
is now."
In 1971, just after
the FA Cup final, with his contract up for renewal,
Wolstenholme left the BBC after a disagreement over
which matches he should cover. In later years he
wrote newspaper columns, and made occasional
appearances on ITV and commercial radio.
He also greatly
enjoyed his work with Channel 4, where he regularly
voiced the goal round-ups for their Italian football
coverage.
But his proudest
moment came when part of his 1966 Wembley commentary
was broadcast at Westminster Abbey at the
Thanksgiving Service for the victorious England
captain, Bobby Moore.
His words were
adopted as the title of the popular BBC TV series
hosted by Nick Hancock; and Wolstenholme's memoirs
were called, of course, "They Think It's All
Over".
Wolstenholme had
mixed feelings about '66.
He felt immense
pride that he had produced a timeless piece of
broadcasting and coined a phrase that has entered
English folklore.
But there was also
a hint of regret that the words had overshadowed the
rest of a glorious and pioneering career, in which he
set the benchmark for sports commentary.
See more
March 2002 news at the following ...
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