SIR PETER O'SULLEVAN THE VOICE OF RACING

stuck with the arc winner,treve.

loved his line after a horse had won, he has now won 10 of his 12 races.

you've lost me deadbrain

Born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Who was merely a racing commentator riding the BBC public sector gravy train whilst doing a very enjoyable job.

He was decent commentator there's no doubt about that, but that's all he was.
He certainly wasn't going to use his education to do something useful like being a doctor or a businessman.

No Siree.
He let others do the hard work while he spent his life enjoying himself

class war is alive and well and liveing in betfair land ... i met him once he was a thoroughly decent ,self effaceing guy ... no airs no graces well mannered and gentle .. there wasnt anything not to like nor respect .

I agree kemo sabe.

That's how he came across.

i can only judge people as i talk to them ... clare balding is exactly the same yet they seem to bring out envy and vitriole ,,, others may say they are playing a part but when ive been in their company albeit for half an hour eating croissants at goodwood ,they were just nice .

i can only judge people as i talk to them ... clare balding is exactly the same yet they seem to bring out envy and vitriole ,,, others may say they are playing a part but when ive been in their company albeit for half an hour eating croissants at goodwood ,they were just nice .

''They're coming to final furlong, and they're paying me a fortune.''

Lovely Jubbly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuZNtwyxnz4

Dr Crippen you are clueless...

Crikey acey deucy, is that it? Is that all you've got to say?

Are you backward or something?

One pathetic insult and he's off like a rat down a drain.

Was PO'S overpaid? He didn't cure cancer but surely his market value was easily established -- the BBC needed to pay him enough (a) so he'd do it in the first place rather than just continue to write for the Express, and (b) to stop ITV tapping him up with a bigger offer.

I didn't know that Ramruna.

Perhaps we ought to have a whip round for him and buy him another racehorse then?

I have no doubt O'Sullevan got what most of us would feel was a very decent wagepacket from the BBC but he wouldn't have been paid on an Alan Hansen-like scale. It just didn't happen then. He had a couple of racehorses at any one time I think and it just so happened that two of them were very good. I don't know where he got most of his money from but I'd be surprised if it was the BBC. As Crippen himself pointed out he came from a wealthy background.

Multiple choice question. Why does Manchester United pay Wayne Rooney £15 million a year?

Is it (a) because he needs the money?

(b) because he deserves the money?

or (c) to stop him transferring to City?

Wayne Rooney has a market value. PO'S had a market value as a commentator and that is why he earned what he did -- whether he spent it on champagne or feeding starving orphans is beside the point.

Manchester United are not funded through taxation.

If it makes you feel any better the vast majority of his earnings were reinvested back into racing via one channel or other

Manchester Utd are funded by poor buggers who run up excessive charges on their MBNA credit cards.

@salmon spray -- it would not surprise me if PO'S got most of his money from the Daily Express, which at the time had the highest circulation in Fleet Street. Even now, national newspapers' star columnists are paid well into six figures.

The Express are a privately owned company, they can pay their employees what they like.

quite simply peter o sullivan was the voice of racing for 50 years or more .he was also an ambulance driver in w.w.2

.he was also an ambulance driver in w.w.2

He missed ou there. This is how I'd imagined him:


''This is Peter O'Sullevan bringing you another night of bombing from London

And the German planes are overhead, they're releasing their bombs.
Bang there goes a house, bang bang, two factories reduced to rubble.

The search lights are scanning the skies the anti-aircraft guns are firing.
The skies are lit up from the flames. 
And now, here come the British fighters in pursuit of the retreating bombers.
Which brings to a close another eventful night from the capital.

So here's Peter O'Sullevan signing off from another eventful bombing raid on London.

I love this job''

You are a sick man

Well done mrcombustible.

Did you write that all on your own?

This Crippen is first class Loon..

I think we should all keep this thread a bit more respectful folks

God bless you acey duncey, and may all your winnings be little ones.

Okay lead on, wash my mouth out with soap and water.

Peter O'Sullevan is and always will be a Legend. Perplexed by Crippen's vitriol.

As regards POS  born with silver spoon in his gob I'm a bit puzzled, was always under impression he came from fairly modest beginnings in Cork,

You can lead the horse to the water dr.c but you can't make it gargle

He went to Charterhouse so there was money in the family imo.

Your one nasty piece of work crippen, god knows why betfair continue to let you post.

Well said Dickie!Considering Mart got barred for losing the heid and going too far with no real malice intended,this guy is nasty in a calculated way.

Ah, I see two new candidates for my fan club.

Not quite up to the usual standard of my stalkers but they'll have to do for now.

You're all very welcome to join in the abuse.

Just for the record, the spelling of the surname is a decent clue in itself, Mr O was certainly not raised in any humble surroundings here in Cork, we don't have any...!
He is actually a native of Kerry and came from a very privileged background with a very decent standard of living that he has been able to maintain throughout his life without ever having to work too hard.

Good For Him

I Wish the great man well

Julian Wilson wasn't one of his greatest fans, that's a fact.
Here he speaks out about his betrayal by the former BBC racing commentator.
Scathing stuff: 

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/%60O'Sullevan+betrayed+me'+Julian+Wilson+tells...

A consummate professional but,not a particularly nice man who would not give the drippings of his nose away.

Little Monksfield,Ekbalko ,Night Nurse etc And The Mares Beginning to Get Up Dawn Run.

Great Memories Eh


His Personal Life is none of my Business

Great memories Greg.

Not wishing to run down the fella but in his later years he was p iss poor as his autobiography...


"Calling all the wrong horses" would attest...

Overstayed his welcome by about ten years at least and held back the careers of others...

It's over 20 years since I read Calling the Horses but I think he had a medical exemption in the war possibly asthma or chest ailment but he was a sickly child  I think. He drove the ambulance to play a part in the war effort.His money generally came from gainful employment as a journo and race caller.The BBC paid peanuts. Apparently he was a very successful punter,possibly Ante post for big tickets.

I think he followed Vincent O and the Pig but had a handle on the game.Latterly he was Racing adviser to the Marquess de Moratalla.he had a handle on foreign racing too. He worked,he punted and by all accounts wouldn't know where the dole office was or probably what it was for. Some can't help but find fault with genuine people.

The son of Colonel John Joseph O'Sullevan DSO, resident magistrate at Killarney, and Vera (née Henry), Peter O'Sullevan was born in Kenmare, Ireland, and educated at Hawtreys, Charterhouse School, and later at Collège Alpin International Beau Soleil in Switzerland.[1]
If you ever visit Kenmare a nice little town, quite a few pubs and shops with the name O'Sullivan, but didn't see any with O'Sullevan.

he probably did overstay but that is the Directors job to ease him out. Given the choice most oldtimers still think they are up to scratch. Maybe the BBC Racing Director got the nod from O'Sullevan and J Wilson regarding the odd long term plot.

His Racing binoculars came from a German Submarine

Julian should have got the gig and it was agreed with the oldtimer..

However he would not give it up..

Rancid Irishman with a posh accent...

yep read that in the Wilson book and it caused ill feeling if I recall.

what about all the money he has raised for horse charities after all that's what our sport is all about

ill feeling - imagine if you had been promised a job and some old fecker living in Mayfair who worked for at least six hours a week was living the life of Riley and just laughed at you...

And to boot he was the worst caller ever.Regularly calling the wrong horses in a tight finish.If he had the gig today with multiple betting channels he would last about ten minutes...

Charities - the money that has been raised would not even cover the cost of the "Charity workers"...

ie the overpaid staff that make a living out of preying on the foolish...

generally we make our own luck in life,if he rode is as far as he could then no problem here. Somebody at the Beeb had the authority to bin him when he was failing but they chose not to. As mentioned a nudge or push is often required to move someone on when they've outstayed there welcome. I appreciate that people often have nostalgic biased views of days gone by but he was good at his job. Aussie Jim was stylish and refreshing once upon a time but you wouldn't wish him or GG to call a 16 runner sprint nowadays. Personally I believe Slater to be greatly underused as a caller and Bartlett was always accurate.

He rode his luck better than anyone in history....

nah that would be Shane Kelly! (imo of course)

I would have thought being abused by Julian Wilson could be taken as more of a compliment than otherwise.

Homefortea being his usual obnoxious self I see.

POS is the nonpareil of racing commentators, had 10 good years left in him when he called it a day

Julian Wilson is ok but was a much better anchor man than a commentator

Yip, retired far to early.

Remember this one:

They're entering the straight and what's his name is in front followed by the grey and thingamajig with err the black horse following on the outside.
There's one making ground, f'ck me what's that one called?

And the jockey in the red cap is the winner. With a photo for second place between the chestnut  and the other one in the finish - I think.

It was like poetry

Get ready Dr.

he wos the gream of the cream , there will not be one like him in our life time

Seriously Crippen,I think you have a point that he went on a few years too long,but you know as well as I do he wouldn't have used the "f" word.
I don't know if you watch any US racing but some of the callers on there sound about 85 and they really ARE embarrassing. Luckily of course their system of using colour-coded number cloths means you can mute the sound and at least follow your own horse.

I never thought that Sir P. was past his sell by date but the BBC have a long record of keeping commentators and presenters on for too long. Peter Alliss is still pretty good but there are plenty of others who should be pensioned off.

It's a few of the younger shoutier ones i'd be hoping for the shepherd's crook

gentlemanjohn - Are you 'fishing'?

Good when in his prime - but, sadly, in truth -  the latter years became something of an embarrassment - and went on far too long.

Wilson threw his toys out of the pram - but, let's again be truthful ...
Wilson used to commentate every August - when Peter went on his annual holidays to Deauville - and Wilson was AWFUL - he sounded like somebody suffering from stage-fright.

Replaced later by the equally awful - and apparent 'adenoidish' sounding - nasally irritating Hamner.

sageform - re: "Peter Aliiss"

You cannot make that comparison.

Things happen lot,lot, S l o w e r in Golf - than a 60 second Horse Race.

anyone who hasn't read osullevans "calling the horses" have missed  tacing best ever book , but o the flip side still have it to look forward to, ive read it 3 times over the years

onlooker, just felt it was worth putting in some corrective balance to the offensive dross being posted by a couple of individuals so, yeah, maybe i went a touch OTT

But being irish, i guess, i come from a place where sloppiness appears to be easily tolerated in horse racing commentary so perhaps that makes me a tad more forgiving than others

genbtlemanjohn - Thanks for replying.

However - posting - "had 10 good years left in him when he called it a day." ...

Was hardly - "corrective," though.

Crippen and homefortea showing themselves up as hopeless non-racing men.

The Turf's the one place where it doesn't matter whether you live in the gutter or a castle. In fact, it's the one sport where you can find yourself in both places at some point, no matter where you started.

No Crippen at any rate has an agenda. O'Sullevan got paid in the public sector. Therefore Crippen doesn't like him.

agreed, the have nots aspire to get up there whilst the haves possess an aspiration not to visit down there. Rose tinted nostalgia but his voice is distinctive and immediately evokes thoughts and memories of Racing. Like Dan Maskell,Murray Walker,Ted Lowe and Harry Carpenter voices all synonymous with their chosen sports. All BBC so perhaps it was a sign of limited times and a giveaway that I'm of a certain era.

He was awful towards the end of his otherwise great career as a Commentator.

No Crippen at any rate has an agenda. O'Sullevan got paid in the public sector. Therefore Crippen doesn't like him

It's a fair cop Guv.

What!

Me, subject to political bias - surely not?

gentlemanjohn 22 Dec 14 11:39 Joined: 07 Dec 01 | Topic/replies: 1,493 | Blogger: gentlemanjohn's blog
POS is the nonpareil of racing commentators, had 10 good years left in him when he called it a day

I should report you for being insane..

He overstayed his welcome but being the BBC they paid him enough to live in splendour and his pension would have fed a small African Nation...

His calling of races was embarrassing at times, still look on him fondly.

As i said in my earlier post he would have got crucified on here for continually
calling the horses wrong.

Just as well he bought wisely in Mayfair Aberdonia and did not join the feckwits in the North East of Scotland that have pushed house prices up to bubble proportions...

Is it true that The Specials are appearing at The Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) in the New Year...

"This Town is coming like a Ghost Town"

"Do you remember the good old days before the ghost town?
We danced and sang, and the music played in a de boomtown"

Please please have another vote to say yes and please try and get more than 33% of the Adult Population to vote YES...

Homeboy, i am mortgage free, house prices up here are rising nicely despite those labour cnts
trying to undermine our wonderful Scottish govt over the temporary blip in the price of crude.

Good on you fella...

I am mortgage free as well and it means that you are able to take the rise out of anyone..My advice is sell your house shave off the facial hair and move South of the border like every other Scot before you...

Not sure about the temporary blip but see your Doctor and he will lance it...

It wasn't just Julian Wilson who had issues with O'Sullevan - both Clive Graham and Charles Benson found him difficult to deal with.

Peter was on the gravytrain that was the BBC...

Which meant that you worked a few hours a week and then could focus on your newspaper work etc...

Clive and Charles had to lead a life devoid of that BBC pay cheque...

Dr Crippen is a buy-to-let landlord and homefortea is an arber.
I'll bet  Peter O'Sullevan is frantic to get approval from these two.
Having conversed with Sir Peter a number of times (once) I have to say that I like him.

Erm, wasn't Clive Graham on the BBC team as well? And Benson for a bit.

Well UB, if I'm a BTL landlord then I provide homes for people who can't afford to buy their own homes.
That would mean that I provide a very necessary service for the community.

People have been knighted for less.

Take O'Sullevan, he was knighted for merely  bawling horses names down a microphone.

I understand that you live off state benefits by the way.

Anyone who commentates on racing has my admiration. I often have trouble just picking out the horse that I have backed. Some of them are a bit annoying, but its not an easy job. I thought PO'S was very good, and never got over excited, which seems to be a habit that a few of the current crop cant seem to get out of.

Clive Graham was the paddock commentator.O'Sullevan was the race commentator. Graham died relatively young and kept the gig up till close to his death I think. Benson hardly needed the money anyway. Somebody who seems to know said earlier in the thread that the BBC paid peanuts. There are two posters on here who would slag off anybody who worked in the public sector.

Crippen is a "provocateur" (sometimes amusing) HFT comes on for 2 hours most nights (imbibed) with an axe to grind.(seldom amusing)

If you right sentences on the forum you can do them virtually as long as you like but Pos went on later than any other commentator he spoke the Queens English and even the Chavs understood him,it did not matter one jot he came from a posh Family I enjoyed his commentaries he was the best I have ever heard..

O'Sullevan made mistakes for sure, (don't we all) but his commentaries really captured the occasion. You cannot say that his calling of the 86 & 89 Cheltenham Gold Cups weren't fantastic. Hope he pulls through.

i heard him say once that he made up for low earnings by winning on the betting ; he would notice a horse making a great run at the finish.

^^Yes everyone on the telly makes money from betting.
It's a pity their tips hardly ever win.

They always make the standard excuse, ''there are horses for tipping and horses for betting''

It's a toss up who are the bigger liars, the ones on here or the ones on the telly.

I actually heard O'Sullevan come out with that line -  ''there are horses for tipping and horses for betting''

What a charlatan.

PO'S claimed to be in profit on his tips in the Express, iirc.

There used to be a record of Channel 4 tips on here -- many of them were in profit, with Jimbo at the top of the chart.

If in doubt plug the fav..they all do  it..

unitedbiscuits 23 Dec 14 21:31 Joined: 27 Jan 02 | Topic/replies: 2,728 | Blogger: unitedbiscuits's blog
Dr Crippen is a buy-to-let landlord and homefortea is an arber.
I'll bet  Peter O'Sullevan is frantic to get approval from these two.
Having conversed with Sir Peter a number of times (once) I have to say that I like him.


AN ARBER...

You really are a disgrace to the forum...

And yet you keep bringing it up....

I would be proud to be an arber if someone could tell me how possibly it can be done...

If I was a "Bookmaker" I would lay arbers all day if I was sure that my price was correct..

Unfortunately there is not a "Bookmaker" around that has the confidence in his staff to trust them to put out a price that is correct and so you have minimum wage muppets that have been on three day training courses banning anyone that can predict a market move..

Then you call them arbers for getting a bit of value...

Then you come on here spouting bollocks....

saxon farm 23 Dec 14 22:59 Joined: 11 Nov 05 | Topic/replies: 1,432 | Blogger: saxon farm's blog
Crippen is a "provocateur" (sometimes amusing) HFT comes on for 2 hours most nights (imbibed) with an axe to grind.(seldom amusing)

Better you stick to your day job of trying to find receptive old English animals for a bit of beastiality .....

(I wish that I had not put that last term in the google search engine as I fear a Police knock at the door,something which I have heard is nothing new to Saxon Farm)