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*** RIP John McRirick ***
*** RIP John McRirick ***
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Replies: 148
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RIP. Think a lot of what some people disliked him for was just an act. Unlike the present ITV betting egomaniac.
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BEHAVE YOURSELVES!!!...he'd rant at the buffoons behind him
 ...My noble Lord,...Greatest jockey,...carpet!!...double carpet!!..He understood the ring more than most. R.I.P. |
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RIP - Used to regularly see him riding a tricycle on his way to work at the Sporting Life..
Like him or not, he used to challenge bookmakers and fight for punters. How many of today’s racing media do we see do that? |
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Nobody has done more to promote racing,never afraid to bite the hand that fed him and so much more can be said about racings greatest character,never more to be heard his Clarion Call roared at the camera.
"COME RACING" |
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I disagree completely and believe he put more people off of the sport as 'the face of racing'.
Bigoted, sexist, chauvinistic and dressed like a tramp - what on earth makes you think they're attractive qualities to bring people into the game. Everybody I know not involved in the sport disliked him and found his television appearances hugely embarrassing. |
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TV Racing never as good without him as it was him. Passionate, outspoken and said what he thought rather than what other people wanted him to say. A trait sadly missing on tv today. But uniquely for someone so outspoken and flamboyant, he also showed humility and self deprecation.
It's a very fond farewell from me.  |
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And maybe it's just me, but for the RP to, ahem, knock together a 2,700 word obit within hours (and trust me, it takes some doing) is a little indelicate. It clearly wasn't written this morning and in my opinion would have been more measured if they'd waited a day.
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probably pre-written johnny
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Which is exactly my point.
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heard on luck on sunday that an article pertaining to brian toomey's death had been pre-written
shocking |
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his jousts with barry dennis on monday nights at Windsor were great entertainment, big mac from the world of lumping on the cecil,stoute,harwood fav in the maiden getting out stakes
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My wife met him at a Buckingham Palace garden party, she told me he was very sick, I said why what did he say to you, she said no he's not well, I said I knew that for years. He apparently was a gent, couldn't have been nicer, he was a great character, spoke his mind, upset everyone but was actually a really nice guy
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RIP John
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rip John McCririck..I think he did a lot to publicize Horse Racing to the General Public.
It is a pity Horse Racing does not have someone like that know |
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Still mantain his sacking was more to do with his bookie bashing comments which obviously have & will not be tolerated in today's climate rather than an ageist thing that JM actually voiced himself.
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I think you are right irishone. I think he's one of those people that the more you got to know him, the more you warmed to him (or less you disliked him). It's one of the reasons why he was generally loved by horse racing followers and maybe not by people outside the sport.
I bet heavily on Big Brother in its early years and the year he went in I opposed him thinking the BB audience would never warm to him, he would likely be up for eviction, and his price would be too short due to horse racing punters backing him blind. This was the way it turned out as he was very unpopular in the early stages of the show. and was up for eviction. The first one he survived, partly due to luck and the second one he was up against Bez, who was the eventual winner of the show. I was very confident he had almost no chance right up until the day or two before the elimination show. His popularity was increasing significantly and I was defnitely worried that had he survived that elimination, with the momemtum he clearly had, that he might go on to win the show, despite very likely being nominated for every elimination. |
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1st time poster
Prog might have been After Dark on channel 4 |
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In the early days of ch4 racing it was Big Mac we had to thank for making bookies honour their eary advertized RP prices for 15 minutes at 10am.Indeed he got ST@NLEY taken of the page or refusing to honor the pricewise selections.
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Got me into racing properly
1995 2000 guineas: He was all for Pennekamp ....and it duly won turning over Jimbo's hot tip the 4/6 jolly Celtic Swing. A week later ...he was in vintage form and clearly couldn't wait to shoot Jimbo McGrath down on the aftermath on the Morning Line.TBF Jimbo put up a pretty decent defence of Celtic Swing but Big Mac was having none of it "TAKE THE CRIMINAL DOWN!" he kept bellowing, till he drowned him out  Life was never dull with him around RIP old son |
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RIP John, a true punters pal, not afraid to rock the boat, an example to the lily livered shower we have these days.
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Great man ,with what he did for our sport,and looking at the negative posters on here,highly popular with
those that follow the sport.He wasn't perfect .but then again who is ? RIP John. |
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fatto
you could be right,cant remember who it was but a few weeks ago heard someone talking about same show and he was a friend of big macs on same show,and said before it went on big mac asked this friend to look after him because he was going to get ripped up for shoitehouse paper by so called lefties |
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he added a lot of colour with his enthusiasm for betting and was a big part of the C4 success, he brought gambles alive at a time when what was going on in the ring was at the heart of the market and relayed important information to the viewer, what the faces were doing, flip flopping favs etc always surrounded by a crowd of race goers, never dull and much missed, RIP
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Bombastic guy, but at least he was an original one off, rather than the current crop of non questioning racing pundits in the media nowadays. I don't believe that anyone should be slagged off on social media when they die. Remember that family and friends will be either suffering or saddened.
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1st time poster
Program according to IMDB aired on 9 april 1988. One of the other guests was Barney curley. Hosted by Tony wilson of hacienda fame. |
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..... R.I.P "BIG`MAC" .....
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He definitely didn't fancy Zenyatta though
  Great days |
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Another Channel 4 colleague, the former champion jockey John Francome, said: “He reached outside the sport – the two names that were mentioned by people outside racing were Frankie Dettori and Big Mac.”
Francome added: “He had a persona for TV, he was nothing like what you saw on screen, he was a lovely man.” R.I.P |
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Never a dull moment in his company , which I was fortunate to be on a number of occasions .
RIP John |
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That is very sad to hear. A top class journalist and betting pundit. Old school gentleman who always had time for the public. Met him often and he couldn`t be more pleasant to us all and it was genuine. He answered every letter he received from viewers, all hand written replies, and was a true gent. RIP John.
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I Enjoyed listening to him.Spoke his mind. R.I.P
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fatto
yeh it was barney curleys interview on the luck show where he talked about big mac needed helping out |
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Johnny Mustang: every single public figure of McCricrick's age or health has an obituary written up and ready for publication. Otherwise readers would be complaining about the press being disrespectful by not publishing one as soon as possible.
That After Dark with McCririck and Curley was a cracker. I loved the way the late Tony Wilson finally wound up the discussion at about 3 am by pointing out that Curley needed to be off to attend mass later that morning. The best tribute that I can pay to McCririck is that I've watched TV on mute for decades, having become deaf, but I would always immediately switch on the subtitles when he appeared on screen. And then switch them immediately off again once he disappeared. |
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https://youtu.be/9pFbzrbzrtE?t=44
RIP |
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probably wrong memory playing tricks,but I have it in my mind that after dark show was on national day
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At least he ruffled a few feathers in his day.I found him entertaining and missed him when he got the chop off the TV.
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Adios Biggy
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9444848/john-mccririck-tributes-big-mac/  Our thoughts are with U Booby&fam.. |
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1stTP
I think it was the Thursday before the GN. |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yJpCDfxInw
RIP. |
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I am so saddened by the news. A complete one off, and a thoroughly entertaining fellow. Never one to shirk the truth, he brought racing to the fore with his outspoken, and sometimes venomous rants! Characters are few and far between nowadays, with far too many pundits happy to simply nod their heads and agree with their peers. RIP Big Mac.
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