What do we, who are used to watching snooker broadcasts, know about snooker commentators?
According to radio times research, the first snooker broadcast in history dates back to December 1935, when Willie Smith (a legend of Snooker and British Billy) provided broadcasts and commentary for snooker broadcasting in the London area. He was on the show at the time to cover a great game between Joe Davis and Horace Lindrum at Thurston's Hall.
After World War II, Joe Davis won his last and 15th world title in 1946, and since then the sport has entered a period ruled by his brother Fred Davis.
One of the main venues of the snooker movement at the time was Square Hall in Leicester. Renowned BBC sports commentator Raymond Glendanine was preparing to start commenting on a london competition venue when he happened to develop laryngitis. At this point, the organizers had to find someone to replace the sick Glendanine to interpret the game in a short time, and in the end they chose Ted Lowe, the manager of Square Hall in Leicester.
As manager, Ted Lowe was supposed to do the job of introducing players, promoting games, and cleaning the restrooms. As a commentator for the first time, he didn't even have a separate space for him to use. At the time, Ted Lowe was in the audience to narrate Joe Davis' game.
In order not to affect the game, Ted Lowe in the audience developed a style of commentary characterized by hoarse whispers and a light tone. He later became the "voice" of the snooker movement, and he also retained the distinctive style that had developed since The First Commentary at Square Hall in Leicester. From then until his death in 2011, Ted Lowe was affectionately known as "Ted the Whisperer.".
In 1969, Ted Lowe, along with David Attenborough, then director of BBC Two, was instrumental in bringing the single-game Pot Black to mainstream television programming. Every night a game was played between two top players, with the main game commentary provided by Ted Lowe, recorded and broadcast on television, and the resulting Pot Black show was all the rage.
The idea of choosing to launch the Pot Black show at the time was to promote a new product on the market as a companion program: color TELEVISION. Prior to this, it was difficult and unaccustomed for viewers who were accustomed to watching black-and-white television to accept color television. Around that time, as rumor has it, Ted Lowe uttered the famous phrase —"For those who watch black-and-white TELEVISION, the pink ball is next to the green ball." ”
In 1977, when the World Championships moved to Crucible, the BBC partially covered the event, with John Spencer beating Cliff Samborn 25-21 in the final to win the World Championship. The success of the match prompted the BBC to broadcast the Snooker World Championships throughout the following year. The BBC's full broadcast meant that another commentator was needed to work with Ted Lowe, and it was at the time that commentator Clive Everton joined the commentary team, and he teamed up with Ted Low to narrate the 1978 World Championships.
Everton has been in sport for many years, and his versatility has been involved in both Wimbledon tennis qualifiers and the selection of English ice hockey teams. However, his favorite has always been billiards. Everton is an excellent Billy athlete who has reached the quarter-finals of the World Championships in Billy twice and reached the semi-finals at the British Amateur Snooker Championship.
Before first commentarizing for the BBC, Everton was a sports journalist for several years, having also worked as a commentator on HTV and Times television in Wales. Everton chose to explain a game in the billiards room of stoke Poges Golf in the pilot. The game was played between the club's oldest member and the snooker sponsor's representative, who played a match imitating Fred Davis and Ray Lilton, respectively. Everton passed the test of pilot broadcasting and successfully became a BBC commentator.
Clive Everton's voice has also become the hallmark of snooker sports along with his commentary on many exciting games, including Stephen Hendry's record-breaking seventh World Championship in 1999.
Everton had a slightly dramatic moment when he was interpreting gary Wilkinson and Jamie Burnett at the 1998 Grand Prix with Dennis Taylor. In a rare calculation error, Everton got the snooker numbers that players on the court needed to make wrong, and Everton was so disappointed by this wordless calculation error that he lost his balance and fell out of his chair.
Everton explains: "I had to correct my previous calculation errors and I was a little angry with myself. I leaned back the chair, which had wheels, and then slid out with the chair. If it weren't for grabbing Dennis Taylor's tie, I would have just thrown myself out of the commentary booth. I grabbed it so hard that he (Dennis Taylor) couldn't untie the tie and eventually had to cut it. I ended up lying on the ground like I was in a boxing match that was one against ten. ”
In the late '70s and early '80s, two players were also brought in to the commentary, Jack Canim and John Pullman. Their careers have varied, but they also have wonderful performances and great influences in the commentary seat.
Jack Kanim competed at three World Championships but performed rather badly, winning not a single game in three of his races. He lost 0-8 to John Pullman in 1974, Dennis Taylor 0-11 in 1977 and was swept 9-0 by Roy Andrew Daza in 1978.
Although Kanim's career was not outstanding, at the 1983 World Championships, he said the most famous comment in snooker history. The audience held their breath, and when the first 147 perfect score in Crucible was about to be played by Cliff Samborn, when playing the last moment black ball, Kanim simply said "good luck, live".
Pullman's career was prestigious compared to Kanim, winning the World Championships eight times between 1957 and 1968. At the 1980 World Championships, he was commenting on the match when the broadcast of the match was cut off and live-streamed pictures of the siege of the Iranian Embassy in London. Since the World Championships were sponsored by Embassy cigarettes at the time, Pullman said in the opening remarks after the game resumed: "Welcome back to the broadcast of the World Championships, let's shift our attention from the Iranian ambassador to this ambassador-sponsored game." ”
As snooker developed, well-known players from the '80s and '90s such as Dennis Taylor, Steve Davis, John Parrotet, John Volgo and Stephen Hendry became regulars on the BBC commentary. Willie Thorne was also involved in snooker commentary, and he unfortunately passed away in 2020.
John Wolgo, the 1979 British Championship champion, rose to fame by hosting work with Jim Davidson on The Big Break, an entertainment game show on Saturday night. Similarly, Volgo's well-known mantra , "Where's the cue ball going?" "It is also well known for its slightly exaggerated and interesting tone.
In recent years, 1994 Masters champion Alain McManus and 1997 World Champion Ken Dahdi have gradually emerged in the field of snooker commentary, becoming fans' favorite commentators, both of whom have participated in European Sports, BBC and ITV commentary. McManus retired after last season and is currently focused on commentary, which he believes is one of the key keys to what the players think on the spot.
McManus said: "I tend to look at the players on the field, but not at how they look when they play, but by the way they look when they sit in their chairs, by analysing their mannerisms. I think you can understand how they feel. ”
As times have evolved, commentators in games need to interact with the audience more frequently and expand their comments on the basis of live data and match information, among other things. This is in stark contrast to the approach of commentators in the 1980s. Former BBC producer Nick Hunt even introduced a rule at one point that required commentators to comment every three times.
The data revolution in Snooker's commentary was largely initiated by two of Everton's protégés, David Hendon and Phil Yates. Together with European Sports German commentator Rolf Karb and European Sports Belgian commentator Rudy Bauwens, the two of them conducted a comprehensive statistical and record of snooker sports. Hendon is Eurosport's lead commentator in the UK, providing all relevant player profiles for the BBC, ITV and other commentators at Eurosport.
Hendon regularly plays with former world number three Neil Fultz at Eurosport and ITV. According to Hunton, Phil Yates has contributed greatly to the derivation of contemporary interpretive styles and techniques.
Hendon said: "For example, if I explain it with Neil Fultz, we all understand what our role is. Neil doesn't pick up the microphone at the beginning of the game to make an introduction, and when they play the replay, I know he's really going to analyze what the replay is about. Interestingly, we have been sitting in different seats since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. At first I thought it wouldn't work and we would grab talk to each other, but soon we were all in shape. We just know when we're going to speak, and that's a lesson we've learned and summed up over in our daily commentary. ”
"Phil Yates started commenting for Sky about 30 years ago, and he's a journalist by background. He is a man who always wants to find out the roots of something, and he brings his own personality traits to the understanding. Clive Everton was already doing this at the time, but Phil pushed for it, and it was expected that commentators should know about the match data. The audience realized that if they all knew, then we as professional commentators should know even more. ”