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Castaway
1 appearance
BBC radio commentator renowned for Boat Race commentaries since 1931 and for stunt broadcasting.
On the island
Eight records
No specific disc information is present in the transcript. The transcript contains only conversational excerpts, not structured music choices.
N/A
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:12You've given a broadcast commentary on every boat race since when?
Since 1931. Through thick and thin, flood and pestilence.
Presenter asks
0:34Wasn't there one year when you didn't finish the course?
A lot of people say they hate to mention it, but it's absolutely true. It happened also to be the year of the snowstorm.
Presenter asks
1:13Could you tell me about your experience as a stunt commentator, particularly the circus one?
That was one of them, yes. But that, of course, was during the development period of radio. And these particular stunts … they were broadcasting from the top of a fire escape and then jumping into a jumping sheet … and from a diver's suit at the bottom of the rubber, and then perhaps while driving a tank. … I think probably that the most amusing was a circus one. I had to stand on the back of a cantering horse. And I was wearing a belt connected to a pulley so that if I fell I wouldn't hit the ground. I fell, of course, obviously, and I grabbed hold of the horse's tail. And the men holding the other end of the rope to stop me hitting the ground laughed so much they actually let go.
“Since 1931. Through thick and thin, flood and pestilence.”
“A lot of people say they hate to mention it, but it's absolutely true. It happened also to be the year of the snowstorm.”
“I fell, of course, obviously, and I grabbed hold of the horse's tail. And the men holding the other end of the rope to stop me hitting the ground laughed so much they actually let go.”