Commentator's challenge

[Leftie]

As I'm sure most of you know, news readers/commentators/game show hosts/whatever are often challenged by their colleagues to get words/phrases/themes into their programme without the audience necessarily noticing.

Well, today, David Coultard either gets this years prize or was totally oblivious to what he said.

As I heard it on the F1 highlights commentary round about lap 21 or 22 (with a bit of paraphrasing)....

Rosberg radio - "some understeer there, no, oversteer."

Coultard - "Change of mind there. He's a cunning linguist. Speaks many languages"

I wonder if Susie Perry put him up for it.

 

[Maninblack4612]

Henry Longhurst was drinking quite heavily over lunch one day while commentating on a Ryder Cup match. Someone asked him whether he was worried about getting the commentary wrong in the afternoon. His reply was "I'll be all right as long as Coles & Hunt don't play together"

 

[Paul_Stewart]

Back in the days when I was doing live football reports for Countysound in Surrey, I was covering a Wimbledon game and they had some bloke called Anton Dzia....wicz or something with about 20 letters and two vowels. I spent all week practicing his name for the commentary - got to the ground and he wasn't even playing. Never forgot it.

Then many years later I was at an event and talking with Nicholas Witchell, the BBC's royal correspondent and he had the same story about some African dictator with an unpronouncable name who died just when he'd mastered it.

 

[Blue in Munich]

Henry Longhurst was drinking quite heavily over lunch one day while commentating on a Ryder Cup match. Someone asked him whether he was worried about getting the commentary wrong in the afternoon. His reply was "I'll be all right as long as Coles & Hunt don't play together"

Brilliant!!

 

[Region3]

Not a slip up or mispronunciation, but I don't think the cricket commentator realised what he was saying until it was too late during an England V W.Indies match once...

"The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey." Referring to Michael just about to bowl to Peter.

 

[Wabinez]

Not quite commentary, but Ant and Dec run this throughout "I'm A Celebrity..." where viewers will suggest words for them to sneak in. They'll let you know which one is chosen and then get it mentioned whilst live on air. Quite cool, but also easy for them to choose a word that they know they can get in easily

 

[cookelad]

A former colleague of mine was challenged, when going on the Wright Stuff (I think), to use the phrase "Rhinoceros Jamboree" while talking about the BBC Licence Fee!

Favourite commentator (nearly) gaff was the commentator was talking about Fredrik Andersson-Hed "I remember when he was just Fredrik Andersson, before his wife gave him the.....er....."

 

[Paul_Stewart]

Not quite commentary, but Ant and Dec run this throughout "I'm A Celebrity..." where viewers will suggest words for them to sneak in. They'll let you know which one is chosen and then get it mentioned whilst live on air. Quite cool, but also easy for them to choose a word that they know they can get in easily

We did that during an NFL broadcast on Sky Sports many years ago. It was see how many English and Scottish Football teams you could mention in the seven hour live show. I think each of the three of us presenting were in double figures by the end.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Me and a colleague had to submit weekly reports to our board. We'd generate a random number and open a dictionary up at that page; generate another for the line on the page - and get the word into our report - goal was to get the word past our Mr Pernickety Pedant Director spotting it (he'd insist that stapled documents were only to be provided with the staple at 45deg). If the word was tricky we'd fiddle a sentence so that the first letter of consecutive words in a sentence spelled out the word. That was tricky too. Another was fixing it so that the first letter of the first word in consecutive lines spelled out the word.

 

[Slime]

Whilst watching MOTD on Saturday, Phil Neville was doing a bit about Luke Shaw and actually said, (of Luke Shaw), 'when he opens his legs, he reminds me of Gareth Bale'.
Classic.


Slime.

 

[Region3]

Whilst watching MOTD on Saturday, Phil Neville was doing a bit about Luke Shaw and actually said, (of Luke Shaw), 'when he opens his legs, he reminds me of Gareth Bale'.
Classic.


Slime.

Reminds me of an old piece of athletics commentary (possibly David Coleman?) where he said something along the lines of "he opened his legs and showed his class".