The Anonymous Widower

AWonderful Wordsmith And A Brave Horseman

Lord Oaksey, who died today, was the sort of unique person, that occasionally, gets created in these isles. I won’t say the UK, as the Irish have produced some like him.

I did meet him and I also saw him give a very good speech, but two memories of him stand out.

In 1963, he wrote a dramatic report on the Grand National, describing how Carrickbeg was only beaten by three-quarters of a length. Only at the end of the report did you realise, that he had been riding the horse.

The other was much later, when he was broadcasting on Channel 4, at I think Uttoxeter racecourse.  Someone had set up a crane to do bungy jumps and there was pressure for one of the Channel 4 team to do the jump. All the others like John Francome refused and it was the over-60-year-old Lord Oaksey who did it.

How many others have done a bungy jump on air at that age?

War correspondents these days, may have a tougher time, but has there been a racing journalist, who combined both careers with such skill at the same time?

September 5, 2012 - Posted by AnonW | Sport | Death, Horse Racing, Journalism, Words