There will never be another like Peter O’Sullevan
When he began his BBC career just after the Second World War, radio ruled the airwaves and television was still very much in its infancy.
O’Sullevan grew up with the new medium, calling home the horses in just about every big race as he acquired the title ‘the Voice Of Racing’.
It was well-earned, reflecting both the respect in which he was held and his importance as the link between the sport and its army of armchair followers.
O’Sullevan was a career journalist from the mid-1940s, when he joined the Press Association’s racing department, and commentated for the BBC from 1948 to 1997, when he called the Grand National for the final time and closed his career with Suny Bay’s victory in the Hennessy.
In fact in the early part of his career he was better known as a newspaper journalist than a TV personality — he was rarely seen on-screen.
His glittering array of connections made him a must-read writer for the Daily Express, for whom he worked for 37 years and tipped many a big-race winner, usually supported with his own money, as he was well-known to enjoy a tilt at the ring.
But it was for his TV work that he will always be revered, bringing to his commentaries a heart-clutching excitement that required no vocal histrionics and retained a timeless dignity.
O’Sullevan, who was knighted in 1997, was born in Ireland to an English mother and Irish father, but after their divorce lived with his maternal grandparents in their Surrey country house. He was married to Pat for over 58 years before she died peacefully on New Year’s Eve in 2010 at the age of 89.
By the mid-1940s O’Sullevan already had an abiding interest in racehorses, fuelled from the time his first bet won — a lucrative sixpence each-way nibble on 100-1 winner Tipperary Tim in the 1928 Grand National.
O’Sullevan dipped his toe in the waters of ownership in 1940 but had to wait 15 years for his first winner in the black, yellow crossbelts and cap, though he was eventually to enjoy enormous success in that sphere thanks to the exploits of Be Friendly and Attivo.
Be Friendly was Europe’s champion sprinter in the late 1960s, while the home-bred Attivo won the 1974 Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and also landed the Chester Cup and Northumberland Plate.
He descibed his pleasure in those victories as “priceless”.
The list of great races O’Sullevan called during the second half of the 20th century includes all those that have won a place in the sport’s folklore.
Over jumps, he captured the mighty Arkle beating Mill House in the Cheltenham Gold Cup; Red Rum’s three Grand National triumphs; Bob Champion’s emotional National win; Dawn Run’s sensational Gold Cup victory and Desert Orchid’s dramatic success in the great race.
On the Flat, he called home greats like Ribot, Sea-Bird, Nijinsky, Mill Reef, Brigadier Gerard, Shergar and Dancing Brave.
He himself nominated Be Friendly’s victory in the inaugural Sprint Cup at Haydock in 1966 and Attivo’s success in the Triumph Hurdle as commentating highlights.
After his retirement O’Sullevan, a reserved figure and refined figure, might have faded from the scene to spend his declining years with his Lady Pat among the works of art in their Chelsea flat. This is far from what happened.
A true friend to racing and in particular a passionate supporter of animal welfare, he put in many hours of work for charitable causes and thePeter O’Sullevan Charitable Trust has raised millions, particularly from an annual fundraising lunch begun in 1997.
A modest and unassuming man with impeccable manners and an air of quiet dignity, O’Sullevan was noted for his kindness and generosity of spirit; it gained him many friends in the racing world.
On TV, his quality behind the microphone was matchless. A thorough professional, he had the ability to engender tingling excitement with the slightest change in the tone of his peerless voice.
There will never be another like him.
