‘I seem to have fooled people some of the time’
Barry Davies remains as modest as ever ahead of his final Wimbledon for the BBC, writes Tom Cary
Barry Davies is not entirely sure what he is going to do with himself once this Wimbledon is over. After half a century spent working for the BBC, an almost everpresent fixture in the nation’s living rooms, the commentator is finally hanging up his microphone for good once this, his 33rd Championships, ends.
“If you’ve got any good ideas, can you send me a postcard?” the 80-year-old says, cheerfully, when asked how he plans to occupy his time. “I don’t know, is the answer. My children have produced six grandchildren for us and they all live near where I live in Barnes.
“I’ll probably try to catch up with some reading, which I haven’t done enough of … I often think I’m not particularly well-read.” A slight pause. “At least I seem to have fooled some of the people some of the time.”
It is a typically modest boast from one of the greatest broadcasters these Isles have produced.
Davies’s most famous lines trip off the tongue, of course. Forever tied to iconic footage with which we are all familiar.
“Where were the Germans? But frankly, who cares?” (the Olympic hockey final of 1988).
“Oh! You have to say that’s magnificent. There is no debate about that goal. That was just pure football genius” (Maradona slaloming through England in 1986).
“Interesting – very interesting!” (Francis Lee for Derby against Manchester City in 1974).
But in truth it was more for his measured, authoritative style that
Davies was treasured than for his verbal pyrotechnics. The man who famously trained as a dentist and began his broadcasting career with British Forces Broadcasting while doing his National Service once said his approach was just to “open my mouth and hope my foot isn’t too close to it”.
But he was never in too much danger of that. In a world of increasing hype and hyperbole, his calm tones will be much missed, as
a new BBC documentary Barry Davies: The Man, the Voice, the
Legend, due to be screened on Wednesday, is likely to make abundantly clear.
“It is a very weird sensation,” Davies says of that programme, which he has not seen beyond the interview he did for it with Sue Barker. “This whole thing is a very weird sensation; the BBC’S generosity to me; the thought that in two weeks’ time I’m going to be walking away, as it were. I just hope it’s going to be a good farewell. A good championship.”
Davies, of course, has form on the retirement front. After 10 World Cups and 35 years spent working on Match of the Day, he stepped back from football in 2004, declining the offer of a new two-year contract because he was no longer getting live games. At the same time, he famously criticised what he saw as a growing trend towards “conversational commentary”.
Whether his views have softened with age, or whether he feels the BBC has done particularly well in its tennis recruitment, he says the influx of ex-players as commentators and experts adds much to the corporation’s coverage of Wimbledon.
“They’re fascinating to work with,” he admits. “When I first started doing the [Wimbledon] commentary in 1983 – which was a huge surprise to me, actually – the style was obviously very different. Dan Maskell was Mr Tennis.
I mean, I was inspired by people like Kenneth Wolstenholme, Bill Mclaren and David Coleman. “Some people would say there are more words than was the case before … but someone like John Mcenroe, for instance, is superb. He sees things so quickly and he has something to say. I haven’t actually worked with him for two or three years and I would love to have one more chance before I quit.”
Davies is likely to get his wish, with Mcenroe seemingly as much a fan of Davies as Davies is of Mcenroe. The American once memorably spoke of his “outrage” that Davies had not commentated on football for eight years.
“Ah yes,” Davies says, laughing. “That took me rather by surprise. But no, I’m looking forward to it. I won’t do anything different. I just love Wimbledon, ever since running with my then girlfriend – now my wife of 50 years – through the gates as soon as they opened to go and get tickets for Centre Court.
“That, I once said to Ann Jones, was my only qualification for working on it. I suppose I picked up a few things along the way.”