BARRY DAVIES

In the long line of commentators on British TV, no one has quite had the same mastery of the English language as Barry Davies.

A regular on screens for 38 years, he had a way of making his remarks sound poetic amid a maelstrom of action. “I just opened my mouth and hoped that my foot was sufficiently far away,” he told FFT with typical modesty in 2020.

Davies’ life could have turned out differently – he’d planned to become a doctor before reading dentistry at university, only to be sidetracked.

He began his new career during national service in West Germany, joining BBC Radio in 1963, then ITV for the ’ 66 World Cup – calling North Korea’s shock 1- 0 victory over Italy.

He switched back to the Beeb in 1969, before commentating on nine World Cups and seven Euros over the next three and a half decades. Davies provided the proclamations to such moments as Diego Maradona’s solo goal against England in 1986 (“You have to say that’s magnificent”), the “Brolin, Dahlin, Brolin!” demolition of Graham Taylor’s side in ’ 92, then the Three Lions’ loss to Germany in ’ 96. “Oh no…” was all it needed as Gareth Southgate saw his spot- kick saved.

There were more excitable hours – “Look at his face!” when a delighted Francis Lee scored for Derby against Manchester City in 1974 – but Davies was a king of calm understatement.

After leaving Match of the Day in 2004, he commentated on a range of other sports and even the World Stare- Out Championship on sketch show Big Train, ahead of a football comeback in 2014 – working with Hacker T. Dog for CBBC, then making one last MOTD appearance on the programme’s 50th anniversary. His words were still as majestic as ever.