1117: Early Rugby Commentary

Teddy Wakelam was behind the mic for the first ever rugby commentary on BBC radio -and indeed the first example of any commentary - in January 1927. He’d played rugby for Harlequin F.C. and become its captain. Teddy was well-rehearsed, thanks to having conducted a schools match commentary as a trial. He was described as "a natural talker with a reasonable vocabulary, a good rugby mind and a conscious determination to avoid journalese". Lessons learnt from the first successful rugby commentary, the first football commentary followed just a week later. This example is a mock up, but staged by the original crew,