Entertainment For Lively Minds
Stuart Hall - Brilliant or Barmy? You decide.
Posted by Steerpike on 6 January 2010 - 2:11pm.
The legend was 80 on Christmas Day. I met him several years ago when he was guest presenter at a function I attended. He was great company - and eccentric, certainly.
Only Stuart could come up with the following evaluation for a goalless draw between Everton and Spurs:
'Helas, helas, mes amis, toujours l'egalite, oh quelle horreur. I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, where oxlips and the nodding cowslip grow. My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings, gaze on my work, ye mighty, and despair. Nothing besides remains. Round the decay of this colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.'
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Brillant or barmy?
They're not mutually exclusive, as far as I'm concerned.
Both at the same time
It's a shame he's been relegated by the BBC to lower league matches for the most part, because it means his reports come in later and are shorter than they used to be for higher profile games.
I read that George Graham used to silence the Arsenal coach on the way back from away games so that he could hear Stuart's match reports.
Or an old ham
He could, and probably would, have used the clips of poetry above to describe any match, regardless of what happened on the pitch. He doesn't so much commentate as treat us to what seems to be a stream of conciousness, though I suspect much of it is rehearsed, with occaisional facts slipped in.
Still, I'd listen to Hall over Motty any day.
Stuart Hall and Eddie Waring
The Morecambe & Wise of outside broadcasts. Crayzee Talker!! TV genius.
Gaze upon his work and despair
Here's The Hallster losing it on Jeux Sans Frontiers
Jeux
What a great show Jeux Sans Frontiers was, an innocent age indeed. Forget Hall losing it, the whole game shown on this clip was hilarious not least cos it was a refuse collector from Skegness! Thanks Stimpy. If we could replace Big Brother with Jeux I'd be a happy man.
Agreed...
Replace Big Brother with JSF and the world would be a finer place.
I never understood how they selected the teams for IAK/JSF though.
I think they must have posted adverts in colleges,
as a mate from school ended up tied to a length of elastic, while trying to run away up a greased slope, as a result of replying to one on the noticeboard of his Teacher Training College in Plymouth.
Devoid of cliche
This is a rare characteristic, and it certainly applies to Stuart Hall. He's certainly barmy, but it's a genuine, creative barminess, not the out-of-a-can type you get with the likes of John McCrirrick or the late Magnus Pike.
In Scotland, in a quieter way, we have Bill McAllister, who's report on the day's Highland League football is a highlight of many a football fan's drive home.
Carl above touched on the fact that anyone showing signs of originality in sports reporting tends to be pushed into a corner, leaving the limelight for the more blokish type of reporter that it is assumed we all prefer.
Mad as a box of frogs
But I have a soft spot for him since his Granada TV holiday programme Traveller's Check gave my family a free holiday. A weekend in Rhyl? A week in Bognor? No, they were given to the other nominees. We had 2 weeks in Florida with special events lined up in Sea World and Walt Disney World. It was also my first time on an aeroplonk. Loved it.
Neither
Key thing about Stuart Hall is he's not dull, which can't be said about most of the people who do that job.
The Jury is Out
I can not make my mind up about the Hall Road Show. His act, which I belive it to be; has the feel of pantomime about it. Northerner as pantomime mmmmmm.
Wise words...
...from Mr. Hall heard on a pre-Christmas/birthday interview on Five Live. Basically went along the lines of 'it's one life, make your mark', which no-one can deny he has done during his 80 years. I always enjoyed 'It's A Knockout'. Very innocent times, and enlivened by *that* laugh. Long may his theatrical football reports continue.
It's a shame..
.. that none of the "younger" presenters have the charisma of Stuart Hall.
It doesn't matter a jot to me whether he actually tells me anything about the match - just listening to him gives me pleasure. He's a legend and we'll have lost a real character who has spanned generations when he packs it in
Oh I don't know
The current BBC North West tonight is anchored by Gordon "Krypton Factor" Burns and features a lively sports reporter Tony Livesey, former editor-in-chief and managing director of the Daily Sport and Sunday Sport newspapers. OK he is a big Burnley FC fan but he presents radio shows and has appeared on Have I Got News For You and Buzzcocks.
A genuine eccentric.
He probably thinks he's perfctly normal.
I remember that bit of broadcast; I had to go and find out about Ozymandias. It remains one of my favourite poems.
Daft really
... but I am always impressed by those who can quote big chunks of classic poetry at appropriate moments and from memory. An eccentric uncle of mine, could do this - even when reduced by Alzheimer's.
Don't be too impressed.
How many lengthy chunks of lyrics can you spout? It's the same thing, really. I sometimes worry myself with the amount of pointless crap I've soaked up over the years.
As far as poetry goes..
There's a green-eyed yellow idol to the north of Khatmandu
There's a little marble cross below the town
And a broken-hearted woman tends the grave of "Mad" Carew
Whilst the Yellow God forever gazes down..
A classic monologue I memorised in full one day whilst I should have been doing physics homework. Not really poetry. It rhymes, though.
And what about Mr Food? This went in just from repetition in 1990..
When Steve Wright's on the radio, I'm happy as can be.
'Cos that's when I'll have lurds of food - hey I'll eat anything, me..
And I'm buggered If I'm typing in the rest.
In Xanadu did Kublah Khan a stately pleasure dome decree, etc (Blame Rush for that)
There's more. So much more. I must get out.
I spent an evening with him in the pub...
...after a book talk at Waterstones in Manchester (for his autobiography Heaven and Hall) in 2000. The Manchester branch of the Queens Park Rangers Fan Club - yes, there is such a thing http://www.myspace.com/mancrs - attended en masse and , given that we were the majority attendees, Mr Hall agreed to adjourn to a nearby hostelry to discuss all things QPR and Stuart Hall. The man is enjoyable as he is bonkers. Apparently the It's a Knockout props litter his garage and are still used regularly (or were) for charity and corporate events...
Knew his old next-door neighbour in Wilmslow
who agreed he is mad as a hatter and a lovely man. He collects antique clocks and fob watches. A few years ago he was burgled and lost most of his watch collection, which meant that he ended up reading a news story about himself on BBC Look North West.