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The Twelfth Man
The Twelfth Man (also known as The 12th Man) is the name for a series of comedy productions by Australian satirist Billy Birmingham. Birmingham, a skilled impersonator, is generally known for parodying Australian sports commentators' voices. As befits the name (a reference to the non-playing reserve in an eleven-player cricket side), Birmingham focused in particular on cricket commentators such as Richie Benaud, Bill Lawry, Ian Chappell and Tony Greig. This is also because many of Australia's cricket commentators have distinctive and easily identifiable voices and accents. The album parodies are designed as a comical look "behind the scenes" of the Nine Network's cricket commentary. Birmingham traditionally plays all the roles (with the exception of Ken Sutcliffe, who played himself; and some minor female characters, such as Richie Benaud's secretary). Benaud himself sent a critique of each CD to Birmingham and was known to have a mixed opinion of the recordings, due predomi ...
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Comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term originated in ancient Greece: in Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by political satire performed by comic poets in theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a dramatic performance pitting two groups, ages, genders, or societies against each other in an amusing '' agon'' or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a "Society of Youth" and a "Society of the Old". A revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions posing obstacles to his hopes. In this struggle, the youth then becomes constrained by his lack of social authority, and is left with little choice but to resort to ruses w ...
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Max Walker
Maxwell Henry Norman Walker (12 September 1948 – 28 September 2016) was an Australian sportsman who played both cricket and Australian rules football at high levels. After six years of balancing first-class cricket in summer, professional football in winter and study for a degree in architecture, Walker earned a place in the Australian cricket team in 1973 and represented his country in the sport until injury ended his career in 1981. Following his retirement, he worked as an architect and also commenced a career in radio and television media. He wrote 14 books over a period of thirty years and became a successful public speaker. His unorthodox cricket bowling action earned him the nickname "Tangles", and his larrikin character made him a much-loved figure with the Australian public. Walker died of multiple myeloma on 28 September 2016 after being diagnosed with the disease three years earlier. Early life and education Walker was born in Hobart, Tasmania, on 12 September 19 ...
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Mike Gibson (sports Journalist)
Mike Gibson (27 May 1940 – 23 September 2015), often also known by the nickname "Gibbo", was an Australian sports journalist, columnist, commentator, and radio and television presenter. Media career Gibson began his media career as a print journalist covering greyhound racing and rugby league. He moved to the 2SM radio breakfast show in the 1970s before going to 2GB in 1979. He began hosting ''Wide World of Sports'' in 1981. He also wrote a regular column for ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', having previously written columns for two Sydney daily newspapers. He co-hosted '' Good Morning Australia'' with Kerri-Anne Kennerley for several years from 1988. He was an original presenter of the Nine Network's program ''Nine's Wide World of Sports'', opposite Australian cricket captain Ian Chappell. He hosted '' The Back Page'', with friend and comedian Billy Birmingham, on Fox Sports for 16 years. Birmingham parodied Gibson on the program in a segment called "The Wired World of Spo ...
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Jack Gibson (rugby League)
Jack Gibson OAM (27 February 1929 – 9 May 2008) was an Australian rugby league coach, player, and commentator. He is widely considered one of the greatest coaches in the sport's history. Nicknamed 'Supercoach', he was highly regarded not only for his coaching record but also for his thirst for innovation, as he introduced new coaching and training methods into the sport in the 1970s, and 1980s, when first-grade rugby league was then still played and coached on a semi-professional basis. He played and coached in Sydney's top grade competition, the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership, and coached Eastern Suburbs to premierships in 1974 and 1975 and later the Parramatta Eels to three successive premierships from 1981 to 1983. Early life Born in Kiama, New South Wales, Gibson's family relocated to Sydney in his youth. He played third-grade rugby league at St. George in 1950 before joining a social side in the Eastern Suburbs A-grade competition called Taylor's Cele ...
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Lou Richards
Lewis Thomas Charles "Lou" Richards, (15 March 1923 – 8 May 2017) was an Australian rules footballer who played 250 games for the Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1941 and 1955. He captained the team from 1952 to 1955, including a premiership win in 1953. He later became a hotel manager and a highly prominent sports journalist in print, radio and television for more than 50 years, and he was known for his wit and vivacity. The Collingwood leader of the cheer squad at the time of Richards' death, Joffa Corfe, remarked that "Louie was a knockabout sort of bloke," adding that "he was easy to approach and he was easy to talk to". Playing career Born in Collingwood, Victoria, Richards' passion for Collingwood grew out of family connections—he followed in the footsteps of his grandfather Charlie Pannam and uncles Charles and Alby Pannam, both former Magpie players. His brother Ron Richards also played for the club. The Richards–Panna ...
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Darrell Eastlake
Darrell Eastlake (11 July 1942 – 19 April 2018) was an Australian radio and television presenter, commentator and sports journalist, best known for his long association with the Nine Network. Prior to his media career, Eastlake worked as a Qantas baggage handler, before making surfboards and running a surf shop. His career in broadcasting began in the 1960s when he gave surf reports on Sydney radio station 2UW (now known as KIIS 106.5). Motor racing During the mid-1970s, Eastlake dabbled in motor racing when he drove a Leyland P76, infrequently, in the Touring Car category . Broadcasting Eastlake had been calling rugby league for NBN-3 in Newcastle before he began working for the Nine Network in 1982, commentating on the weightlifting at the 1982 Commonwealth Games. Eastlake also provided colourful commentary for Nine's Wide World of Sports and its coverage of events including State of Origin telecasts for a decade from the mid-1980s working with others such as Ken Sutcliffe ...
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Steve Roach (rugby League)
Stephen David Roach (born 24 April 1962), nicknamed Blocker or Blocker Roach, is an Australian former professional rugby league who played as a prop forward in the 1980s and early 1990s. His most famous catchphrase is “Big Boppa” He made thirty-nine representative appearances for the Australian national team in Tests, World Cup and New South Wales State of Origin matches between 1985 and 1991. His football career was followed by a period as a commentator. Background Roach was born in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Club career Roach played his early rugby league for Wests Illawarra and was signed by the Balmain Tigers in 1982. He quickly advanced to first grade and in 1983 was part of the Balmain side which made the semi-finals for the first time since 1977. Between then and 1992 Roach played 185 first grade games for the Tigers. 1987 was almost completely wiped out for Roach due to a serious knee injury and though he returned to excellent form in 1988 he was ci ...
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Peter Sterling (rugby League Commentator)
Peter Maxwell John Sterling (born 16 June 1960) nicknamed Sterlo, is an Australian former rugby league commentator, television personality and player. He was one of the all-time great halfbacks and a major contributor to Parramatta Eels' dominance of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership in the 1980s. Sterling played eighteen Tests for the Australian national team between 1982 and 1988. He also played in thirteen State of Origins for New South Wales, winning man of the match on four occasions (one of them being the 1987 exhibition match played in the USA). Sterling played in four premiership-winning sides with Parramatta in 1981–1983 and 1986 and has been inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame. His time spent playing for English club Hull F.C. also earned him membership in their hall of fame. Early life Sterling was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, and raised in Raymond Terrace and Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. He commenced his playing career at t ...
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Paul Vautin
Paul Vautin (born 21 July 1959) nicknamed Fatty, is an Australian football commentator and formerly a professional rugby league footballer, captain and coach. He has provided commentary for the Nine Network's coverage of rugby league since joining the network in 1992 and also hosted '' The Footy Show'' from its beginnings in 1994 opposite co-host Peter Sterling, until 2017. An Australian Kangaroos test and Queensland State of Origin representative lock or second-row forward, Vautin played club football in Brisbane with Wests, before moving to Sydney in 1979 to play with Manly-Warringah, whom he would captain to the 1987 NSWRL premiership. He also played for Sydney's Eastern Suburbs, and in England for St Helens. After playing, Vautin became a sports commentator for the Nine Network, calling rugby league games alongside Ray Warren and the recently retired Peter Sterling. Later, during the Super League war, he was hired to coach Queensland in the 1995 State of Origin series ...
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Ray Warren
Raymond Warren OAM (born 11 June 1943) is a retired Australian sports commentator, known for his coverage of televised professional rugby league matches on the Nine Network. He is known as the "Voice of Rugby League", and called 99 State of Origin games as well as 45 NRL Grand Finals. Warren also used to call Australian swimming team events and the FINA World Championships until Nine lost the rights to these events in 2008 and in 2012 participated in Nine's coverage of the London Olympics. Warren's nickname is "Rabbits", as in a rabbit's warren. Career Born in Junee, New South Wales on 11 June 1943, Warren initially followed in the footsteps of his brother by joining the police force. He initially joined the NSW Police Cadets on 5 December 1960 and then transferred to the ACT Police in Canberra in 1964. Warren served a total of three years in the ACT Police. It was during his stint in uniform he got a phone call as a result of all the door-knocking he had done at various rad ...
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Michael Holding
Michael Anthony Holding (born 16 February 1954) is a Jamaican former cricketer and commentator who played for the West Indies cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pace bowlers in cricket history, he was nicknamed "Whispering Death" due to his silent, light-footed run up to the bowling crease. His bowling action was famously smooth and extremely fast, and he used his height () to generate large amounts of bounce and zip off the pitch. He was part of the fearsome West Indian pace bowling battery, together with Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Colin Croft, Wayne Daniel, Malcolm Marshall and Sylvester Clarke, that devastated opposing batting line-ups throughout the world in the late seventies and early eighties. Early in his Test career, in 1976, Holding broke the record for best bowling figures in a Test match by a West Indies bowler, 14 wickets for 149 runs (14/149). The record still stands. During his first-class cricket career, Holding played for Jamaica, Canterbury, ...
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Mark Nicholas
Mark Charles Jefford Nicholas (born 29 September 1957) is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer and broadcaster. He played for Hampshire from 1978 to 1995, captaining them from 1985 to his retirement. Nicholas was born in Westminster, London. A grandson of Fred Nicholas, he was educated at Bradfield College where he was coached in cricket by John Harvey. Playing career A middle-order batsman and occasional medium-pace bowler, Nicholas captained Hampshire to four major trophies – the Benson & Hedges Cup in 1988 and 1992, Sunday League in 1986, and NatWest Trophy in 1991 (although he missed the final of the 1991 tournament through injury, David Gower captaining in his absence). Although he captained an England 'B' tour to Sri Lanka in 1985–86, an England A tour to Zimbabwe in 1989/1990, and an "English Counties XI" tour of Zimbabwe in 1984–85, he was never selected for the England senior team. Known for his suave appearance and urbane manner, Nicholas is ...
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