Derek Thompson (born 31 July 1950) is a British presenter and commentator of horse racing on

Radio Five Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...

and

At the Races Sky Sports Racing (formerly At The Races) is a British pay television channel devoted to horse racing. A joint venture between Sky Group and Arena Racing Company, it broadcasts coverage of domestic, European and international horse racing eve ...

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

Biography

He was born to Stanley Moorhouse Thompson and Lillian Thompson in Stockton-on-Tees, North Riding of Yorkshire, England. He had an older brother, Howard. Stanley Thompson was a small-time trainer of horses, which gave Derek his first rides as an amateur jockey. Through membership of the local

hunt Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, e ...

, he met future

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap st ...

winning jockey,

Bob Champion Robert Champion (born 4 June 1948) is an English former jump jockey, who won the 1981 Grand National on Aldaniti. His triumph, while recovering from cancer, was made into the 1984 film ''Champions'', with John Hurt portraying Champion. The f ...

and became a lifelong friend. He attended Guisborough Grammar School and gave his first commentary - on a point-to-point meeting - at the age of 15. After leaving school in 1968, he worked unpaid for

Denys Smith Denys Smith (13 August 1924 – 13 November 2016) was a British racehorse trainer whose horses competed in both Flat racing and National Hunt racing. Smith's training stables were located at Bishop Auckland in County Durham. He trained the winn ...

, nominally as assistant trainer. After six months, he moved to be assistant to Pierre Sanoner in

Chantilly Chantilly may refer to: Places France *Chantilly, Oise, a city located in the Oise department **US Chantilly, a football club *Château de Chantilly, a historic château located in the town of Chantilly United States * Chantilly, Missou ...

His broadcasting career began at the age of 18 on local radio. In 1972, he was based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

working for BBC Radio Sport, for whom he covered a number of

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap st ...

s alongside

Peter Bromley Peter Bromley (30 April 1929 – 3 June 2003) was BBC Radio's voice of horse racing for 40 years, and one of the most famous and recognised sports broadcasters in the United Kingdom. Early life Born at Heswall on the Wirral (then in Cheshire) ...

, Michael Seth-Smith and

Michael O'Hehir Michael James Hehir (also known as Michael O'Hehir and ga, Mícheál Ó hEithir; 2 June 1920 – 24 November 1996) was an Irish hurling, football and horse racing commentator and journalist. Between 1938 and 1985 his enthusiasm and memor ...

. In 1981, he moved to

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

, where he appeared on '' World of Sport'' and midweek racing coverage. In 1985, he joined the newly formed '' Channel 4 Racing'' team as a presenter. He was also part of a team of three who helped to negotiate for the release of the kidnapped Epsom Derby winner

Shergar Shergar (3 March 1978 – ) was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. After a very successful season in 1981 he was retired to the Ballymany Stud in County Kildare, Ireland. In 1983 he was stolen from the stud, and a ransom of ...

. Thompson also commentates for ''

At The Races Sky Sports Racing (formerly At The Races) is a British pay television channel devoted to horse racing. A joint venture between Sky Group and Arena Racing Company, it broadcasts coverage of domestic, European and international horse racing eve ...

'' and was a regular on talkSPORT radio. On 26 June 2012 it was announced that Thompson would be stepping down from his duties for a short while as he was to undergo surgery to remove a tumour from near his bowel. In October 2012, it was announced that Thompson would not be staying with Channel 4 Racing when production of the programme moves from High Flyer to

IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image. img or IMG may also refer to: * IMG (company), global sports and media business headquartered in New York City but with its main offices in Cleveland, originally known as the "International Management Group ...

in January 2013. The new production company dropped Thompson along with fellow veteran

John McCririck John Michael McCririck (17 April 1940 – 5 July 2019) was an English horse racing pundit, television personality and journalist. McCririck began his career at '' The Sporting Life'', where he twice won at the British Press Awards for his camp ...

. He returned to BBC Radio for the duration of the

Cheltenham Festival The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Ra ...

in 2013. Thompson is also known for doing an advert for the Crown Hotel in Bawtry,

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

.Archived a
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Wayback Machine
In the video Thompson is seen saying "Are you well? I thought you were", which attracted the attention of

Radio 1 Breakfast ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' is a radio show that is broadcast across the UK on BBC Radio 1. It is hosted by Greg James since 20 August 2018 as the show's 16th presenter. The show ran six days a week until February 1968 (seBBC Genome Project, then fi ...

presenter

Greg James Gregory James Alan Milward (born 17 December 1985) is an English radio and television presenter, comedian and author. He is the host of BBC Radio 1's breakfast show, co-presenter on the cricket podcast '' Tailenders'' alongside Felix White and ...

. He since turned it into a meme, including it in songs such as Meduza and

Goodboys Goodboys are an English house music group consisting of Joshua Grimmett and Ethan Shore. Their breakthrough song " Piece of Your Heart", which was a collaboration with Italian production trio Meduza in 2019, reached number 2 on the UK Singles ...

' "

Piece of Your Heart "Piece of Your Heart" is a song by Italian production trio Meduza featuring British vocal trio Goodboys, released as a single by Virgin Records on 1 February 2019. It peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart and topped the US Dance Club Song ...

" and

Sigala Bruce Fielder, known professionally as Sigala, is a British DJ and music producer. He has had eight songs peak within the top ten of the UK Singles Chart, including his 2015 debut single " Easy Love", which samples " ABC" by the Jackson 5. C ...

and

Becky Hill Rebecca Claire Hill (born 14 February 1994) is a British singer from Bewdley, England. She rose to prominence after appearing on the first series of the then BBC (now ITV) talent contest '' The Voice UK'', auditioning with John Legend's "Ord ...

's " Wish You Well". James met Thompson in person.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Derek 1950 births Living people People from Middlesbrough English radio personalities Television personalities from Yorkshire British horse racing writers and broadcasters