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Harry Leonard Carpenter, OBE (17 October 1925 – 20 March 2010) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

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sports commentator broadcasting from the early 1950s until his retirement in 1994. His speciality was

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

. He was presenter of programmes such as ''

Sportsnight ''Sportsnight'' was a midweek BBC television sports programme that ran from 1968 until 1997. Sportsview ''Sportsnight'' was a successor to ''Sportsview'' which started on 8 April 1954. ''Sportsview'' was devised by Paul Fox, later Controller ...

'' (1975–1985) and ''

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...

'' and also anchored coverage of

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

Early life and early career

Carpenter was the son of a wholesale fish merchant at

Billingsgate Market Billingsgate Fish Market is located in Canary Wharf in London. It is the United Kingdom's largest inland fish market. It takes its name from Billingsgate, a ward in the south-east corner of the City of London, where the riverside market was origi ...

and was born at

South Norwood South Norwood is a district of south-east London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon, Greater London and formerly in the historic county of Surrey. It is located 7.8 miles (12.5 km) south-east of Charing Cross, north of Wood ...

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

. He attended Selhurst Grammar School in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served as a

telegrapher A telegraphist (British English), telegrapher (American English), or telegraph operator is an operator who uses a telegraph key to send and receive the Morse code in order to communicate by land lines or radio. During the Great War the Roya ...

in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. Upon leaving the Navy after the end of World War 2, he began his journalism career in 1946. He began sports reporting as a sub-editor for several national newspapers.He was a avid supporter of Crystal Palace FC the local team in South Norwood.

Career

He joined the BBC in 1949 and was the corporation's full-time boxing correspondent from 1962 until his retirement in 1994, when

Jim Neilly James Bernard Neilly is a BBC broadcaster and sports commentator from Northern Ireland. He grew up in Merville Garden Village, Whitehouse, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland. Formerly a teacher of science in the Belfast Boys' Model School, Neilly jo ...

replaced him in that capacity. He served as a boxing columnist for the ''Sporting Record'' from 1950 to 1954. He then worked for the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' as a boxing writer and sports columnist from 1954 to 1962. While writing for the national papers, Carpenter broadcast regularly on radio and television, covering thousands of professional and amateur fights including all

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

from 1956 until 1992. He wrote three books about boxing, produced the documentary, ''The Richest Prize in Sport'', and served as the voice of the ''Hall of Fame'' series, ''Sports Archive'' and ''Great Moments in Sport''. Carpenter described the end of the historic boxing fight between

George Foreman George Edward Foreman (born January 10, 1949) is an American former professional boxer, entrepreneur, minister and author. In boxing, he was nicknamed "Big George" and competed between 1967 and 1997. He is a two-time world heavyweight champio ...

and

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

, in 1974, a fight which became known as "

The Rumble in the Jungle George Foreman vs. Muhammad Ali, billed as ''The Rumble in the Jungle'', was a heavyweight championship boxing match on October 30, 1974, at the 20th of May Stadium (now the Stade Tata Raphaël) in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of t ...

", as "the most extraordinary few seconds that I have ever seen in a boxing ring". While occasionally given to raising his voice, as he did when Ali knocked out Foreman or when

Barry McGuigan Finbar Patrick McGuigan MBE (born 28 February 1961) is an Irish boxing promoter and former professional boxer. Born in Clones, Ireland, McGuigan was nicknamed ''The Clones Cyclone'' and held the WBA and lineal featherweight titles from 1985 ...

floored

Eusebio Pedroza Eusebio Pedroza (March 2, 1956 – March 1, 2019) was a Panamanian boxer who held the WBA and lineal featherweight championship from 1978 to 1985, having defended the title against 18 different contenders, more than any other boxer in featherwe ...

in 1985, Carpenter was widely regarded as unflappable and a great professional. Nowhere was this more apparent than at the fight between "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler and Alan Minter at the Empire Pool in 1980: after Hagler stopped Minter in the third round, the crowd, some of them fuelled by drink and hatred (Minter had previously said "no black man will take my title"), expressed their displeasure by hurling beer cans and bottles into the ring. While other members of the press hid under their chairs or protected themselves with typewriters, Carpenter continued to broadcast what he called "a shame and a disgrace to British boxing", even after he was struck several times with missiles. Carpenter's rapport with former WBC World

Heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...

Champion

Frank Bruno Franklin Roy Bruno, (born 16 November 1961) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1982 to 1996. He had a highly publicised and eventful career, both in and out of the ring. The pinnacle of Bruno's boxing career was winning ...

was well known. Carpenter often conducted post-match interviews with Bruno, whose

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

was "know what I mean, 'Arry?". Bruno's agent later stated that Bruno saw Carpenter as a "real friend." Over the course of his career, Carpenter was recognised as "The Voice of Boxing." While his name was most often associated with boxing, Carpenter established himself as one of Britain's most versatile sportscasters, covering many of the major sporting events. He was a presenter of ''

'' between 1975 and 1985 and a regular member of the broadcast team on ''

''. He covered all major golf tournaments from 1965 until his retirement. He also served as commentator on the

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

University

Boat Race Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...

, and

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

. He anchored coverage of

for the BBC from 1967 until 1993. His connection with greyhound racing began when he was a journalist for a national publication called the Greyhound Owner. He later commentated on the annual BBC Television Trophy shown on ''Sportsnight''.

Honours and recognition

Carpenter was appointed OBE in the 1991 New Year Honours.Obituary in ''The Times''
23 March 2010 He was the subject of '' This Is Your Life'' in 1991 when he was surprised by

Michael Aspel Michael Terence Aspel (born 12 January 1933) is an English retired television newsreader and host of programmes such as '' Crackerjack'', ''Aspel & Company'', ''Give Us a Clue'', '' This is Your Life'', '' Strange but True?'' and ''Antiques Ro ...

at the Royal Oak, Canning Town, London.

Death

Carpenter died in his sleep at

King's College Hospital King's College Hospital is a major teaching hospital and major trauma centre in Denmark Hill, Camberwell in the London Borough of Lambeth, referred to locally and by staff simply as "King's" or abbreviated internally to "KCH". It is managed by K ...

in South London in the early hours of Saturday morning, 20 March 2010, aged 84. He had been unwell since the summer of 2009 when he had a minor heart attack.

References

External links

*
Harry Carpenter on the BBC website

- Daily Telegraph obituary {{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Harry Tennis commentators Golf writers and broadcasters 1925 births 2010 deaths Boxing commentators British sports broadcasters BBC sports presenters and reporters Officers of the Order of the British Empire Royal Navy personnel of World War II People from South Norwood People in greyhound racing Royal Navy sailors