Thomas Borries Ralph Woodrooffe (24 January 1899 – 25 March 1978) was a British
naval officer
An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service.
Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent contex ...
,
broadcaster and
writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
. He was born in
Adelaide, Cape Province, South Africa to George Borries Woodrooffe (1868-1923) and Elizabeth McFarlan "Bessie" Jameson (1872?-1941). He joined 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 ...
in 1917 and served on
HMS ''Resolution'' during the last year of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. He rose to the rank of
Lieutenant-Commander
Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...
and left the Navy in 1933.
After his retirement he became a commentator for
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...
. He was one of its main commentators during the 1930s, covering amongst many other events the opening ceremony of the
1936 Summer Olympics and
Neville Chamberlain's return from
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
in 1938.
![HMS Nelson off Spithead for the Fleet Review](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/HMS_Nelson_off_Spithead_for_the_Fleet_Review.jpg)
In 1937, he commentated on the
Coronation Review of the Fleet at
Spithead
Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds except those from the southeast. It receives its name from the Spit, a sandbank stretching south from the Hampshire ...
from his old ship the
battleship . He had met some of his former colleagues before the broadcast for a drink, and was inebriated while giving his commentary. He repeatedly said "the fleet's lit up", and at one point he told listeners "I'm sorry, I was telling some people to shut up talking." His incoherence was such that he was taken off air after a few minutes and suspended for a week by
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. ...
...
. The BBC later said that he was "
wrote the song "I'm gonna get lit up when the lights go up in London." Parts of Woodrooffe's commentary were used by the British rock band
in their track ''Lit Up''.
Woodrooffe continued to work for the BBC, and in 1938 he was the main commentator at the
. After 29 minutes of
it was still 0-0 and Woodrooffe said "If there's a goal scored now, I'll eat my hat." Seconds later Preston was awarded a
scored. Woodrooffe kept his promise, appearing on the BBC television programme ''
'' the following week and eating a hat shaped cake.
in September 1939. In 1940, he served briefly as Commanding Officer of the light cruiser
. He spent the rest of
in the Press Division of the Admiralty.
Woodrooffe also wrote books on naval history, including ''River of Golden Sand'' (1936), ''Best Stories of the Navy'' (1941) and ''Vantage at Sea: England's Emergence as An Oceanic Power'' (1958). He married Ida Helen Duncan (1900-1981) in 1927. He died in
at the age of 79.