Tag: channel 4

Who is Derek Thompson?

Derek Thompson, or ‘Tommo’, as he likes to call himself, is a veteran television and radio presenter, commentator and after dinner speaker. Originally from Middlesbrough in North East England, Thompson, who turns 70 in July, 2020, began broadcasting on local radio as a teenager, before joining BBC Radio Sport in 1972 and ITV Sport in 1981. Bizarrely, two years later, in February, 1983, Thompson was involved, along with ITV colleague John Oaksey and Sun journalist Peter Campling, in negotations for the release of the 1981 Derby winner, Shergar, who had been kidnapped from the Ballymany Stud in Co. Kildare.

In 1985, Thompson joined Channel 4 Racing, which had begun broadcasting horse racing coverage in Britain the previous March. He continued to to ply his trade as a presenter and commentator until January, 2013, when he was dropped from the roster, along with the late John McCririck, when IMG Sports Media took over the production of Channel 4 Racing. Later that year, Thompson reported on the Cheltenham Festival for BBC Radio Five Live. Nowadays, he works as a studio presenterer on Sky Sports Racing, formerly At The Races, and makes regular appearances on Talksport radio. On one, especially cringeworthy, occasion, Thompson cut to At The Races colleague Robert Cooper, saying ‘Oh, you’ve been joined by a beautiful lady’, only for a baffled Cooper to reply, ‘It’s a man actually, Derek’.

Who was John McCririck?

The late John McCririck, who died from lung cancer in July, 2019, at the age of 79, was a horse racing pundit, television personality and award-winning journalist. Instantly recognisable by his signature deerstalker hat and sideburns and renowned for his brash, eccentric style, McCririck was, for much of his career, one of the most familiar faces in British horse racing. McCririck made his name as the face of Channel 4 Racing, which he joined, from ITV Sport, in the mid-Eighties.

A former bookmaker, McCririck delivered animated betting news, complete with appropriate tic-tac signals, direct from the racecourse betting ring. He continued to work for Channel 4 Racing until October, 2012, when he was sacked, as a result of ‘audience research’; McCririck claimed age discrimination and took Channel 4 and production company IMG Media to the Central London Employment Tribunal, seeking £3 million in damages, but lost. McCririck was also a skilled investigative journalist and earlier in his career, while at ‘The Sporting Life’, he won ‘Specialist Writer of the Year’ and ‘Campaigning Journalist of the Year’ at the British Press Awards.