Teddy Wakelam facts for kids
Henry Blythe Thornhill Wakelam (born May 8, 1893 – died July 10, 1963) was an English sports commentator and a rugby player. He was often known as Teddy Wakelam. He played for and captained the famous Harlequin F.C. rugby club.
Early Life and Rugby Days
Teddy Wakelam was born in Hereford, England. From a young age, he loved many different sports. While he was studying history at Pembroke College, Cambridge, he joined the Harlequins rugby team in 1911.
During World War I, Teddy served in the army in several places, including France, Gallipoli, Egypt, and Palestine. After the war, he returned to play for Harlequins. Sadly, in 1924, he had to stop playing rugby because of a knee injury.
A Pioneer in Sports Broadcasting
Teddy Wakelam made history on January 15, 1927. He gave the very first live sports commentary on BBC radio. This was for a rugby match between England and Wales at Twickenham. England won the game 11-9.
To help listeners follow the game, Teddy worked with Cecil Arthur Lewis. Teddy described the action on the field. Meanwhile, Cecil would call out numbers. These numbers matched different areas on the rugby pitch. Listeners could look at a picture in the Radio Times magazine. This picture showed the field divided into numbered squares. This is thought to be where the phrase "Back to Square One" comes from, meaning to start something again from the beginning!
Just one week after his rugby debut, Teddy and Cecil also gave the first radio commentary for a football match. It was a game between Arsenal and Sheffield United, which ended in a 1-1 draw. In the same year, Teddy also commentated on cricket and the famous Wimbledon tennis tournament. Once, in the 1930s, he accidentally set his notes on fire while commentating on tennis! But he kept talking as if nothing had happened.
In June 1938, Teddy Wakelam became one of the first sports commentators on BBC television. He covered a cricket match between England and Australia at Lord's Cricket Ground in London. While he also covered other sports like boxing, rugby union remained his main specialty.
Beyond Sports Commentary
Teddy Wakelam also commentated on events that weren't sports, such as the Tidworth Tattoo. He also worked as a rugby writer for a newspaper called The Morning Post. He wrote several books too, including Harlequin Story (1954), which was about the history of his old rugby club.
Teddy Wakelam passed away in Colchester when he was 70 years old. Only a few of his early commentaries, using the "squares" system, still exist today. A famous English journalist named John Arlott described him as "a natural talker" with a good understanding of rugby.
