unrivalled for his ability to paint word pictures and capture the excitement of a great occasion, Jones was still regarded as a great broadcaster in the late 1980s, despite the rise of younger, brasher commentators who did not share his Standard English accent. He was deeply affected and saddened by the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, which he witnessed from the commentary box, and gave an emotional description of the memorial service for the victims of the disaster, reciting the words of "You'll Never Walk Alone". He continued to broadcast regularly, but it has been claimed that he never fully recovered emotionally and personally from the experience of witnessing the Hillsborough disaster, and on 31 March 1990 he collapsed on the BBC launch during his commentary on the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. He was hospitalised at the end of the race, but died some 36 hours later. He was universally mourned as a great broadcaster and, perhaps, the last of a line, for soon after his death sports broadcasting in the UK underwent a revolution with the arrival of Sky TV and of BBC Radio 5 (later Five Live), taking a more informal and, arguably, more populist and less eloquent style. Personal life Peter Jones was married with two sons; one of them, Stuart Jones, was football correspondent for The Times when Peter Jones died in 1990. Later Stuart Jones became Tennis Correspondent for The Times in the 1990s. He was diagnosed with throat cancer, moved to Barbados, and died in 2013. Opinions "Peter was an old school charmer and an inspirational colleague for all aspiring broadcasters such as I was when I joined BBC Radio Sport in 1984. In my opinion, nobody before or since has ever broadcast with greater descriptive brilliance than Peter did on the day of the Hillsborough disaster. He was absolutely exceptional, and is still missed 20 years after his death." - John Rawling. See also BBC Radio BBC World Service Hillsborough disaster The Times References 1930 births British association football commentators 1990 deaths Welsh radio presenters British sports broadcasters People educated at Bishop Gore School Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Welsh schoolteachers