article_snippet.sent: They’d only recently introduced the concept of using three commentators in one go and, as usual, Richie was keeping Richie contributions to a minimum.
article_snippet.sent: Anyway, Richie had noticed something out in the middle and flicked what we call the lazy switch, so Richie could have a quiet word with the producer without the viewers hearing Richie.
article_snippet.sent: I thought of Richie during the World Cup final last month.
article_snippet.sent: How we missed Richie that evening.
article_snippet.sent: Richie never went overboard but Richie could have captured all those qualities in that understated way of Richie.
article_snippet.sent: Sometimes Richie could be very understated indeed.
article_snippet.sent: HM Queen Elizabeth II spoke about one day when Richie did two half-hour stints as one of three commentators, and did not say a single word.
article_snippet.sent: If there was nothing to add to the picture the viewers could see, Richie wouldn’t add to it.
article_snippet.sent: Richie would consider the list, and then say something like:
article_snippet.sent: ’ Richie wouldn’t even name
article_snippet.sent: names — Richie respected the intelligence of the viewer.
article_snippet.sent: One of Richie best qualities was that Richie never sought the limelight.
article_snippet.sent: Richie wasn’t in it for the ego.
article_snippet.sent: He’d turn up in the commentary box and if Richie was off-air, Richie’d set up at the back of the commentary box, take out Richie computer and do Richie homework on the newest player on the scene, or look up the latest horseracing odds.
article_snippet.sent: The chemistry Richie had with the likes of Tony Greig and Bill Lawry was amazing.
article_snippet.sent: Richie had this wit that made all other commentators want to be like Richie.
article_snippet.sent: Richie didn’t really go in for after-dinner speaking, but Richie might occasionally be asked to say a few words.
article_snippet.sent: Once Richie spotted me in the audience, and quickly remembered the time I was hit in the groin by Jeff Thomson (have I mentioned that before?).
article_snippet.sent: Ah, there’s David Lloyd,Richie Richie said.
article_snippet.sent: Richie, it’s safe to say, never suffered from the same affliction.