Rugby
Britain's 'voice of rugby' dies
2010-01-19 22:49
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London - Legendary rugby union television commentator Bill McLaren has died at the age of 86, the BBC announced on Tuesday.
The BBC said McLaren had died at 10:30GMT on Tuesday in the community hospital in his hometown of Hawick in the Scottish Borders.
McLaren became known as the "voice of rugby" to generations of British fans during a career spanning nearly 50 years.
He retired in 2002, having first broadcast on BBC radio in 1953 when still a reporter on the Hawick Express newspaper.
Such was the global standing of the BBC during his career that McLaren's voice also became well-known to rugby followers around the world.
Renowned for his distinctive voice and impartiality, McLaren combined his work as a broadcaster with that of a physical education teacher up until 1987 and coached the likes of future Scotland internationals Jim Renwick, Colin Deans and Tony Stanger.
McLaren, born in 1923, was a good enough player to be selected for Hawick, then one of Scotland's leading clubs, before World War II.
After war service in the British Army, he played in a Scotland trial in 1947 and was close to a full international cap as a flanker when he contracted tuberculosis, a disease that nearly killed him.
"I was desperately ill and fading fast when the specialist asked five of us to be guinea pigs for a new drug called Streptomycin," McLaren said in 2001.
"Three of the others died but I made what amounted to a miracle recovery."
McLaren was meticulous in his preparation for every match he broadcast, listing every conceivable detail of interest about players and officials on a giant piece of foolscap paper - his 'big sheet' - which he would lay out in front of his microphone.
He was already planning his future career while a young child.
"I've still got the fictional reports I used to write when I was a wee boy of seven or eight," he once said. "Scotland always won. They beat the world once by 70-3."
Former Scotland captain Gavin Hastings, who broadcast alongside McLaren, said: "Bill was a very proud and passionate Scot but such was his professionalism that you would never really have known that.
"He always remained very unbiased in his commentary and I think that was unquestionably one of his endearing qualities. He was just such a gentleman as well."
Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond added: "The world of sport and broadcasting has lost a true legend with the passing of Bill McLaren.
"He thoroughly deserved the title 'voice of rugby' and was a fantastic ambassador for Scotland and his native Hawick right around the world. His contribution to the sport of rugby cannot be over-stated."
Such was the esteem in which McLaren - whose speciality after someone scored a try or matchwinning penalty was to say 'they will be dancing in the streets of (the player's hometown)' - was held, in 2001 he became the first man who hadn't played a Test to be inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame.
McLaren received several national honours for his work, including a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire).
A CBE is one rank below a knighthood and last year McLaren was the subject of an internet campaign calling for him to be knighted.
His son-in-law, Alan Lawson, played for Scotland and two of McLaren's grandchildren, Gloucester and Scotland scrum-half Rory Lawson and Edinburgh back Jim Thompson, are current professional players.