The Man Who Ate His Hat

"[The BBC's] first adventure into live football came on 16 September 1937 when the London service from Alexandra Palace, transmitting to nearly 100 viewers in the Muswell Hill area, ran the following packed schedule: 3pm Fancy That!; 3.30pm British Movietone News; 3.40pm Football at the Arsenal; 3.55pm Cartoon; 4pm Close. Obviously what everyone really wants to know is exactly what the hell sort of programme Fancy That! was. But we’ll concentrate on the football, a 15-minute live display of training at Arsenal. Hmm."

In Episode Forty Seven we look back to ‘The Man Who Ate His Hat' by Scott Murray, first published in Issue Two in September 2011, which charts the first football commentary cock-up in only the second live broadcast of the game in the UK.

Lieutenant Commander Tommy Woodroofe was the 1930's answer to Dimbleby and Barry Davies rolled in to one, at ease commentating on state occasions and all manner of sports. But one day's drinking ahead of a naval regatta, and an ill-advised promise during the 1938 FA Cup final offer a great insight into the character one of the most recongnisable voices in pre-war Britain.

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