Originally Posted by david16:
“How much acrimony was there in the BBC TV horse racing team?
I've heard about the time when Julian Wilson thought he was going to become the main commentator when Peter O'Sullevan was approaching 65 as he thought O'Sullevan was going to retire but O'Sullevan decided to stay on. That must have been a real kick in the teeth for Wilson.
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Originally Posted by david16:
“What was the story behind the BBC TV head racing commentators job and Julian Wilson and Peter O'Sullevan.
I thought it was hilarious. Julian Wilson must have been so bitter that everybody loved Peter O'Sullevan but nobody liked him.”
The full reason for the fallout was that in 1981 Wilson had been approached about becoming ITV's senior commentator but turned it down, preferring to wait for the BBC job to come along in a couple of years time.
Unfortunately for Wilson, O'Sullevan had only been talking about retiring from his newspaper work with the Daily Express and the Press Association and by the time Wilson realised his mistake the ITV job had long gone (to Graham Goode).
It was a genuine misunderstanding and there had never been any intent to deceive Wilson, but it was understandable that it left a nasty taste,especially as O'Sullevan went on commentating for another 14 years, not retiring until 1997 when he was 79.