In 1948, when I was a lad of eight, my father, Brian Branston, was a BBC radio talks producer running a weekly farm and gardening programme. He was requested by the BBC to accompany a certain football commentator, Kenneth Wolstenholme – notable for his commentary during the 1966 World Cup: “They think it’s all over – it is now” – to a football match in Leeds between two northern premier teams. Dad asked me if I wanted to come along. I couldn’t believe my luck. So off we went in the old Rover 12 and met Kenneth in the wooden box on stilts to watch the match. It was in the winter and freezing cold. The box wasn’t heated and the glass window constantly fogged up with condensation. Kenneth was an incredible professional. The concise commentary, his clipped ex-RAF officer accent, remembering each player by name, stayed with me for ever. The most memorable comment came at the end of 90 minutes when we were ready to return home and Kenneth said to Dad: “You couldn’t lend me a shilling, Brian, for the bus home?”
I suppose Dad was earning about £10 a week, so of course he did. Dad carried on with the BBC and eventually went into TV, retiring as an executive producer of a number of programmes including The World About Us with Sir David Attenborough, Zoo Quest and many others. Compared with BBC pay today (Letters, 17 September), salaries were not great. He had a five children, and we managed. My brother and I had to help support our mother in a residential home when he died.
John Branston
Whitley, Wiltshire
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