Len Martin
Len Martin | |
|---|---|
Grandstand |
Leonard Martin (17 April 1919 – 21 August 1995) was an Australian results reader. He was known in the UK for reading out the
Grandstand
.
Martin was born in
Coronation and received a call from the BBC the day before he was due to sail for Australia. He never used his return ticket home, and only twice went back to Australia in 1983 and 1993, on holiday. He performed his role on Grandstand from the programme's very first edition in 1958 until his death in 1995. Martin was well known for his intonation when reading the scores. It was clear from the way in which he presented the home or away team name, followed by number of goals, whether the result was a home win, an away win, a no-score draw or a score draw; this was important for the football pools results. He was succeeded by Tim Gudgin
who also used the distinct BBC intonation.
In addition to his role on Grandstand, Martin was a voice-over artist heard on Movietone newsreels. He also used to run four flights of stairs at Lime Grove Studios in the late 1960s after Grandstand to introduce Simon Dee's programme, with 'Simon' elongated, in the distinctive manner.
External links
- Albert Sewell (27 August 1995). "OBITUARY: Len Martin". The Independent. London.
- Death date
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