Len Martin

Martin was born in Rockhampton in the north of Queensland on 17 April 1919.{{cite news |last=Sewell |first=Albert |date=27 August 1995 |title=Obituary: Len Martin |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-len-martin-1598363.html |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=The Independent}} He was educated at Columban College in Brisbane and spent his apprenticeship at sea with the Blue Star Line when he was a teenager prior to the outbreak of the Second World War.{{cite news |date=23 August 1995 |title=Leonard Martin; Obituary |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A115421279/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=4b833fa9 |url-access=subscription |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=The Times |page=19 |via=Gale Academic OneFile}} Martin made the choice to start a career in commercial radio broadcasting, performing racing commentary, script writing and announcing. He worked at the radio station 4BK in Brisbane before working jobs with other stations in the outback of Queensland, at Charleville, Roma and Bundaberg.{{cite news |last=Watson |first=Albert |date=1 December 1972 |title=Len's Very Important Voice |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/reading-evening-post-lens-very-importan/167342284/ |access-date=6 March 2025 |work=Reading Evening Post |page=12 |via=Newspapers.com}} Martin later moved to Murwillumbah, New South Wales to work at Sydney station 2GB, serving as compere of the Hour of Music programme.{{cite news |last=Murray |first=Neil |date=21 December 1948 |title=Studios big programme of Xmas hits |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sun-studios-big-programme-of-xmas-hi/167184671/ |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=The Sun |via=Newspapers.com}}

In late 1949, Martin joined 2CH in Sydney and became the station's chief night announcer.{{cite news |last=Hart |first=George |date=15 November 1949 |title=Sydney Symphony to give two free open-air concerts |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sun-len-martin-2ch-the-sydney-sun/167185975/ |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=The Sun |via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite journal |date=3 December 1949 |title=At The Races |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1316677057 |journal=ABC Weekly |volume=11 |page=46 |access-date=4 March 2025 |via=Trove |number=49}} He was the compere of the evening programme Stump the Experts,{{cite news |date=21 December 1949 |title=Guest Expert |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/cumberland-argus-guest-expert-cumberla/167185396/ |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers' Advocate |page=2 |via=Newspapers.com}} and the entertainment programme All Shades of Harmony.{{cite news |date=1 February 1950 |title=Shades of Harmony |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/cumberland-argus-shades-of-harmony-cum/167185415/ |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers' Advocate |page=2 |via=Newspapers.com}} In 1953, Martin chose to take a break from Australian broadcasting and he and his wife Cynthia went on a three-month cruise to Europe and saw the Coronation of Elizabeth II.{{cite news |date=10 December 1994 |title=Len knows the score |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/liverpool-echo-len-knows-the-score-liv/167181887/ |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=Liverpool Echo |page=17 |via=Newspapers.com}} During the holiday, he visited Alexandra Palace, the headquarters of BBC Television. After mentioning his career in Australian broadcasting, a BBC producer asked Martin to provide his hotel number in the event they needed help while he was in London. He received a call from the BBC the day before he was due to sail for Australia from Southampton. He never used his return ticket home.

He made a radio documentary about life in Australia and began working in BBC Television in 1954. Martin got his first job in BBC Sport by Paul Fox, working as film commentator for the sports programme Sportsview. He also worked on Sports Special as well as racing and coverage of the Olympic Games. Martin performed his role of reading the classified football results on most editions of the Saturday sports programme Grandstand from the very first edition of the show on 11 October 1958 until the conclusion of the 1994–95 English football season;{{cite news |date=2 April 1980 |title=Len Martin |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/manchester-evening-news-len-martin-man/167184516/ |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=Manchester Evening News |page=2 |via=Newspapers.com}} he left mid-way through reading the results during the 9 October 1993 edition because of a sore throat caused by a cold he caught on a visit to Australia and was replaced by Tim Gudgin for the rest of the programme.{{Cite news |last=Bennetto |first=Jason |date=10 October 1993 |title=Sore Throat 1, the Voice of Football 0 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-independent-sore-throat-1-the-voice/167200110/ |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=The Independent on Sunday |page=1 |via=Newspapers.com}} He was the inventor of the technique of intonation when reading the football scores. It was clear from the way in which Martin 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.{{cite journal |last=Bonnet |first=Gérard |date=1980 |title=A study of intonation in the soccer results |url=https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/272464/1-s2.0-S0095447019X40000/1-s2.0-S0095447019314470/main.pdf?X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjELb%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCXVzLWVhc3QtMSJHMEUCIQD%2BARJp%2F0JYo7c7vKU4OHEyIE180Bi0Ci0Lg9q14dOddQIgSdZbDBVQHrpRqw1fkGq1HGFRRUEt4IbQopAM1hvtVZcqvAUI7%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FARAFGgwwNTkwMDM1NDY4NjUiDILnrK75UVIEpsMT0CqQBYRQ8RCiLTdx5NlG%2FDJwj%2B1sOrNcEM3GtzhBOg3VG%2Fy9Ius794M%2FPUVC6jh5bb6LsUYwVr8v%2Bpv9k1%2Bq4ilFBpX3RCl82KdxA49%2B%2FuMsc5F%2FhMy%2FIpgrFCimGmtYaR%2FFW9Rdz118rOeaCRLhGiwM7gyG4CunVN8ow2Xn2Jeq1SdEcpGqhOGFus5oNbNp6cYLeHgEQk2b%2FOastPUZtLmysLyk8AmQNq632itP5%2FGaKCkblsahPpPyMl53mqf9oQBPKSIS%2BUU5PGvbOrB0A82N4HgkIOWza5rdpqfUH9MeRfhikkSQX3Xu5pou%2BdeeBRsgmHHC3JwyUA8cgFu3I%2BjyLube99EZJf3YVLGLAyc8qRX3PhZ8FKFkPOhvM4ZoOT4pdctUcLtRAk%2FDeZk%2FjLYsK2WifsRruQ1jheopY6G5uWMRixV7p8VxPtRsxAGtDTm%2BuTB1ubhABqWr1coW%2Bfi6YNmueeSlJyF4%2FSkV70J1zuI5luFP7rNj8lydUtC6RJwA%2FAcbWAhnrMdDDKjwqmVcTV%2BIz0NM3omSNNr7WlWlpXhsAsKvTggIXAXqRgjbwlW%2BOE856MQRf6xfdIT40vhaFhRAjRMXpKjZ%2Fube0zPiGsqiRV7ugPhpyr7Ydh4AMUki39VJpiO72%2FWgwz6bMgIWRgBmZGD1KYPqX9WqJcouzsFN9WndvvCFAJFmt%2B2zO8yMMXkB4aqCzhjruIKvcM2mhShalOe2PFfJ9jehwLfJG8wvPKrttESHM%2Fy%2FME1cNIKjT9aVnyj9HOO%2BW%2FFIPnltZy0istHWwTl4vsKLjDyK711Tq7MPsmTS6d5jSHNuCwBBGVeAfoj0eHeEskC2Hp0tpc9Zy%2FXJFDPFrheHh7kZs41LMPyDnL4GOrEBevIG%2Fgp3FoOKbLFn5ED906oYjGCp%2BKvZI%2BeUe3mZX6MJd2n1HT9wb5poVaTMhSVcjIhxpJ4VniLVeTUil0oZLZjqX0v5BviyltQmGCtVxWfFsSJRYAxNrIh%2Fo6OyRLAfnakB2VfF4I2M%2Bz%2F4jXLjaqOtaTZbU99AND68etPbYZxlccZc4lntvwnyvORbIj5hDR20DuOubAQe%2FFPTYN5ZsyS9ZuRf2ZGgVuJAyCNDapjX&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20250304T143110Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAQ3PHCVTY4E63BBZM%2F20250304%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=cb575ca338f801f99eda13bc11fce0453d99e9f65498df72e69b813ef1bbcc9f&hash=be6f4f26dbecf47b6d722250a5221af27be2223910c6dec0f37f3ca7e273cb7b&host=68042c943591013ac2b2430a89b270f6af2c76d8dfd086a07176afe7c76c2c61&pii=S0095447019314470&tid=spdf-c2c7c364-9f15-43bb-953d-b55a2ab8fa1e&sid=c5647d636243e04ba148cda1fde910400368gxrqb&type=client&tsoh=d3d3LnNjaWVuY2VkaXJlY3QuY29t&rh=d3d3LnNjaWVuY2VkaXJlY3QuY29t&ua=020458570453545057&rr=91b213620f71ede7&cc=gb |journal=Journal of Phonetics |volume=8 |pages=21–38 |doi=10.1016/S0095-4470(19)31447-0 |access-date=4 March 2025}} His tone lowered when there was an home win and rose when there was an away win but was level for a draw. Gudgin, Martin's successor, also used the distinct BBC intonation.{{cite news |last=Duncan |first=John |date=23 August 1995 |title=Len Martin: Pools of sound on Saturday |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-guardian-len-martin-obituary-the-g/167181802/ |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=The Guardian |page=14 |via=Newspapers.com}}

In addition to his role on Grandstand, Martin was a voice-over artist heard on Movietone and Pathé News newsreels, documentary films and on commercials across the world. He also read the horse racing results, was a voice over for multiple editions of the BBC Sports Review of the Year awards ceremony until 1994,{{cite book |last1=Rider |first1=Steve |url=https://archive.org/details/bbcsportspersona0000unse |title=BBC Sports Personality of the Year 50th Anniversary |last2=Smith |first2=Martyn |publisher=BBC Books |year=2003 |isbn=0-563-48747-X |location=London, England |pages=35, 194 |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive |authorlink=Steve Rider}} and 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.{{Cite news |date=31 August 2009 |title=Simon Dee: disc jockey and talk show host |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/simon-dee-disc-jockey-and-talk-show-host-wpr3g5q6c6r |url-access=subscription |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=The Times}}

He and his wife adopted a daughter. Martin died in hospital in Northwood, Middlesex on 21 August 1995 following a short illness.{{Cite news |date=22 August 1995 |title=Len Martin dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-telegraph-len-martin-dies-derb/167190973/ |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=Derby Evening Telegraph |page=36 |via=Newspapers.com}}

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Category:1919 births

Category:1995 deaths

Category:British sports broadcasters

Category:Australian emigrants to England

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