Hugh Johns

Hugh Richard Lewis Johns, sports commentator: born Wantage, Berkshire 6 September 1922; married 1950 Joan Hatcher (died 2003; one son); died Cardiff 27 June 2007.

Hugh Johns, with his rich, staccato tones, was one of the most authoritative and popular television football commentators of the 1960s and 1970s. It was his misfortune that the regionalised system operated by ITV at the time meant that he was usually overshadowed by Brian Moore, who was the face of the commercial channel's football coverage, landing many of the top European and international matches, and being employed by the London franchise holder LWT, which broadcast The Big Match.

But, between 1968 and 1982, the sheepskin-coat-wearing Johns was the voice of televised football in the Midlands, commentating for the Star Soccer programme. Highlights of the matches were also often screened in other regions' Sunday afternoon shows, including The Big Match (in the days before live coverage of league games).

Nevertheless, when it came to the World Cup, ITV was initially keen to have Moore in the studio to host its programmes while Johns gained a higher profile in the commentary box. He provided a memorable reaction when the Brazilian star Pelé opened the scoring in the 1970 final against Italy: "What a beautiful goal from Pelé! El Rey Pelé!"

Among the 1,000-plus games covered by Johns during his broadcasting career, including two European Cup Finals (in 1968 and 1970) and ITV's first three live FA Cup finals (1966-68), he commentated on four World Cups (1966-78), his first in 1966, when it was his other great misfortune that Kenneth Wolstenholme held the BBC microphone, overshadowing him with the legendary response to Geoff Hurst's third goal in England's 4-2 defeat of West Germany: "Some people are on the pitch. They think it's all over. It is now!" Johns, a well seasoned journalist, was more concerned with reporting the action in front of goal, noting: "Here's Hurst. He might make it three. He has! He has! So that's it."

His clipped style was distinctive, always direct, to the point and marking the occasion, with an air of excitement when appropriate. Never one to waffle, he would greet a goal with the concise comment: "One-nothing." His commentaries also displayed an apparent "chumminess" with those about whom he was talking, perhaps a result of interviewing them week in, week out, and visiting the dressing-room before each match.

He was not guaranteed the top London teams on his football stage but, during Star Soccer's run, Derby County, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa all won the League Championship, giving the Midlands plenty of high- quality action on television.

Johns might have reflected, though, that he had been usurped as ITV's top commentator, a position he held for two years until the arrival of LWT at the beginning of the 1968-69 soccer season. Before then, ATV had broadcast on weekdays in the Midlands and weekends in London. The reshuffle brought ATV a seven-day-a-week franchise in the Midlands but the loss of its London contract, resulting in a slight diminution of power within the ITV network.

Johns stayed with Star Soccer until the summer of 1982. He was later hired by HTV Wales, but was heard nationally less frequently and finally retired in 1996.

Born of Welsh descent in Berkshire in 1922, Johns was brought up in Surrey, where he attended Farnham Grammar School, then served in the Navy as a Fleet Air Arm pilot in Norway during the Second World War, before deciding to become an actor. He joined the repertory company at the Castle Theatre, Farnham in 1946.

After three years as an actor, he suffered a chest infection and returned to his family to convalesce and contemplate a change of career. "From my bedroom window, I'd watch the old boys' football team from my grammar school and began sending in reports to the local newspaper, the Surrey and Hants News," he recalled. "I was offered a job and threw myself into journalism."

Johns subsequently worked for the Southend Standard, Daily Herald and News Chronicle before joining the Sunday People in 1961 as its sports correspondent in Wales and moving to Radyr, outside Cardiff, where he lived for the rest of his life.

Two years later, the ITV company TWW (Television Wales and West) hired Johns to interview a horse trainer for one of its sports programmes and a career on the small screen beckoned. This brought him more sports reporting jobs with TWW, including commentaries on Cardiff City football matches. At the start of the 1966-67 season, he moved to ATV for Star Soccer, which meant a twice-weekly trip from South Wales to the Midlands to commentate on league and cup matches for the next 16 years and signalled the end of his newspaper career.

As well as later commentating on football for HTV Wales, Johns showed his versatility by covering other sports for ITV, including indoor bowls, boxing, snooker and darts. In retirement, he had no qualms about defending the old, male-dominated world of sports commentators when ITV replaced Gabby Logan with Steve Rider as its senior presenter for last year's World Cup coverage. "I believe that sports journalism is a male job," he said. "I don't care how pretty or how attractive or how efficient ladies are. I just don't think that it's their area."

Anthony Hayward