Farewell to a natural born broadcaster

‘He was a natural broadcaster,’ said Nick Higham, after the death last week of the rugby player and sports broadcaster Cliff Morgan. I wondered what he meant. ‘Natural’ as in born to the task? Or ‘natural’ as in his ability to communicate as if chatting directly to you, and only you, with no pretension or affectation, just a desire to tell a good story, to convey his enthusiasm?

I still miss Morgan on Saturday mornings. He had such a warm voice, and something more: a real and genuine interest in the stories behind the athletes, tennis stars, rugby players, basketball champions, wrestlers, rowers, cyclists, swimmers, gymnasts, equestrians he chatted to on Sport on Four, which disappeared from the airwaves in 1998. (I never forgave John Peel for replacing Morgan’s sporting truths with Home Truths.) Morgan’s conversation was always prompted by sporting achievement, but it was never limited by that. Yes, shot-put is brilliant, archery totally absorbing, synchronised swimming a hoot.