Sports broadcaster and commentator Peter Brackley has died at the age of 67 following a short illness.
Like Desmond Lynam before him, Brackley cut his teeth on local radio in Brighton but his talent and a superb voice were soon recognised at national level.
He was one of the commentators on BBC Radio 2 in a particularly stellar era which included the likes of Lynam, Jim Rosenthal, Peter Jones and Alan Parry.
Saddened to hear that Peter Brackley has passed away. Loved listening to him do Italian football in particular. A real Serie A of a commentator. #RIPPeter
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) October 14, 2018
Brackley described the goal by Paul Mariner which ensured England qualified for the 1982 World Cup final, covered Spain ’82 for radio and the following year took great delight in Brighton’s odyssey to the FA Cup final.
He switched to television where he worked for ITV in Mexico 1986. In the late 1980s he was heard extensively on Eurosport, then part of the Sky network, where with Ian Darke he was one of the big commentary names.
Brackley went on to become the voice of Football Italia on Channel four and was a past master of the “off tube” commentary, a particularly difficult skill when live often with minimal information from the ground and, sometimes, not even an accurate team sheet.
An extremely talented mimic he was much in demand on the after-dinner speaking circuit and at one time had a double act with fellow radio sports man Garry Richardson.
Remembering Peter Brackley.
Here, doing his famous Jimmy Greaves impression alongside the man himself ahead of the 1987 FA Cup Final. pic.twitter.com/PYQwjN1RQ7
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) October 15, 2018
His love of English food and suspicion of more exotic dishes, particularly on trips abroad, was well known.
He was also known to a generation of football video game fans as the voice of Pro Evolution Soccer during the game’s glory days on PlayStation 2.