A lifetime celebration of golf
The BBC’s “Voice of Golf”, Peter Alliss, will be needing an awful lot of puff today in order to blow out the sea of candles on his birthday cake – all 85 of them! The professional golfer turned television presenter, commentator, course designer and author was born in Germany on 28 February 1931 where his father Percy was club professional at the Wannsee Golf Club near Berlin.
Peter made a big impression on the world on his arrival. He weighed in at a mighty 14lb 11ozs (6.7 kg) which was reputed to be a European record at the time for a new-born baby. A year or so later the family moved back to England where Peter grew up with his older brother Percy Alexander who, incidentally, also went on to become a professional golfer.
In 1947, at the age of 16, Peter decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and turn professional. He began as an assistant to his father at Ferndown GC and went on to secure 23 professional victories worldwide in his career. As a 22-year old, he played in his first Ryder Cup at Wentworth. In fact, Peter and his father Percy were the first father and son to ever play in the Ryder Cup. Antonio Garrido and his son Ignacio became the second in 1997.
Golden year in Europe and Ryder Cup glory
With eight Ryder Cup appearances to his name, Peter’s personal golden year came in 1958 when he won the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish Opens in succession.
As he admits himself, a lot of wonderful things have just fallen into his lap during his long and successful golf career. Like the time he gave golf lessons to Sean Connery before the filming of the 1964 James Bond movie ‘Goldfinger’. The golfing scene filmed at Stoke Park GC in Buckinghamshire resulted in Sean Connery acquiring a lifetime passion for the game. Ten years later the ‘007 agent’ was a regular guest in the BBC’s new ‘Pro Celebrity Golf’ series presented by Peter Alliss at Turnberry. It was the start of a successful 14-year run of 140 golf programmes on television.
In 1975 he eventually hung up his professional golf bag. He had already been doing some presenting for the ‘beeb’ since 1961, so it was a natural step that when his good friend, the great Henry Longhurst died in 1978 that Peter became the BBC’s chief commentator. He had long been an admirer of the gracious style of his co-host and soon developed his own natural flow of informative, well-timed commentary. In no time at all, Peter Alliss became the new ‘Voice of Golf’ on the BBC.
Over the years he has coined a mass of his own memorable expressions: “He’s out with the big furniture” … “He struck it like the pendulum of an old grandfather clock” … “Some of the fans, they’re fuelled by the local giggle juice …”, to quote but a few. Indeed, in between poignant pauses he can waffle on for hours about “the silly old pedestrian game that is golf”, as he himself so delightfully puts it.
World Golf Hall of Fame
Last year, BBC television celebrated 60 years of golf coverage. In that time, Peter made an almighty contribution to the milestone having been actively broadcasting for the beeb for 50 years. Apparently he turned down an O.B.E. in 1993. Recognition for all that he has done for the game finally came in 2012 when he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. His acceptance speech, as you would expect, was a typical “Alliss in Wonderland” masterpiece which lasted more than 15 minutes.
Even at 85 golf seasons young, Peter still knows how to inform and entertain television viewers the world over with his charm, wit and wicked way with words. A Major would not be a Major without the accompanying dulcet tone of Peter Alliss. Ask any Dutch golfer about the best golf commentary on the box and you can bet that nearly every single one of them will answer: “The BBC with Peter Alliss!”
Happy Birthday, Peter!
Wendy Hoad
Archive photograph by Pete Bennett courtesy of Collins Willow publishers of ‘Peter Alliss, The Lazy Golfer’s Companion’ (1995). One of twenty books written by Peter Alliss.